Northumberland 250
Discussion
Skyedriver said:
Is Hartside still a thing or has it changed since it burnt down?
Was a regular route to the lakes for me, Whitfield, Alston, etc Shepherd Inn at Melmerby. Happy memories.
The pass is still there, obviously, and the large amount of parking at the top, but for refreshments I think a lot are heading down to Melmerby or over towards Alston; I really like The Nook, a bit up the A689, lush home baking. Was a regular route to the lakes for me, Whitfield, Alston, etc Shepherd Inn at Melmerby. Happy memories.
Skyedriver said:
Is Hartside still a thing or has it changed since it burnt down?
Was a regular route to the lakes for me, Whitfield, Alston, etc Shepherd Inn at Melmerby. Happy memories.
Sure is, I did the Military Road from Greenhead, Haydon Bridge, Whitfield, Alston, Hartside then back home through the Eden Valley last week (bridge closed at Langwathby), a pint in Kirkoswald on way back home. Folk still gather at Hartside and there's an ice cream van usually there on good days - a local entrepreneur has plans to build a new cafe but I'll believe it when I see it. Was a regular route to the lakes for me, Whitfield, Alston, etc Shepherd Inn at Melmerby. Happy memories.
coppice said:
Fine , I take your point , which was refreshingly politely made . If you will allow me to expand on why I get a little tight lipped sometimes. it is simply because it breaks my heart to see once quiet , deserted places which I have got to know over many years suddenly widely publicised (in the case of NW Scotland by the NC500 team , and subsequently by Clarkson and co ) , then become a bucket list thing to the extent that the essence of the appeal is diluted , if not destroyed by hordes of visitors. What had been a secret pleasure becomes public property - like being a Beatles fan before they became huge .
I don't exempt myself from criticism- I've written glowingly about Sutherland and Wester Ross myself (in car club magazines and my books ) and sometimes I really wish I'd kept quiet . I was horrified to encounter idiotic convoys on single tracks (are they frightened to drive alone?) , litter strewn laybys and some awful driving . I remember talking to one guy in a Porsche Turbo in Ulllapool, obviously on an organised tour, and asked which way hel' come and where they were headed - 'Not a clue mate, just follow the nav innit ' . The place deserves better . .
No problem, am never spoiling for a fight so take great care over wording. Likewise, I take your (very polite) point too; it can't be easy seeing a place dear to you treated poorly. Gatekeeping should, as far as possible, always be avoided (everybody has the same right to enjoy the area whether they found it 30 minutes or 30 years ago), but unquestionably it should always be treated with the greatest respect. It's disappointing to think that some do not.I don't exempt myself from criticism- I've written glowingly about Sutherland and Wester Ross myself (in car club magazines and my books ) and sometimes I really wish I'd kept quiet . I was horrified to encounter idiotic convoys on single tracks (are they frightened to drive alone?) , litter strewn laybys and some awful driving . I remember talking to one guy in a Porsche Turbo in Ulllapool, obviously on an organised tour, and asked which way hel' come and where they were headed - 'Not a clue mate, just follow the nav innit ' . The place deserves better . .
Your exposure to that is undoubtedly greater than mine, but I can only hope that while disheartening, it represents a small proportion of the visitors to the route; I've been lucky perhaps to seemingly have it all to myself, but definitely took only photos, and left no skidmarks - just a fair few shekels in the local enterprises visited (topped up by subsequent visits to those and other areas, because I loved it so much).
Lotobear said:
I'm fortunate to live on the doorstep of the south west section and so know these roads very well indeed and regularly drive them for pleasure.
It's great for the local economy that more folk get to know about them and I hope it's a success.
This is great to hear, and kind of the point in the marketing exercises in the first place (a quick google indicated growth of NC500 businesses at ~25% compared to ~6% for Scotland as a whole, in a certain period). As noted above, I guess the trick is somehow ensuring that it doesn't come at the expense of any social and environmental impact. I offer no solutions to this beyond 'not being a berk'.It's great for the local economy that more folk get to know about them and I hope it's a success.
