Cycling day 48: Amble to Haswell Plough

The ride today was fairly flat for most of it, but ended with a climb via a path on the route of a former railway. After some initial countryside the route started to pass through urban areas, most notably around the Tyne. I found that the signing of NCR1 seemed to disappear somewhere around Whitley Bay or Tynemouth, so instead I just followed the coast road until I was eventually able to pick up some signs again. It was probably just one sign missing, but that’s all that’s needed to lose the route.

Tyne cycle tunnelThe cycle routes get complex near to the Tyne. There are several of them. There’s NCR1 ultimately heading north / south, NCR72 the Hadrian’s Cycleway, and NCR10 the Reivers Cycle Route (currently being renumbered from Regional Cycle Route 10). There’s also NCR14 on the south side of the Tyne. Something signed as NCR7 (which, I admit, I was surprised to see here — perhaps it’s mis-signed?) and Regional Cycle Route 20 make an appearance as well. Strictly following NCR1 I could have used a ferry to cross the Tyne, but instead I used a portion of NCR72 and NCR14 to cross via the Tyne foot / cycle tunnel (Actually it’s two parallel tunnels, one for pedestrians and the other for cyclists.). Unlike the Greenwich Foot Tunnel which I’ll be using in a few days’ time it seems that cycling is allowed in the Tyne cycle tunnel.

On my way out of the Tyne urban area I met a PCSO out on a beat using a bicycle. We chatted for a bit about my ride and I gave him a card about the trip.

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