To Newcastle

July 21, 2024

Before we leave Durham let’s take a look at our home here, listed on Booking as the Durham Moonlight Apartment. It’s in an excellent location just off the foot of the Elvet Bridge. And it’s huge! It’s an entire suite, and not shown are two bedrooms and bathrooms. More than we needed obviously, but we were very comfortable here.

The Moonlight Apartment. I’m glad I thought of taking this shot at the last minute just as we’re leaving. I thought of it when we arrived, but not in time. Within a minute of arrival the landscape was littered with unsightly TA crap everywhere.

So that rowboat ride on the Wear didn’t come off yesterday, because the weather didn’t hold out for us. By the time we emerged from our lunch with Polly the skies were well filled in with gloomy clouds; and it was just starting to sprinkle when we reached the apartment. I’ll start keeping an eye out for other spots we might do this though. We’ve gotten out in rowboats or canoes or kayaks from time to time in the past but it’s been a long time now. It’s an activity that should still work for us as a change of pace, now that we seldom take walks together any more.

We’ve only got a short ride north to Newcastle today so we stay around the apartment until the 10:30 checkout time before departing. We also call our next apartment in Newcastle and agree to pay the £10 early arrival fee so we can check in at one, and book a table for ourselves at a nearby waterfront Italian restaurant for 1:30. That will still leave us the afternoon free to explore at least a small corner of Newcastle, one of the largest cities in England.

We’re outside loading up the bikes when Rachael announces that she can’t find her phone - a concern, especially since we’ve already locked ourselves out of the apartment. I frisk myself to see if I’ve got it, and I do - I apparently picked it up by mistake when a left the room. It turns out that it’s my phone that’s missing, not hers. There’s a plan for that though - we call it using hers and are reassured when we both hear mine ringing from what sounds like down in my pannier. I don’t need it handy now so we defer fishing it out until we arrive at the other end. Likely I’ve stuffed it in my rucksack or left it in the pocket of my walking shorts.

So we’re finally off. We cross the Elvet Bridge, bike through the market square and across the Wear again over the Pennyferry Bridge, and stop on the other side to admire a view up at the castle before continuing on.

Looking up at the castle and cathedral. This is the prettiest part of the river here I think, but it doesn’t look like the place to explore with one of those rowboats.

I should have payed more attention to Polly’s words yesterday when she heard we were biking to Newcastle next. It’s not bad she said, once you climb out of Durham. I reflecton this as I pushthe bike up the short but excruciating slope of Redhills Lane that tops out around 20%.

It really isn’t bad after that though. First there’s a generally downhill stretch for the next six miles to Waldrich Park back on the banks of the Wear again, and then a gradual climb to the top of the ridge that separates the Wear from the Tyne; and then it’s downhill all the way. It’s not a particularly restful ride or a fast one either though, as for most of the way we’re on a bike lane alongside one busy, noisy arterial after another. It’s safe enough except for a few tense crossings here and there, but it gets pretty low marks from me at least as an aesthetic experience. We might return to either Durham or Newcastle some day, but I doubt we’d bike between them again. It wouldn’t have been a bad day to hop the train.

Not on the team’s leaderboard for best ride of the tour.

Entering Newcastle by crossing the Tyne on the High Level Bridge.

The view upriver from the High Level Bridge. I like the looks of the blue Queen Elizabeth Bridge out there, but it’s only for the trains I think.

Video sound track: Giant Steps, by John Coltrane

Finally we make it to Newcastle. And I say finally because it’s been a slower ride than we planned. First there was that cliff up Redhills Lane to be surmounted, but after that it was surprisingly stop and go in spots where were slowed down by interminable traffic lights or precarious traffic circles. It takes us long enough that there’s not time to stop in at Apartment ZZZ to check in and leave the bikes, even though it’s directly on route and only a few blocks above the restaurant. Instead we bike directly to lunch, arriving right at 1:30.

