Riccarton Junction

Some people think that the Kielder area is always grey, misty, damp and dismal.  They are not entirely right. On Saturday Kielder was in fact beautifully sunny, crisp and dry (a good name for a cooking oil). But today, the day we chose to ride there, Kielder was indeed grey, misty, damp and just a bit dismal. It was also fricking chilly - just the sort of weather that the Scot's call "guy driek".

But for all of that - the Muddy Bums managed to wring a good ride out of an otherwise unpromising day. We met up at the Lewis Burn car park where (eventually) the gathering consisted of Ian A, Isobel, Dave, Nico, Gary, Mark, Derek, Willie & Julie (in reverse order of time of arrival). Derek was trail blazing today and set us all off at a cracking pace up towards Bloodybush Edge. The drizzle picked up a gear as we all dropped a cog or two as we slogged ever upwards. Finally reaching the watershed (aka Scotland) we were then treated to a long, long descent of a greasy landrover track all the way down to the Liddel Valley.

Once in the valley, a few km's on tarmac took us to our first stretch of railway. No ordinary railway this - we were on the famous "Waverley Line". This was a rail route from Carlisle to Edinburgh that met the rail line from the Tyne Valley at Riccarton Junction. Unsurprisingly the rail lines are long gone (although odd pieces of rail and many sleepers can still be seen in various structures along the way) but the route is still navigable by bike, on a generaly good surface and never particularly steep.

Arriving at Riccarton Junction itself could be seen as a bit of a disappointment. Its actually a bit of a boging mix of tumble down buildings, scrubby land, rusting metal and black clarty trails. But it is full of history and the info board tells of a large community of rail workers that were employed at this important rail junction - cut off from the outside world other than through use of the trains themselves. See more about Riccarton Junction here and a photo of the site 100 years ago here.

Lunch was taken at a rather pleasant bothy (all things being relative). I think Derek was a bit worried that it might be a tad early for lunch, so he cycled us well past the hidden bothy and up the hill, before turning us back down to the right place.

After lunch the old Border Counties rail line route to Kielder was taken. At first this was a rather overgrown and unrideably boggy affair, but soon it turned into a more open and speedy track. A restored railway station and old diesel loco were studied en route - before the long crossing back down to Kielder Village. Here someone insisted we return to the cars before a coffee stop - and so the trail through the forest and back to Lewis Burn was selected. Totally different from the forest roads and rail line - here we found ourselves off piste and on a mix of moss, tree routes, modern singletrack and a very impressive newish bridge crossing the Lewis Burn.

The cars were reached shortly after 3pm when thankfully it was drier and warmer than it had been when we set off. All in all a good ride, taking in some scenery, history and variety of trails. But the reputation of Kielder (as a guy driek place) survived intact on this day. This impression was made even worse by the fact that just a few miles down the road the dark clouds disappeared and the sun was much in evidence - as it had been all day in most of Northumberland other than the corner we had been in. Thanks to Derek for some great route (root) finding.  Mark

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

MOUNTAIN BIKING IN NORTHUMBERLAND AND BEYOND

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