https://www.strava.com/activities/9593351883

Good turnout for the ride considering the number of club members away. The weather was certainly better than the Saturday and Storm Antoni! We had a nice tail wind to Wallingford. “Pigeon Pete”, you will need to speak with him why he now has this nickname, suggested rather than stop in Wallingford Town Centre, we try the café at Root One Garden Centre, after 10 minutes trying to find somewhere to store the bikes, we eventually wheeled the bikes through the garden centre to the café. Taking the orders took a little time, but what was served up was very acceptable. A stop worth considering for the future, but be aware the café does not open until 10:30 on a Sunday. After refuelling we headed back to Wantage into the inevitable head wind. Nick Dunton peeled off at Sutton Courtenay. The sun was shinning when we got back to Wantage so a drink in the KAH back garden was required – thanks for the good company and disciplined riding.

Short but sweet, sociable ride on dry (for a change!) but breezy day. Decent choice of cakes on offer at Court Hill.

Another amiable social ride on a not too taxing route. Spurred along by a brisk tailwind and a forecast of rain due at lunchtime, we made good progress out to Bampton. Figuring that the group was to large to fit into Lynwood's Cafe and with a jaded opinion of Bampton Garden Centre, we decided to push on to Stanford where the Community Cafe was spot on as usual. Back home just as rain began (although it was not even in the same league as the rain we experienced in Northumberland earlier this week).

Ride from Middleton to Ravensworth in Richmondshire (is this really a county?).

Two separate groups of three for this ride. The second group was staying an extra night in Middleton and didn't fancy a drizzly start at an early hour. Both groups stopped at the same Artisan Bakery in Barnard Castle and enjoyed the same Sausage/Black Pudding Rolls there (highly recommended - Jez later returned there to acquire a week's supply!).

The first group Nick (following from the back in the absence of any navigation device (Wahoo issue!), Louis and Richard experienced steadily improving weather. Bit of a shame not to reach Richmond but time dictated a shorter ride than Chris's planned route. The roads, apart from 200 yards on the very busy A66 were quiet, as they had been earlier in the week. The roller-coaster back to Middleton from Barnard Castle was particularly enjoyable - a fitting end to an excellent mini-break.

Scant details of the second group's ride have been unearthed other than a claim from Pete to have been somewhat quicker then the first trio!

Many thanks to Chris for the route.

Yesterday's ride had most people worn out, so the easier ride I'd agreed to do with John very quickly became the main club ride. We started out from the Roman villa town of Corbridge after a desolate drive over Weardale.

The route starts on very quiet lanes through Northumberland before joining up with NCN 72 - Hadrian's Cycleway and makes its' way along good surfaces on the old railway line, over the Tyne at Wylam (watched over by a big badger) and past George Stephenson's birthplace cottage.

At Newburn the route goes along the right bank of the Tyne all the way into the Quayside are of Newcastle, and we stopped for various pictures of bridges before heading over the Swing Bridge and the temporarily tilted Millenium Bridge. Lunch was taken at the mouth of the Ouseburn in a lovely cyclists cafe, and then we did a quick tour of the Ouseburn prior to our city tour.

Sightseeing highlights en route were: Newcastle Keep, the High Level Bridge, Grey's Monument, Newcastle University, St James' Park and Leazes Park prior to threading our way through the cows across various moors and some busy traffic to get into the Northumberland countryside at Stamfordham and Matfen on our return.

Tea and teacakes (biggest ever!) were enjoyed in Corbridge to round off the day.

The Queen Stage of our Mini-break! Starting from Alston, there was plenty of climbing to be done, and for John, benchmarks to collect and catalogue. The weather stayed good for the morning, but was forecast to change somewhat in the early afternoon.

There were some fantastic views looking down into Haltwhistle, where we decided not to stop for coffee, but to push on (a shame as there were plenty of coffee shops - the futile push was to "stay dry" in the afternoon...). Hadrian's Wall at Steel Rigg is massively photogenic and a bit of a tourist honeypot, so we stayed a short while and then dropped down to the Twice Brewed Inn just before our booking time.

After lunch there were a few spots of rain as we headed down to Haydon Bridge and John was indulged with another of his collecting hobbies, "station bagging". Then the rain came down so we all bagged up into our rain jackets, heading back to Whitfield for the climb to Allendale town, where there were no open cafes, but a CoOp looked inviting. Again the consensus was to push on, whereupon I stayed with John on the tough wet and windy climb over Carr Shield, and back through Nenthead to Alston.

A really tough day.

Six of us set out for Cow Green - the reservoir at the top of the river Tees and feeding England's highest cascade - Cauldron Snout. It was a drag all the way up the main road to Langdon Beck where we turned off and started the various climbs - the scenery is bleak but benign.

Up at the reservoir, various explorations were made, including a few all-action heroes having a look at the Cauldron itself.

Descending back was fun, and we stopped for an evening meal at the High Force Hotel, where John arrived in good time, fresh from his journey up.

John has been included on the riders, as he rode the route on Thursday.

Quite a few light showers which seemed to follow us around and typically started just after we'd removed the showerproof outer layers. Still a very pleasant social ride with a coffee/cake stop in Lambourn and a post-ride drink at the usual hostelry.

I was about to go to the pub (in Harwell) when Pam turned up.
We had a great ride chatting through the Vale. We went up White Horse from Woolstone, then up Blowingstone and down through Seven Barrows, back up to Sparsholt Firs and then one final climb up Court Hill before the descent down to Manor Road.

Could have been a couple of degrees warmer but a lovely evening ride with gorgeous view of Uffington Castle.

Good turnout for the ride this morning – we were joined by Andy O’Shaughnessy who has not been out with the club for a couple of months. Simon joined us at Challow as we made our way to Bampton via Fernham, Farringdon and Black Bourton. A good pace was maintained. The original plan to stop at Lynwood and Co café was abandon as it was too busy so we went on Bampton Garden Centre and had a very enjoyable coffee in the outside seating area – service was very efficient. Clearly the coffee and Bakewell Tart did something for Pete as he was up hill at Buckland Marsh like Pogacar!! Everyone made it back to Wantage safely and a well earnt drink was enjoyed at KAH. It should be mentioned that Pam Stokell, who did a half Ironman at the weekend in Eastbourne and came 2nd in her age group – congratulations!