Hadrians Cycle Way
	3 Friends, 3 Cycles, 3 Days 4 days actually!

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Hadrian's Cycle Way was opened in 2006 and is billed as an easy ride, so we decided to give it a try, and this is our story.

See Bill Skippers report HERE.

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Getting to the start was an adventure initself. Leaving home we cycled to Newcastle Station and got aboard the train to Aspatria via Carlisle. Bill had sugested I had too much kit so I decanted a pile onto our kitchen table and by the end of the ride I had not missed any of the left behind kit, as usual the tendancy is too pack too much.
Sun shinning brightly we were soon at Central Station and our surrogate Dad for the trip, Bill, bought our tickets from the kitty and we were an hour ahead of schedule. This trans-penine train ride is beautiful and as an added excitment at the train change in Carlisle the steam train from the Settle line huffed and puffed through the station. Aspatria was no more than a Halt rather than a station and the GPS soon sorted out our orientation and a gentle 9 miles to our overnight at Nilth View B&B, Silloth.

Statistics. Time on bike: 2hours 40 min. Distance: 35km Ascent 259m Average: 13km/hr

Day two dawned as always early for me so having the luxury of my own room I had a nice walk along the promonade (not disturbing anyone) into the town, greeting the day with the dog walkers. Unbelievably good breakfast at Nilth View. We of course went for the official start photo in the centre of Silloth. First and probably most notable event of the trip was at Newton Arlosh where we were seated in the pub garden picnic table (before opening time) when a Barn Owl treated us to an extremly close fly by. It was magical and we all were gobsmacked at this natural demonstration of beauty in action. A Yellow Hammer was our next natural encounter, then two Spoonbills! What a great day this was turning out to be for my new hobby of birding; alas we got no photos BUT we did get a picture of one of the three British Snakes, the Adder. It was a bit feisty and as it is poisonous I used the telephoto facility to keep a decent distance.

Obviously all these natural spots were only possible because of the habitat which translates to scenery, the Solway Firth had brilliant vistas and is well worth the effort to experience at the pace of a cycle.

Statistics. Time on bike: 8 hours 31 min. Distance: 72km Ascent 235m Average: 8.4km/hr

Third day on the road and I was once more up at at 'em at 5am! Wonder what that's about? Maybe the son of a milkman then early mornings are instinct to me? Our previous eveings entertainment had been spiced up by Neil Rathbone joining us (and bringing the kit Bill had forgotten).

Statistics. Time on bike: 7 hours 9 min. Distance: 54km Ascent 779m Average: 7.5km/hr

Todays run from Carlisle to Twice Brewed can be summed up by three words; Hills, Hills, Hills. Twice Brewed Inn was a welcome sight and Denis tonight had his sister for company and Jono who had been collecting our gear joined us for the night as our back up driver. Last day and the most distance but we had summited our trans Penine route and today was punctuated by people enjoying the English summer, I noticed this so much I started to write a list of the activities we witnessed; Walkers, Rowers (scullers), Equestrians, Cyclists, Golfers, Motorcyclists, Historic Car drivers, Picnicers; wonderful and us arriving at Journeys end even better! A pictue of Den smiling so much that a dead fly was on his teeth summed up the whole trip, four days of Sun, Smiles and Scenery, roll on the next cycling adventure.

Statistics. Time on bike: 7 hours 16 min. Distance: 82km Ascent 532m Average: 11.3 km/hr

The End