THE MUDDY BUMS (aka "the Clarty Ars#ses") MOUNTAIN BIKING IN NORTHUMBERLAND AND BEYOND

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Where : Felton, Sunday July 18th
How many and who - 7, Julie, Tom, Willie, Arthur, Kevin,Dave and Ian A
How Far - 25 miles
Time : Departed at 10.00am and returned to cars at 14.45pm - 4 hrs 45 mins
Weather : Warm dry and a strong breeze all day

Route

• Felton to Warkworth along the southern banks of the river Coquet, the first leg being a lovely high speed single track with the odd surprise especially for Ian as he gently flew over the handlebars after catching his pedal on a well concealed divot, A twisted left knee had the injured one unable to stand up until Dave offered a helping hand. The trouble with riding with Kevin is that you cannot moan about your injuries without feeling like a woose,so just keep quiet and ride on.
• Crossing the Coquet at the caravan park would have been better by the new footbridge but the high speed descent had everyone at the ford in a blink of the eye, the river appeared shallow but unfortunately it was about an inch too high as we all rode out with wet feet ,and so early in the day
• Because the group was a little smaller than usual Willie decided to do a few extra bridles which all linked up well with the usual trials and some interesting tracks into the woods at Warkworth moor were left for another day
• Just past Shilbottle lunch was taken in a picturesque meadow on Beacon hill
• The bridles to Snipe house and Shiel Dykes had the map out on a few occasions as some farmers are less keen on marking the correct gates to use,(upon checking the memory map at home you got it spot on Willie)
• Somewhere across these many fields we came across a midget horse, you may see a photo of Arthur standing alongside,theres probably a caption competition coming soon,
• During the return journey Ian apparently dozed off as Julie rode past and he leant towards her ever so slightly but just enough to catch his handlebar end into her bulging muffin top earning himself a free 100 meter tow before it released with a big sucking noise,(I have e mailed Julie to see if she found my bell after showering)
• Newton on the Moor before crossing the extremely busy A1 with Julie acting as the lollipop Lady with everyone choosing to ignore her advice and just dodging between the high speed cars.
• The tarmac down to Brainshaugh was taken in big ring at high speed before the sharp right hander at the weir, time for a jelly baby stop. We met a local fisherman here just getting his gear of a quad bike before descending to the river, bit af a miserable old bugger who caught two things before casting his line the first being a tree and the second a glimpse of our Muddy babe adjusting her seat in the bushes
• Back to Felton via Acton Hall and a well earned coffee stop in the local café

Thanks for leading yet again Willie

PS : Kevin never fell off all day and Julie only moaned once (It started after a minute and continued all day) .......................... (only kidding - Kevin did fall off - just no one spotted it) !

Cheers,
Ian A