Nick (promises to not be a berk in Northumberland)
Apart from 10 yrs in Edinburgh, I've lived in Northumberland for 40yrs and not one of my favorite roads is on that 250 map.
Me and my pals always used to get an os map. decide and area to investigate, and then just drive. No more planning than that.
The roads shown are all reasonably touristy 'main' routes which while beautiful and quite a good drive, can be a pita to drive ( mud,tractors, caravans etc). I don't even like the fabled Hartside Pass as it's pretty frustrating unless you are on a bike or it's 6am.
5% more tourists on any of those 250 miles won't make any difference to me.
I'm just glad more people know that Northumberland exists, isn't in Scotland and its beautiful.
Me and my pals always used to get an os map. decide and area to investigate, and then just drive. No more planning than that.
The roads shown are all reasonably touristy 'main' routes which while beautiful and quite a good drive, can be a pita to drive ( mud,tractors, caravans etc). I don't even like the fabled Hartside Pass as it's pretty frustrating unless you are on a bike or it's 6am.
5% more tourists on any of those 250 miles won't make any difference to me.
I'm just glad more people know that Northumberland exists, isn't in Scotland and its beautiful.
Chimune said:
Apart from 10 yrs in Edinburgh, I've lived in Northumberland for 40yrs and not one of my favorite roads is on that 250 map.
Me and my pals always used to get an os map. decide and area to investigate, and then just drive. No more planning than that.
The roads shown are all reasonably touristy 'main' routes which while beautiful and quite a good drive, can be a pita to drive ( mud,tractors, caravans etc). I don't even like the fabled Hartside Pass as it's pretty frustrating unless you are on a bike or it's 6am.
5% more tourists on any of those 250 miles won't make any difference to me.
I'm just glad more people know that Northumberland exists, isn't in Scotland and its beautiful.
I agree totallyMe and my pals always used to get an os map. decide and area to investigate, and then just drive. No more planning than that.
The roads shown are all reasonably touristy 'main' routes which while beautiful and quite a good drive, can be a pita to drive ( mud,tractors, caravans etc). I don't even like the fabled Hartside Pass as it's pretty frustrating unless you are on a bike or it's 6am.
5% more tourists on any of those 250 miles won't make any difference to me.
I'm just glad more people know that Northumberland exists, isn't in Scotland and its beautiful.
During the 60's to 80's I extensively road rallied from the Scottish borders down to the M62, There are many good decent roads and points of interest not on this route.
Thanks for all the info everyone. We only have 4 days of riding, so this is going to take up the middle 2 days and I'll plan a route for the journey too and from. I'm sure there are loads of good roads that are not on this map, but in 2 days I'm not going to be able to explore every corner of Northumberland. I would imagine this route has been designed to take in some tourist attractions and not just good driving roads and that's all I wanted to know really. Are they fun roads or just roads designed to get you from one tourist attraction to the next as quickly as possible?
I know a few of you say I should ditch the satnav and explore, but I've done a few rides like that before and found it a bit frustrating. People didn't know where they want to go or how to get there. Every 20-30 mins they would have to stop to looks at a map and often you would end up riding on the same roads you had been on earlier in the day. I prefer to plan a route before hand now, you don't have to stick to it if you don't want to, but at least I know there is a days worth of roads ahead of me, with a hotel at the end and you can do as much or as little of that route as you fancy. So even if I didn't follow this route, I would still plan my own route before leaving home.
We are heading up there at the end of Sept, so I'll update this thread then.
Thank you.
I know a few of you say I should ditch the satnav and explore, but I've done a few rides like that before and found it a bit frustrating. People didn't know where they want to go or how to get there. Every 20-30 mins they would have to stop to looks at a map and often you would end up riding on the same roads you had been on earlier in the day. I prefer to plan a route before hand now, you don't have to stick to it if you don't want to, but at least I know there is a days worth of roads ahead of me, with a hotel at the end and you can do as much or as little of that route as you fancy. So even if I didn't follow this route, I would still plan my own route before leaving home.
