Big skies & sticky trails

Day 1: Exploring Kielder

As has become our custom for the last few years a plan to get away in September was hatched, Sara had limited time this year so a full week of touring became two days of riding without driving to the other end of Scotland as usual.

Northumberland is a place we both know and love, but despite spending time here we’d hardly scratched the surface ride wise, a last minute bed and breakfast was booked and then the maps consulted.

Kielder was the base for numerous mountain bike races promoted by Sara back when she did that sort of thing but apart from route recceing she has hardly ever ridden in the area. I had long wanted to explore the various art installations that live around the reservoir, it was obvious what to do. Mixing up and taking bits from the Reivers Way and the Sandstone Way would get us across to the water.

The direct route was busy roads but there was a route over the tops that looked inviting, apart from the fact that it was a military training area though not in continual use.