Lunch works out great - we score an outdoor table right by the river where we can sit right next to our bikes. There’s a rude shock waiting for us though when we settle in and Rachael calls my phone again to help locate it. This time we can’t hear it at all. I rummage through the pannier without finding it, but hopefully it’s buried down in there somewhere and the battery died during the ride. There’s nothing to be done now though, so we sit down and enjoy lunch, planning to return to the phone hunt when we get to our room.

Lunch is excellent, and we enjoy it on a cloudy but comfortable afternoon, watching the action roll and stroll by on the path right next to our table. Midway through our meal another cycling couple passes by, notes our bikes leaned against the wall, negotiates a u-turn and parks their bikes to ours before claiming the neighboring table. They’re Susie and Mark from down south somewhere west of London, up here for Mark’s daughter’s graduation. They’re on a day ride up from Tynemouth and back, and we have an enjoyable conversation while we wrap up our meal and they dig into theirs. Among other things that get discussed, I ask their thoughts on places in the UK that might work well as a base for an extended stay. They suggest Oxford - very bike friendly, tons of good riding to be had nearby, and of course there’s plenty to see there because it’s Oxford. So there’s an idea for the future that gets dropped into the hope chest.

Lunch at Gino’s on the Newcastle waterfront. The nearest bridge is High Level, the one we just biked across. The riverfront path I’m standing on is Route 72, Hadrian’s Cycleway. We’ll be following it west from here for most of our next three stages before turning south into the Yorkshire Dales.

Sharing tales of the road with Susie and Mark.

It’s only a few blocks from the waterfront up to Apartment ZZZ, but the last two get walked up a very steep, rough, gritty brick road. When we arrive there’s a brief concern when we’re told that the bikes can go outside in an uncovered but supposedly secure spot, even though we’d been told earlier we could put them in the room. With rain in the forecast that’s not a good idea, but a consultation with the manager straightens that out and upstairs they go.

In the room though there’s the definitely bad news that we can’t find the phone. Absolutely baffling, because we both heard it ringing when we left the apartment. I call the apartment to see if it got left behind and we’re relieved to hear it’s been found and our host will ship it forward to our next hotel in Hexham where we’re booked for three nights. So assuming that all works it’s just an inconvenience even though we won’t like being unable to call each other for the next few days.

So what happened here? We think we actually heard it ringing from our room, not from inside the pannier. We were right beneath our window just one floor above us, and the window was open. So there’s another TA first.

Heart

Comment

Link

Bob KoreisOkay, I’m geeking out on the UK part of your trip a bit too much. I see you passed Sunderland on your right. Birthplace of a great flying boat.
Reply to this comment
4 months ago

Today's ride: 18 miles (29 km)
Total: 2,816 miles (4,532 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	11
Comment on this entry	Comment	4

Patrick O'HaraGlad to hear your phone has been located and will be on its way. Great photos and writing as usual.
Reply to this comment
4 months ago

Rachael AndersonTo Patrick O'HaraWe got it yesterday. What a relief!
Reply to this comment
4 months ago

Polly LowRe. Misplaced Items: I was just reading about a cyclist on the Transcontinental Race, who got 250km down the road (and over the Grossglockner Pass) before realising he'd left his passport and wallet at a rest stop. One 500km detour (and two more trips over the Grossglockner later), he's back heading in the right direction again. So maybe that's a new benchmark for you...
Reply to this comment
4 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Polly LowWell that must have ruined his standing in the race. It reminds me of when Lael Wilcox won the Race Across America back in 2016. She’d been chasing the leader all across the country when she overtook him when he lost his bearings and started biking the wrong direction.

Also reminds me of our own lost passport episode in Andalucia twenty years ago when we left one of Rachael’s panniers behind somehow. No passes to recross, but a 40 mile backtrack at the end of the day was a challenge - and a disappointment, because it wasn’t found.
Reply to this comment
4 months ago