We are heading up there at the end of Sept, so I'll update this thread then.
Thank you.
Have a great trip, no matter where your headed you can’t go wrong, I had a ride out the Tyne Valley on Saturday and it was glorious.
If you pass thru Corbridge then Grants Bakery is well worth a stop. Lord Crewe Arms in Blanchland has an amazing Sunday Lunch and the Twice Brewed Inn does good food right on Hadrians Wall.
If you pass thru Corbridge then Grants Bakery is well worth a stop. Lord Crewe Arms in Blanchland has an amazing Sunday Lunch and the Twice Brewed Inn does good food right on Hadrians Wall.
The main point is, the coastal side of the route which would be the main attraction r most isn’t really that good. Beautiful place but the roads aren’t great.
I could probably whizz up a quick route that is 3x better in Northumberland that doesn’t include the coastal side.
Then if you wanted to include Cumbria and Dumfriesshire it would be up with the greatest roads in the world.
There’s a reason Evo use our roads so often these days now.
I could probably whizz up a quick route that is 3x better in Northumberland that doesn’t include the coastal side.
Then if you wanted to include Cumbria and Dumfriesshire it would be up with the greatest roads in the world.
There’s a reason Evo use our roads so often these days now.
Essarell said:
Have a great trip, no matter where your headed you can’t go wrong, I had a ride out the Tyne Valley on Saturday and it was glorious.
If you pass thru Corbridge then Grants Bakery is well worth a stop. Lord Crewe Arms in Blanchland has an amazing Sunday Lunch and the Twice Brewed Inn does good food right on Hadrians Wall.
The Lord Crewe Arms has the best pub garden I've ever had the pleasure of (it was once the cloister of the Abbey) but by god they charge the earth for the pleasure; £14.20 for a pint of Moretti and a short + mixer. Food too is overpriced and tiny portions(by local standards)If you pass thru Corbridge then Grants Bakery is well worth a stop. Lord Crewe Arms in Blanchland has an amazing Sunday Lunch and the Twice Brewed Inn does good food right on Hadrians Wall.
Phew! That was a close one!
I live in the red circle and I didn't fancy endless tourists driving past the house on a "circuit". I know this sounds Nimby.
I rather like only one car every hour or so trundling by.
The cyclists on the other hand are plentyfull and silent, but we are on the Fells and the gradients are severe, and this seems to attract a never ending stream of people in lycra.
I could sell Isotonic fluid to them and make a killing
Northumberland250 looks fun.
Pflanzgarten said:
The main point is, the coastal side of the route which would be the main attraction r most isn’t really that good. Beautiful place but the roads aren’t great.
I could probably whizz up a quick route that is 3x better in Northumberland that doesn’t include the coastal side.
Then if you wanted to include Cumbria and Dumfriesshire it would be up with the greatest roads in the world.
There’s a reason Evo use our roads so often these days now.
Yep, this is definitely a tourist's route, rather than a driver's route. Which I suppose it obviously should be. But I wouldn't necessarily say much of that route is going to give driving nirvana because most of the best roads in the North East are in areas of near wilderness, so there is nothing there, so not much point directing tourists there either. But I'm sure if anyone wants to do a more mixed routes that take in the must sees with a few detours to the area's finest driving roads, there would be any on here including myself who could suggest a few deviations. I could probably whizz up a quick route that is 3x better in Northumberland that doesn’t include the coastal side.
Then if you wanted to include Cumbria and Dumfriesshire it would be up with the greatest roads in the world.
There’s a reason Evo use our roads so often these days now.
