We awoke to see the sky overcast with occasional drizzle, by the time we reached the shops in Bellingham we had our waterproofs on. There is a row of about five shops all together in the village with both a butcher and a baker. When you're on the hunt for a pie this presents a classic problem. On this occasion it was solved by visiting both establishments. I found that each of them sold very different but excellent pies. What a bonus to find two top quality pie sellers on one row, (must make a mental note to go back).
By the time the shopping was done the rain had eased a little and we set off up the south side of the River North Tyne. The valley was wide and near level as we made our way up to the Keilder Dam, we stopped to examine it. When we were satisfied it was not going to collapse we carried on up to Keilder Castle. The weather was reasonably warm by now and it was dry so we were pleased to see some picnic benches, strangely they were all deserted. After about two minutes we realised why, the midgies descended in a thick cloud and gorged on our warm blood. In a mad dash we ran in to the tea room and ordered lunch. They were doing a brisk trade in there, no one else could stand to stay outside either. the following week I read an article in a newspaper which described an American product which can clear an acre of midgies in a month, if any place needed one of these it's Kielder.
After lunch we set off along the Forest Drive, this is marked as a road on the map and it does start off as a reasonable tarmac track. After a couple of miles however, it deteriorates in to a stony track suitable only for mountain bikes.
As two of our group were on tourers we were none too impressed but there was no alternative. On the steeper slopes our rear wheels kept spinning and stones flew behind us, we had to separate to avoid any injuries. After we passed the summit at 1500ft we were able to go a little faster down the other side, at one point I reached 8mph!
As we neared the end of the track Alan had a puncture. At first we weren't too worried by this and we set about putting in a spare tube. The annoying thing here was that the tube had been trapped under the tyre when it was fitted, this is another thing which could be avoided if more care was taken when the bike shop assembled the machine.
After one and a half minutes the midgies found us, another minute later and we were on our way again with the angry swarm right behind us. It is amazing how quickly you can change a tube when you really have to.
From the end of the Forest Drive it was a short hop along the A68 to the Youth Hostel at Byrness.
When we arrived at Byrness we met Hazel, a girl who was walking the Pennine Way. We had met her the previous night at Bellingham. While Calum and I were unloading our bikes we heard Bert’s voice drifting from the girls dorm. He's still a fast worker after all these years!
We went to the local hotel that night for a drink and found that a favourite topic of conversation among the locals was the midgies. It must be a terrible place to live!
Calum
Mountain biking. Well my wheels for the tour were a Ridgeback mountain bike, (kitted out for touring,) which was fortunate as today we were off roading. We headed for Byrness, around the Keilder reservoir (another first - once saw pictures in a geography lesson at school) and over the badly named forest drive. It was fine for a Land Rover, but too rocky for road bikes. I actually quite enjoyed this bit and I was really impressed with how my bike handled it. Plenty of grip and stability. Oh, except when Bertie accidentally ran me into a ditch! rotter. Having previously being a road bike rider, I was getting converted to the "mountain bike" way. The only down side so far is that the posture can give you sore hands. I suffered from pins and needles a bit. Anyway we were soon at Byrness, home of the uber midge, as documented elsewhere. Conversation in the pub later revolved around the midge solution and possible effects on the ecology (of using Napalm?)