Highlights, Hotels, and our Cycling Route

Hi All,

Here's a map showing our stopovers and our cycle route as well as some places of interest.

Scrolling north to Edinburgh you'll find our hotel and southeast of it you'll find a marker for Gilmerton Cove where there are mysterious caves.  We have a tour already booked.

We stay four nights in Edinburgh and we'll report on our adventures each day.

A short train ride will get us to Newcastle where we overnight at the Jesmond Hotel before being transported by van to Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast.
Just below the Scottish border is our cross-country route on the Hadrian's Cycleway.  I've stopped it at the Millennium Bridge in Newcastle but we will be riding right to the east coast below the Priory.

We immediately begin our ride east for 28 miles (sorry, the British don't use metric distances) and stop in Brampton at Oval House.  We'll take our time and explore all the Roman sites we find.  Carlisle should be interesting.  A highlight will be meeting up with a YouTube friend from Keswick who will travel with us for part of this leg.

Day two takes us 22 miles along to the Vallum Lodge in Once Brewed/Twice Brewed. We'll also sample some ales in the Twice Brewed Inn.

A 19 mile leg on day three contains the highest point of the route, Crindledykes, and at day's end we'll be at the Norgate B&B in Corbridge.

The final leg, 31 miles long, contains long level stretches following the Tyne River.  We'll call our handlers when we reach the Millennium Bridge and arrange to meet them below the Priory for transfer back to the Jesmond Hotel.

Next morning we are off by train to Paddington Station in London and it's a stone's throw from the Normandie Hotel where we are booked for 4 nights.  We've incorporated a short day trip to Oxford by train, it being roughly an hour's travel away.

Later,
Jim



View Our Stays and Ways in a larger map

Ready to roll

Just four more physiotherapy sessions before we depart but I'm sure I'm ready.  Monday had me attending an aerobics class with all sorts of fancy footwork just a couple of hours after physiotherapy and it went very well.  Rode my touring bike in for a tune-up this morning and just picked it up.

We've been adding little tweaks to our itinerary, the latest being a day trip to Oxford.

Luggage has been test packed, electronics have been tested, Pounds Sterling have been bought.

24 mile ride today out the Ottawa River. Tiny bit of soreness when I got home but it has almost disappeared already.

I saw my orthopaedic surgeon two days ago for a follow up and was told I could resume cycling and other physical activities.  Yesterday I went for my first cycle ride in almost seven months and found it easy, though there was a little muscle fatigue towards the end. But cycling is now in the picture and I can build up my stamina in the coming weeks.  The Hadrian's route is not terribly strenuous so I am very happy with this development.

Here's that ride.

Green Light

Saw my surgeon today and I've got the green light to get on the bike and go.  I've already been using the trainer with my longest indoor ride being 15 miles.  Indoor training doesn't reflect an actual bike ride in that there is no coasting downhill, etc. I also held it in high gear for protracted periods unlike what one would encounter in a real ride.

My traveling buddy is in charge of the tourist attractions and has already picked out some interesting things in both Edinburgh and London.  A good number of them are new to me despite having been to Edinburgh twice and to London a handful of times.