Day 2 Saturday – Mileage – 135 miles

Having all made it down for breakfast we headed up the coast towards  Bamburgh Castle, stopping off at Seahouses for a light bite before we got there.

Again the weather was superb and with the sea on our right, reminded me very much of the coast road in Ireland.

The roads were fantastic on the 50+ miles to Bamburgh castle.

We all paid our £7.00 entrance fee, with no discount for  ‘National Trust’ members this time – I think they were slight miffed!!

We all had a good look around the castle (which is a proper castle with all the right castley bits to see) and having had a light snack in the café, set off again at 3.30pm.

With the day still young, we headed further north to Holy Island (Lindisfarne) – in previous years we have planned to go across to the island but never made it in time for the tides – this time we got there at low(ish) tide and we could actually get across the causeway, which is several miles long and a bit spooky, as you can see the tide markers and the safety tower designed to rescue people who get stuck….   The tide here apparently moves incredibly fast, so caution is needed.

This was a weird experience as the sea covers the road surface when the tide is in, so you are always conscious of the possibility of being cut off.

We could see the massive structure of Lindisfarne Priory in the distance and got as close to it before hitting a private road, so could go no further…. National Bloody Trust again !!!  ….so we couldn’t go right up to it and had to park with the building in the back ground.   No problem – the photos were duly taken anyway!!

Conscious of the tide (low tide was at 12ish; high tide at 8pm and this was 4pm….) we made a hasty retreat back to  the mainland again.

We headed south on the reverse route, except at a more progressive speed, getting back to the Avalon by 6.30pm. Another cracking day’s riding was had by all.

Again, out for tea at night – Pizza place and we were almost the only ones, in which again told us that Whitley Bay was quieter than last year.(?)  I guess nowhere is escaping the credit crunch….

Moving back to the hotel we all had another good HOC (Blue Tshirt!) night with much beer and merriment being had by all.

Day 3 Sunday – Mileage – 155 miles

This was one of the BEST RIDING days EVER!! – Period.

We set off at 11am for the HD dealer in Newcastle– ‘Just Harleys’ and after having a look around we headed out of town towards Hadrian’s Wall. For those who went last year we headed down the same perfectly straight but undulating roads which stretched for miles & miles. We stopped at the Inn at Twice Brewed for a full Sunday Roast and to top up the (human) tanks.

I handed out the ‘Tour Pins’ I’d purchased at the dealer, for all those present, as a “Thank-you” for supporting the club.

Heading off again further west towards Carlisle (25 miles away), we stopped at a Roman Museum, showing you all about Hadrian’s Wall. This massive 75 mile Wall can only be seen in bits now as over the 2000 years of its existence, the stones have been removed on a regular basis for other buildings in the area, ie. the locals have nicked all the stones!

We had our photos taken on some remains, as we did in Ireland……. (?), but at a slightly different scale !!

The trip then turned into what was going to be one of the BEST riding days ever.

We headed from the Roman sites north to Kielder Water and Forest. These roads were good and the lake and surrounding scenery was stunning. We had a quick photo session by the lakeside, then as it was coming up to 5pm, we made tracks down the A68 and then onto the B6342. These roads are FANTASTIC, with something to interest everybody riding-wise.

Tight & bendy with miles & miles of straight undulating roads with some so severe, you had positive and negative ‘g’ when going over the rises or hitting the compressions. These roads put the biggest smile on your face!!

With the Sat Nav having done the business, we headed back to the Avalon for 6.30pm.

Same story, back to Weatherspoons for something to eat and more beers at night - with the formula working a treat why spoil a good thing???

Today had been a fantastic day!!

Day 4 Monday – Mileage – 195 miles

Having all had breakfast and paid our bills, we split up for the journey home - Will went off and headed down the A1/M1,  Tony B went into Newcastle to meet his mate, which just left Dave & Kim, Deb & me to ride home.

We had decided that we were not going to use the normal route (via A686) this time, but retrace our steps from the previous day along the ‘Roman Roads’ parallel to Hadrian’s Wall to Carlisle. This is the narrowest point from coast to coast in the UK and therefore it seemed a really short time to get from east to west!!  We stopped off at a Trout Farm, which served a delicious afternoon tea – how bloody civilised!!

When we got to Carlisle, Dave took the lead and led us perfectly south through the lakes, stopping off at Windermere for an ice cream (where Rob met someone he knows – what’s the chances of that???  D)  With the bank holiday tourists flooding the area, we didn’t stay too long and set off along some roads I’ve never been down, towards Lancaster from the lakes which again didn’t disappoint!

Deb then led us from Preston to home where a nice beer was had by all.

Our day ended at 6pm with Dave & Kim getting home at 7.15 pm.

Having checked up that our other HOC members had got home OK, my duty as your ‘El Pres’ was over for another adventure……..

Summary

I’ve got to perfectly honest at this point.  The HOC members who went all had a great time with the riding being some of the best ever I/we’ve experienced. With some 640 miles being ridden in 4 days, down some of the most stunning roads, in terms of riding holidays, this will be hard to beat.

However, I feel disappointed that so few members experienced it as they’ve missed out BIG time. This trip felt different from the previous Whitley Bay trips – partly due to the fact that Whitley Bay was quieter, but mostly because there were so few of us who attended this year. I’ve told Mick what the crack is with commitment & numbers etc and he fully understands.

We planned Whitley Bay as an annual club trip – the only one – to replace the previous visits down to the Cider Rally, which is vastly oversubscribed. If we had gone to the Cider Rally this weekend, we would have been completely rained off – as it was, we had 4 days of brilliant blue skies and fantastic riding.

If HOC want to carry on doing this trip, more commitment is needed. You have 12 months to plan this into your diaries – last bank holiday in May - or lose it and weep!!

Remember, this is a holiday for riding and using the bikes like they should be used.

Fantastic fun, fantastic roads and a really good place to stay – can’t recommend it highly enough.

El Pres... Over & out!!