I broke new ground today by taking the AVE to Consett in the car and setting off west on the C2C path.
The path is up and down to start with, but soon settles into a long, steady climb to the cafe at Parkhead Station.
A brisk headwind made it hard work, but worse was to come.
As I discovered, the C2C path becomes very rough west of Parkhead, chunky gravel, dirt, grass, stones the size of your fist.
So I decided to drop down to Stanhope on the B road.
Now comes the hard bit, the route back means going up Crawleyside Bank which goes on for three quarters of mile and reaches 17%.
On top of that, there's another mile or so of steepish climbing back up to Parkhead Station.
The good news is I managed it, hard work, but I didn't feel in any real danger of conking out.
There was a loaded quarry lorry on the steepest bit and I was all but catching up to it.
Good thing the ruddy thing didn't start to roll backwards.
I reckon the climb from Stanhope to Parkhead is about 230m.
Aside from the climbs, one of the highlights was my first sight of what I believe to be an adder.
I recall a report on BBC Countryfile about them being in the area.
It was basking in the sun on a yellow-coloured gravel path.
I managed to avoid running over it, adder quick look as I trundled past, but didn't stop so as not to disturb it any more.
There were two Volt folders when I returned to the cafe at Parkhead - their owners were pleased with them but said they soon realised they needed a spare battery each.
Speaking of batteries, I didn't need the spare, but the 11ah were all but used up by the time I reached Consett.
I was all but used up, too, and decided not to tackle what passes for the rush hour in Consett until I'd had a rest and light refreshments.
One minor mechanical with the AVE - the chain jumped off the front ring due, I reckon, to a combination of speed over bumpy ground and attempting a change under power.
Happily, it didn't jam too solidly, so no harm done.
The round trip drive is about 50 miles, and I'd hoped to match that on the bike.
But I reckoned without some of those bike miles being quite so hard.
The path is up and down to start with, but soon settles into a long, steady climb to the cafe at Parkhead Station.
A brisk headwind made it hard work, but worse was to come.
As I discovered, the C2C path becomes very rough west of Parkhead, chunky gravel, dirt, grass, stones the size of your fist.
So I decided to drop down to Stanhope on the B road.
Now comes the hard bit, the route back means going up Crawleyside Bank which goes on for three quarters of mile and reaches 17%.
On top of that, there's another mile or so of steepish climbing back up to Parkhead Station.
The good news is I managed it, hard work, but I didn't feel in any real danger of conking out.
There was a loaded quarry lorry on the steepest bit and I was all but catching up to it.
Good thing the ruddy thing didn't start to roll backwards.
I reckon the climb from Stanhope to Parkhead is about 230m.
Aside from the climbs, one of the highlights was my first sight of what I believe to be an adder.
I recall a report on BBC Countryfile about them being in the area.
It was basking in the sun on a yellow-coloured gravel path.
I managed to avoid running over it, adder quick look as I trundled past, but didn't stop so as not to disturb it any more.
There were two Volt folders when I returned to the cafe at Parkhead - their owners were pleased with them but said they soon realised they needed a spare battery each.
Speaking of batteries, I didn't need the spare, but the 11ah were all but used up by the time I reached Consett.
I was all but used up, too, and decided not to tackle what passes for the rush hour in Consett until I'd had a rest and light refreshments.
One minor mechanical with the AVE - the chain jumped off the front ring due, I reckon, to a combination of speed over bumpy ground and attempting a change under power.
Happily, it didn't jam too solidly, so no harm done.
The round trip drive is about 50 miles, and I'd hoped to match that on the bike.
But I reckoned without some of those bike miles being quite so hard.
