Hamsterley Forest

Today was a great day for a lie in, a leisurely breakfast, a read of the papers, a trip to the pub for lunch then a snooze in the afternoon. But it was not a great day for mountain biking. A cold, very wet, windy and generally ucky type of day. But a few hardy Muddy Bums still turned out at Hamsterley prepared to give it a go.

Gary, Willie, Julie, Arthur, Derek, Ian A, Kevin and Mark all looked a bit reluctant to get out of the cars to start with. But spirits began to glimmer a bit when the rain eased up temporarily - so we were off - and straight onto the Black Route. This started a fairly remorseless climb on relativley easy terrain - with temperatures rising as height was gained. But even this was more than Julie fancied so she returned to the car to read the papers. The rest of us slogged on.

A few technical descents got the blood pumping a bit more, with tree routes and small sumps & drop offs ready to catch the unwarey behind every tree. A bit of improvished route finding discovered a few previously unknown trails that proved quite entertaining. One "green route" along the river was particularly nice (easy, scenic and varied) although we couldn't help notice the marker signs had footprints rather than wheels on them.

All thoughts of taking the original route out of the forest and across the moors to Doctor's Gate were abandoned as the weather continued to vary from unpleasant to hideous. Lunch was taken huddled in deep heather sheltered by a big stand of trees. And then the weather got really bad. Torrential rain mixed with gale force winds quickly made riding into an ordeal. No one spoke but put heads down, tails up and tore back down into the valley towards the cars. Thankfully no one punctured, slide off or lost their way on the descent - which given the conditions was actually quite an accomplishment. We arrived back at the cars just after 1pm feeling and looking a bit like rats that had been flushed down a toilet - and a very cold one at that.

Everyone changed and then retreated to the cafe for some heat restoring drinks and cakes.

Hamsterley Forest might be a great riding area for some folk who don't know better, or who are lucky enough to get good weather. But I suspect if I suggested a return Muddybums visit anytime soon - there wouldn't be many takers.

Lets hope the weather Gods give us a break for the planned Kielder night ride & BBQ next Saturday !

Mark

THE MUDDY BUMS  (aka "the Clarty Ars#ses")

MOUNTAIN BIKING IN NORTHUMBERLAND AND BEYOND

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