A Quick One Before They Cut It Off - 8th April 2011

Swalwell to Consett and back again along the Derwent Walk
(approximately 24 miles)

Greetings. Someone's still reading this blog? Blimey.
Well, due to getting a new phone which has a camera in it that takes picture bigger than a postage stamp, I thought it was time to dust the cobwebs off the blog and post again.
We also dusted the cobwebs off Jim, for his first ride of the year.
He's a "fair weather cyclist".


I had a rare day off, and Ian was counting down the days till some "surgeon" hacks away at his knee and replaces it with a Lego one. Sort of a last chance to have a pedal.

So, on a sunny Friday afternoon, it was off for a Magical Mystery Tour in Jim's van to the bottom of the Derwent Walk at Swalwell.

Soon rolling along at a steady pace.
For about half a mile.

I'd forgotten to turn the GPS on (for blogging purposes), and Jim needed to fiddle about.

A bar fly adjusting his bar ends.

Peter's And Lee - The Reunion

Not the fastest of starts then, but we managed at least another mile, before stopping at the Nine Arches Viaduct for Jim (Doctor Doolittle) to do a spot of birdwatching.

A Red Kite. In the distance. The far distance.

I call this composition "Two Chancers On a Viaduct"

Two rest stops in the first 15 mins wasn't the frantic pace I'd had in mind when we set off, so I put my foot on the gas a bit, and we started to get somewhere.

As it turns out, old man Jim was suprisingly speedy, what with having his racing slicks on, so we managed to make some decent progress. It is all uphill you know!

We had a quick rest at the old station at Lintz Green, where we gave out some directions to a cyclist from Darlington who wanted to get to Chopwell Woods. Not sure if we're the best ones to ask directions from, but there you go.

It was a pretty warm day in the sun, just nice for cycling, and a bit further on we had a sit down just past Ebchester to take on water, where a scene of horror unfolded.

Schwarzenegger let himself go after Terminator 2

He's an arty bastard is our resident wedding photographer

Jesus F***in' Christ!!!!

Some photos have to be covered up to protect the innocent out there. I have no idea what was going on here, the things you see when you get your camera back.

Perhaps driven on by the horrors just witnessed, we set off again, Ian at a particularly breakneck speed. By the time we got up to the old steel works at Consett, he was long gone in the distance.
I hung back for Jim on the hills, as he's getting on a bit now, and this was his first ride for six months. (He claims)

"I've fallen Vic, and I can't get up"

Not tired at all, just getting going in fact.

When we caught him up, and after Jim had stopped to have a natter to some bloke at an allotment, we eventually rolled up to Hownsgill Tea Rooms, which thankfully was open.

Pot of tea, toasties, some chips, and a plate sized wedge of Banoffee Gateaux and cream. 

Is this the face of a man about to get his leg replaced?

He can look quite normal sometimes

Banoffee Gateaux and Cream - well, it was earlier.

The farm where the tea room is located was obviously in the middle of lambing season. And despite the fact they wouldn't stand still for 5 minutes, a photo was taken.

They'll have eaten it by now.

Well, they have to close sometime, so we had to get on the bikes again eventually.

At least it's downhill most of the way back, and we raced along.

Me and Ian had a little bit of a race the last 2 miles, full tilt. Talk about knackered. But it was Ian's last fling for a while. Mind, I wasn't going to let "Competative Ian" win. That wouldn't do, and it didn't matter if he broke something on the knee as they were bunging a new one in. Might as well get a last go out of it.

We was sweating buckets when we arrived back at the transport.

Jim arrived 5 mins later.

Sweaty chaps. Ian is still distorting the world around him.

The Winnaaaar!

So, a decent ride out for Ian's last hurrah. Who knows when the Bionic Man will get back out on the bike? I might have to post a blog or two just to keep the world informed.

I have a kml file of the route, but the internet is being evil and my hosting has died a bit since the last time I used it. I'll get around to it.