Into the Unknown

I gave myself a day off today. I'd almost forgotten what it feels like to have a whole day just to myself. The forecast was set fair with only very gentle winds. Inspired by Bex, I planned to explore the remote roads of the Northern Pennines, an area I don't know well at all. I managed to create a route on the map that was almost entirely on roads I'd never ridden before. Much as though I love my local hills, I feel like I know every bump and turn in the road. I was craving the novelty of never knowing what's around the next corner. 

The plan was to get the train to Kirkby Stephen and catch a train back from Darlington. To while away the travelling time I've now got a document bottle! It's got a wide opening and fits in my bottle cage, exactly the right size to take a wad of A4 pages, pencils, sharpener and, most importantly, my reading glasses. It meant that I could catch up with editing my novel, something I've been struggling to find any time for lately. It meant both journeys passed very quickly.

It's always very satisfying to plot a route on a map and then follow it on the ground, from memory, without recourse to the map, and end up in the right place. Signposts are useful. It was a day spent almost entirely on quiet B roads, crossing vast expanses of empty moorland, not particularly pretty, perhaps, but impressively wild. A view of Low Force in the Tees Valley reminded me that I'd not been here in almost 50 years when I walked the Pennine Way at University. That's a real shame, for it's a very special place.

For the record I took the B6259 to Great Musgrave, the B6276 from Brough to Middleton-in-Teesdale, the B6277 towards Alston, before turning off to climb over into Weardale at St.John's Chapel, reaching 630m, the highest through road in England, then the brutal B6278 from Stanhope to Eggleston, followed by the B6279 to Staindrop and continuing on to Darlington. Even that last section had very little traffic. 

The photo shows the view looking back from Harthope Moss to the Upper Tees in the far distance. I definitely tackled it the easier way. The descent into Weardale would be fearsome going in the other direction. There was a sign at the bottom I'd never seen before. It read: "CYCLISTS - This route is liable to poor weather conditions at all times." The worst it offered today was just the cold temperature. It was distinctly chilly on the top. I actually had my arm-warmers on for most of the ride, despite it being mostly sunny. It's a long way north up here.