Route: taking the B6357 to Saughtree. Then turning east on a minor road, shared with motorcycles, climbing very gradually to the border and coffee at Kielder Castle. Taking a wide undulating but sometimes busy road past the reservoir (the Moulton’s gears broke catastrophically here) and then country roads to The Cheviot, Bellingham for lunch. Taking initially steep country roads to reach Elsdon for tea at the Bird in Hand and then a long climb and fine descent into Cocketdale and a mix of climbs and descents along the southern side of the valley to reach Rothbury.
Conditions: a cloudy, greyer, bleaker day, even quite chilly at lunch time.
Pubs: at lunch time, The Cheviot, Bellingham for High House Farm, Nel’s Best and Allendale Tyneside Gold; in the evening, the Queens Head, Rothbury for Kelham Island Dark Moor, Jennings Cumberland and Brewdog IPA.
