DODDINGTON ROUND – 21.2.10 ....... Ahhhh ! the alluring smell of GT85 first thing in the morning ... with zero breeze, sparkling sunshine and stunning skies , the start point at Doddington Bridge had an intriguing aroma lingering in the air of ... (not only Teflon based lubricants) but the strong essence of “this is going to be fecking good bike ride today” aboot it. ...... So .... after Ian S’s late arrival and fixing his flat (cause he had no tube or repair kit) and Izzy’s wheel probs we set off late but at a jaunty pace heading for the first climb over the side of Doddington Moor. A flavour of what was to come gradually came into being , i.e. absolutely stunning snowy vistas all day long of Cheviots, Kyloe Hills, Millfield Plain and Glendale, a more perfect corner of Northumberland you will not find. The local history is absolutely everywhere with more ancient sites, Celtic hillforts /palace’s, cup & rings and stone circles than you shake a muddy trackpump at. After the steep climb and with pulses racing the initial green lane, flattened off for an icy undulating roll onto a short stretch of downhill tarmac to Doddington North Moor. Another, this time rougher climb over sheep moor saw an easier than expected transition courtesy of the hard frozen ground into Fenton Wood for a brief enjoyable downhill roll to the start of the next climb up the side of Goat Crag, a superb piece of Northumbrian Whinstone Sill. Now it was Tom’s turn for a puncture, but despite the nippy temps, the beneficial lack of wind and by now quite warm sunshine, had us all chilling, snacking and chatting whilst Tom laboured. A short steep ascent took us up onto the sublime Goats Hill ridge, with far views beyond and a hard rolling moor track, and thus quickly down to the nature reserve at Ford Moss and a lovely little descent to the old lime kiln where we dined alfresco on oor bait. ......... Post chat and sarnies, the return journey to base now started over the 6km of normally punishing undulating bridle, skirting Bar Moor, but all was frozen and going was good, however if the mist had come down this would be a spooky desolate place, not somewhere I’d like to be alone, but today it was more sparkling sunshine and icy hollows with just about enough weight bearing ice to keep us entertained. After much hilarity at individual mishaps in the tricky hollows the tarmac appeared again and shortly after we struck up on a strange old byway which is virtually non-existent on the ground, but Messrs. OS.gov say it does, probably much to the annoyance of the local farmer, anyway it’s not long in length and we didn't seem to upset anyone. We now retraced our tyre tracks back up onto Doddington Moor, through a brief snow shower, but instead of proceeding to reverse our tracks and fly down past the golf club at speed, we decided to do Doddington Moor for real and climb to the un ridden top, and this is where the “Delights” of the day really occurred. After negotiating the sublime hard frost moor to the top ridge, we ended up looking down on Doddington Bridge, way below and our tiny cars with superb views over Wooler and the The Cheviot. The anticipation of the forthcoming downhill was too much, and riders up’d the pace along superb contour hugging skyline singletrack, to the best shepherds cottage in Northumberland and there we lingered (not long) enjoying the views and savouring a superb day’s riding before hurtling downhill to Doddington Village and then back onto the start route of the day, along the Sustrans trail to the waiting cars. No coffee shops, no lashings of tea and cake, no bike destroying grit and mud this week, only good company, fantastic weather and second to none vistas, 22 miles covered and some new un ridden gems of trails discovered. .... Cheers Izzy, Ian A, Ian S, Nico and Tom for a superb day’s moontinbiking. ~ GavMosstrooper. ....PS. See many more photos at
THE MUDDY BUMS (aka "the Clarty Ars#ses")
MOUNTAIN BIKING IN NORTHUMBERLAND AND BEYOND
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