We have arrived home and after all that exercise I would love to say that 'we are but shadows of our former selves' but after eating a delicious cooked breakfast every morning and eating out every evening we have not lost a single ounce in weight! (but we have loved the food!) So why did we do it? So why did we embark on what others thought was a crazy mission? There were two reasons. We were on away weekend with Nick and Sarah, and Sarah had asked us to make a bucket list to

The best ride of the trip! Distance: 32.67 miles Elevation Gain: 1,694 We have done it!! We are sitting comfortably in the HIlton Hotel, Newcastle, back from where we started 10 days ago. We creak in more bones and ache in more muscles than we ever knew we possessed, but are so happy at what we have achieved. There were times in the trip when I simply wanted to be beamed up but sometimes in life there is no choice but to carry on, and how proud we both feel for doing just tha

Day 9 Distance: 33 miles Elevation gain; 1,995 ft. We felt sad at saying goodbye to our amazing hosts, Lisa and Colin at Inglestone Guest House in Kelso who had treated us as friends of the family. Such a lovely couple. We were also full of apprehension at what the day might bring. The Met office had forecast 95% chance of rain from dawn to dusk all along the route we were to be following. We saw the forecast on TV before we left and this again showed a swathe of blue, indic

Day 8 Mileage: 33 miles Elevation Gain:1,507ft Can you imagine my surprise/shock when I looked in the mirror this morning? In spite of using oodles of sun screen my face has caught the sun. That would have been OK except that my bike- helmet straps have left two,very visible, white stripes down the side of my face. (laughing emoji!) Well, today was so very different from yesterday and was a truly joyous ride. You can see from the elevation graph above that there was one hill

The Coast Route Distance: 27 MIles Elevation Gain 1,416ft We had a choice of two routes today, a coastal route or a road route, so we chose the coastal thinking it would be more interesting. On reflection that was a bit of a mistake... Just peeling off from the road to Lindisfarne we were directed onto a cycle track. It was the rough gravel type track which shakes the timbers out of us and the bikes. This went on for a couple of miles until we crossed a small bridge, only

Stunning Ride Distance Travelled: 28.6m. Elevation Gain 1,055ft Today was a perfect day for cycling. Sunny, a tail wind for most of the way and a really pleasant temperature of about 21c. Only when we came towards the end of the ride did we battle against a much stronger blustery headwind. The ride took us along the coast and meandered through coastal farmland on a long and winding cycle track. It was a delight when we turned a corner and saw, across the fields, our first gl

A wonderful ride today Miles Cycled: 36.25 Elevation Gain 800ft I want to start by sending huge thanks to my lovely sister Elaine. The Met weather forecast for today was for 30% chance of rain at the start of the ride in Tynemouth rising to a 90% chance as the ride progressed towards Warkworth. Elaine's sacrifice of a whole bottle of wine worked wonders. We had a southerly wind helping along the route all day and there was sunshine in-between allowing us to ride in tee shirt

Coast to Coast completed Distance Travelled: 31m Elevation Gained :1,213ft. Today was an absolute joy! We started the day with a breakfast fit for royalty... never in the history of cyclists overnight accommodation is there anyone as good as Tove at Fellcroft B&B in Corbridge. Tove was determined to give us all the inner fuel we would need for our journey today, She is most definitely the Saddle Skedaddle host of the decade. The thought and care that she puts into everythin

We crossed the Pennines! Distance: 30 miles. Elevation Gain 1766feet First of all a huge thanks to all of you who sacrificed their wine to the Weather Gods. The Met Office weather forecast today was for heavy rain most of the day. Well, it was a grey start to the day but as the time moved on the rain held off and we arrived in Corbridge in sunshine. Saddle describe the ride as the most dramatic of the trip, and dramatic it most certainly was. The views were absolutely amaz

Our longest ride for many a year! Total distance 39.9 miles: Total Elevation Gain..2,048 ft. What a mixed bag of emotions today! After a terrific 6.30am (!!!!!) breakfast at the HIlton We were met at 8.00am at the hotel by our driver, Paul, ready to be driven over to Bowness on the West Coast. (And yes, we finished a delicious breakfast by 7.00am and it really did take an hour to carry the suitcases from our bedroom and then carry all the paniers, saddle bags handle-bar bags,

I don’t think there is an equivalent phrase to “mid-life crisis” - but there should be! Since completing our mega ride from Lands End to John O’Groats back in 2018 we have been itching to have another significant adventure. However although we have had several great cycling holidays since then we have not really challenged ourselves in any meaningful way. This year we are in our dotage and so realise that if we don't do something now, we probably never will and will be cyc

Romans, Reivers and Castles Day 10/11 11/09/19 After a luxurious night at the splendid Hilton Hotel in Newcastle we packed up to go home,...

Romans, Reivers and Castles Day 9: 10/09/19 This is a short blog tonight. We arrived back in Newcastle at 6.45pm and by the time we had...

Romans, Reivers and Castles Day 8: 09/09/19 Last night I was thinking about John Keat's poem, 'Ode to Autumn' and could only think "I...

Romans, Reivers and Castles 08/09/19 What a terrific day! I awoke this morning feeling refreshed after collapsing into bed at 9.30pm last...

Castles, Roman and Reivers Day 7: 07/09/19 It is Bob writing the Blog tonight as although Annette is happy with her achievements today...

Romans, Castles and Reivers Day 6: 06/09/19 We started the day at Warkworth Castle and ended at Bamburgh Castle, passing the ruins of...

Romans, Reivers and Castles: Day 5: 04/09/19 "This coast was made for cycling, And that's what we will do...." Tra La La... Today was a...

Romans, Reivers and Castles Day 4: Corbridge to Tyneside Today was special. We caught a glimpse of something rare and unusual. It was...

Romans, Reivers and Castles Day 2: 3/9/19 Thanks to all of you who made offerings to the Weather Gods last night. It is however a bit of...