Did the Scotland 500 in April and loved it. Hadn't heard of this route until it popped up on PistonHeads and planning on doing it next year. Whilst the 500 had lots of visitor attractions on the website, this one seems a bit bereft. Anyone recommend some stop offs? (excluding the coastal area - already done that)
Thanks
Thanks
Sylvias_Father said:
Did the Scotland 500 in April and loved it. Hadn't heard of this route until it popped up on PistonHeads and planning on doing it next year. Whilst the 500 had lots of visitor attractions on the website, this one seems a bit bereft. Anyone recommend some stop offs? (excluding the coastal area - already done that)
Thanks
There doesn't seem any point in doing it at all if you're missing out the coast (which as I've said isn't much cop for driving anyway). Basically you have Kielder Forrest to the west and nothing in between-except for beautiful driving roads of course!Thanks
The only other visitor attractions are south to the Roman Wall and then north up to Dunns and towards Edinburgh. All the Eastern attractions, Alnwick Gardens/Castle, Holy Island and the like are just on the coast road. That's great if you want to do the coast-we holiday over there most years for a week or so but driving nirvana it aint.
Depends what you're after but as a long time local I can't help thinking the Northumberland 250 is a waste of time to try and cash in on the others.
You'd have much more fun drawing a circle from Penrith, up to Moffat, over to Selkirk, up to Dunns, down back to Alston and find some stop offs in between.
Pflanzgarten said:
Sylvias_Father said:
Did the Scotland 500 in April and loved it. Hadn't heard of this route until it popped up on PistonHeads and planning on doing it next year. Whilst the 500 had lots of visitor attractions on the website, this one seems a bit bereft. Anyone recommend some stop offs? (excluding the coastal area - already done that)
Thanks
There doesn't seem any point in doing it at all if you're missing out the coast (which as I've said isn't much cop for driving anyway). Basically you have Kielder Forrest to the west and nothing in between-except for beautiful driving roads of course!Thanks
The only other visitor attractions are south to the Roman Wall and then north up to Dunns and towards Edinburgh. All the Eastern attractions, Alnwick Gardens/Castle, Holy Island and the like are just on the coast road. That's great if you want to do the coast-we holiday over there most years for a week or so but driving nirvana it aint.
Depends what you're after but as a long time local I can't help thinking the Northumberland 250 is a waste of time to try and cash in on the others.
You'd have much more fun drawing a circle from Penrith, up to Moffat, over to Selkirk, up to Dunns, down back to Alston and find some stop offs in between.
Sylvias_Father said:
Pflanzgarten said:
Sylvias_Father said:
Did the Scotland 500 in April and loved it. Hadn't heard of this route until it popped up on PistonHeads and planning on doing it next year. Whilst the 500 had lots of visitor attractions on the website, this one seems a bit bereft. Anyone recommend some stop offs? (excluding the coastal area - already done that)
Thanks
There doesn't seem any point in doing it at all if you're missing out the coast (which as I've said isn't much cop for driving anyway). Basically you have Kielder Forrest to the west and nothing in between-except for beautiful driving roads of course!Thanks
The only other visitor attractions are south to the Roman Wall and then north up to Dunns and towards Edinburgh. All the Eastern attractions, Alnwick Gardens/Castle, Holy Island and the like are just on the coast road. That's great if you want to do the coast-we holiday over there most years for a week or so but driving nirvana it aint.
Depends what you're after but as a long time local I can't help thinking the Northumberland 250 is a waste of time to try and cash in on the others.
You'd have much more fun drawing a circle from Penrith, up to Moffat, over to Selkirk, up to Dunns, down back to Alston and find some stop offs in between.
Duns is well worth a visit if motor sport is your thing . It must be something in the water, as Doug Niven and Louise Aitken Walker(amongst others ) share a home town with Jim Clark . The JC museum is small, but lovely and deeply moving and his grave . I've been many times and have been lucky enough to bump into various racing folk , most notably Peter Windsor and JC's early mentor , Ian Scot-Watson .
The remains of the old race circuit at Charterhall are also fascinating (to anoraks like me anyway ).
Jedburgh's nice too, and you'd be hard pushed to find a bad driving road in the area .
The remains of the old race circuit at Charterhall are also fascinating (to anoraks like me anyway ).
Jedburgh's nice too, and you'd be hard pushed to find a bad driving road in the area .
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