Bridges

 

It's been a bit of a gap since my last ride because I've been busy decorating. In the process of clearing the room I discovered a leaflet of cycle routes around Wooler. That sent a pretty clear signal of where I should head for my next ride. So today I headed for Wooler.

The point of a folding bike was that I could stick it in the boot of the car, or take it on public transport to places that weren't hilly. So I'm getting used to easy flat rides. Wooler isn't like that. Some of the routes suggested in this leaflet are described as "strenuous". But I picked one that was described as "moderate". I expected something a bit more demanding than what I'm used to. What I didn't anticipate were the hailstorms.

I was mostly riding on quiet country lanes. There were more dog-walkers than traffic. Most of them said "hello" or "good afternoon". Which was nice. One said "What a lovely afternoon". She wasn't being ironic. I wonder what weather they've been experiencing recently around Wooler.

In summary: Several nice bridges, including Weetwood (thought to have been built in the 16th century, with alterations in 1775) and Fowberry (pictured). More gradients than I'm used to. Interesting weather. In the end I cut it short and only covered 10 miles of a longer route. Still, it was a good ride.