On Yer Bike

On Yer Bike My Coast to Coast Charity Bike Ride

By Michael Grant (81-91)

Like many Old Novos, I moved away from the North East when I went to university, and never returned. However, my parents remained there, and one of the highlights of my visits to them in the summer is the ability to go on long bike rides through the Northumbrian countryside.

Over the course of the noughties, the rides I went on got longer and longer, culminating in a 75mile ride from Berwick to Newcastle along the Northumbrian Coastal Route, which left me happy (and sunburnt down my right-hand side) but utterly exhausted.

Having worn myself out doing this, I found myself displacing for some years from the one longer ride left on my to-do list: coast to coast, Bowness-on-Solway to Tynemouth, across the Pennines. The shock of my approaching 40th birthday, however, reminded me that I might not be physically capable of such a long bike ride forever, so I decided that last summer I would force myself to do it by getting myself sponsored for charity. So doing would also make sure I finished, rather than copping out halfway and putting my bike on the train! I also cycled with a friend, Sam, for the same reason.

My mother had been suffering from secondary breast cancer for a couple of years by then, so I decided that should be the focus of my fundraising. I chose in the end to split the money three ways. One third went to Macmillan Cancer Support, who did a sterling job supporting my mother until her death in January. The second third went to Cancer Research UK, because we don’t just need to help care for people with cancer; we need to learn how to treat and cure it too.

Finally, I decided to support Alzheimer’s Research UK because, as Sir Terry Pratchett has publicised, even though one in three people over 65 will develop dementia, Alzheimer’s research receives a fraction (3% at the time Pratchett highlighted it) of the funding cancer does. I set myself a target of £1,000 sponsorship to aim for; not having done anything like this beforehand, I had no idea whether I would manage it.

Despite scrutinising maps beforehand, Sam and I ended up partially working out a route on the fly. Much of this involved Hadrian’s Cycleway, which I had been dubious about should I not have the strength to climb back up to the level of Hadrian’s Wall after crossing the North Tyne. It turned out, though, that Hadrian’s Cycleway doesn’t do that, but descends into the valley of the Tyne; it’s not very well named.

Our day started at 8:30am, when we left my parents’ house to catch the train to Carlisle. By 10:45am we were at Carlisle, and ready to head in the wrong direction, to get to the starting point.

Michael and friend, Sam, at Gilsland, a village which straddles the border between Cumbria and Northumberland

“My mother had been suffering from secondary breast cancer for a couple of years by then, so I decided that should be the focus of my fundraising.”

Michael at Boustead Hill, Cumbria

“I had cycled 92½ miles, making it the longest ride I’ve ever done by a decent margin, and it had taken 13 hours (including the train journey).”

Michael at Hadrian’s Wall by Birdoswald Roman Fort –Gilsland, Cumbria

At 11:34am we came within sight of the Solway Firth, between Burgh-on-Sands and Bowness-on-Solway — though, the tide being out, it was largely mudflats we saw. (We’d passed ominous signs on crossing a stream a little earlier saying things like, ‘Water one foot deep here when road tidally flooded.’) Sam suggested going further to get within sight of open water, but I argued the ride would be long enough as it was; my intention had always been to start at the easternmost point I could plausibly claim to be on the west coast.

Across the Solway Firth, of course, lay Scotland; I pointed out Gretna across the firth’s head. “Shall we get married?” suggested Sam.

After retracing our route and passing through Carlisle again, we headed along the B6264 to Brampton. By 2:15pm, we’d encountered our first Roman ruins — a milecastle on Hadrian’s Wall, east of Banks — followed at 2:30pm by the fort and stretch of wall at Birdoswald (see photograph).

At Gilsland we crossed the River Irthing and entered Northumberland (see photograph). From here there was a very steep climb to the watershed; both of us had to dismount for a bit. Fortunately, our route took us through a gap in the Pennines; we didn’t have to go above 228m above sea-level (at which height we obviously started). However, even though we didn’t have to, we chose to continue along the Military Road along the Whin Sill rather than descending into the valley of the South Tyne. It was slightly unfortunate that, due to the length of the ride, I wasn’t able to do much stopping to show Sam, who hails from the deep south, interesting places along the length of the wall. One place we did stop at was the Mithraeum at Brocolita. When I first visited the Mithraeum on Hadrian’s Wall, there were two 10p coins in the hollow at the top of the central altar-stone. Are there Mithras-worshipers again here today, I wondered. This time, there was no money, but an offering of wildflowers. Sam thought Mithras was hard-done by.

Sam had no appetite for struggling up out of the valley of the North Tyne after we’d descended to cross it — particularly since he gallantly offered to carry my heavy waterbottles after my saddle bag fell apart — so we struck south a little west of Chollerford, leaving the wild upland landscape of Hadrian’s Wall, and resumed our journey in the tamer landscape alongside the Tyne.

It was a very pleasant country ride from Hexham to Prudhoe; beyond Prudhoe the signs for the cycleway vanished, and, except for the mile after Prudhoe, it was all built up, so we didn’t take any photos. It had become apparent by now that we were not going to be able to complete the ride in time for Sam to catch the last train back to York, so reluctantly we parted company in Newcastle. On the road again by myself, I finally trundled, tired but happy, up to photograph). I had cycled 92½ miles, making it the longest ride I’ve ever done by a decent margin, and it had taken 13 hours (including the train journey)–by the end, I was beginning to run out of daylight. More importantly, I had raised £1,157 for three worthy charities (or £1,387 including Gift Aid). As a pleasant side-effect, I had also raised awareness of the countryside of the North East amongst my friends in London by blogging about my preparations, using photos of previous cycle rides along the eastern half of the route, and two of my friends now stated their intention of walking along Hadrian’s Wall this summer.

Which only leaves now the question of how to top the achievement of cycling coast to coast. Edinburgh to Newcastle as a follow-up, perhaps? Well, not until this summer, at any rate – and I’m not going to even think about it in the meantime!

Postscript: A version of this article with more pictures may be found at http://lethargic-man.dreamwidth.

9:30pm Michael reaches Tynemouth Priory at the coast of the North Sea after his 92½ miles bike ride!

Tynemouth Priory at 9:30pm (see org/445509.html