Lanchester Valley: 23/07/06
A nice, easy (flat) ride to start off with. From Durham I headed out to Langley Moor where I picked up the Lanchester Valley Railway Path. This 12 mile stretch took me to just outside Consett where it met up with the C2C network. Lots of 'interesting' sculptures along here like Terris Novalis (the theodolite and level) which was my ultimate goal. It was downhill pretty much all the way back, which was nice. In all, the roundtrip was just under 30 miles.

Northern Pennines: 29/07/06
The weather forecast looked good - no rain, so I chucked the bike in the car and drove the 40 odd miles to Alston in the North Pennines. It was a bit overcast when I got there but I headed off on a 25 mile loop around to the east of Alston. On the opposite side I met up with the C2C network at the Mine Museum in Nenthead. Got a little lost here as I ended up cycling straight through the museum site - couldn't see any C2C signs. I was originally planning on then heading over to the source of the South Tyne and following the river back to Alston. But at this point it started pouring with rain so I followed the C2C back to Crossgill and from Garrigill followed the river to Alston. (Incidentally there's a particularly nasty descent on the C2C at Crossgill which I'm surprised made it into the C2C - 'twas pretty lethal when wet). Also I shouldn't really have been cycling along the river as it was a designated footpath - but there was no one else around and I was on a mountain bike...