Acclimatisation and Reconnaisance.

My son is running a half marathon on the High Peak trail from Friden to Cromford this coming Saturday and, in a moment of parental madness, I agreed to be his club's drink dispenser and cheerleader. My chosen location was Longcliffe, about half way on his run and I decided to do a trial run this last Saturday past to see how long it would take to cycle there and to find a suitable spot to hand out the drinks. I went via Kirk Langley, Mercaston, Hulland and Brassington. Most of the hills were not too bad although there was a depressing tendency for several kilometres of steady climbing to be negated by a short steep downhill, often with a sharp turn at the bottom prior to the next climb. The quite strong wind was against until I turned east after climbing up past Carsington reservoir. The final climb up through Brassington to Longcliffe is a granny gear slog. As the trail would be likely to be busy with runners on the day I decided to try the road which runs alongside the trail past Hopton before joining the B road leading down to Cromford. That, I discovered, is a switchback with several short sharp uphill bits.
On Monday the tides for Holy Island were favourable so I went by train to Berwick to re-familiarise myself with NCN1 along the coast. My last experience of the section just south of Berwick was that it was a mudbath so I diverted via Scremerston before rejoining the route at Cocklawburn. I also took the old route as marked on the Sustrans Coasts and Castles map between Goswick and Beal. The new route goes round Beal Point and is narrow and rutted and a bit longer.
Having located the entrance to the (long) drive to our B&B I set off for the village of Lindisfarne but having reached somewhere about half way across the causeway I saw that there was a layer of water on the road ahead of me and passing cars were creating a bow wave. The road is narrow and I anticipated a soaking if I continued so I turned around. At this point I realised just how strong the wind had become. I was barely holding 10kph on a flat road - not appreciated by the following motorists. Having thus some spare time I went past Beal to the A1 and had a quick look at the Lindisfarne Inn in case we found we could not get to Holy island for a meal. It looks OK. From there I continued west to Lowick Mill to join the western leg of NCN1 back to Berwick. This time, at Cocklawburn, I took the coast path and found that it looks worse than it turned out to be. There was a section where the route was so rutted that riding a small wheel bike was impossible but most of it was passable. It is only about 2 km anyway. The only snag was that, by now, the wind was VERY strong and gusty and I was being blown towards the edge of the cliff. The final ride along the sea front at Tweedmouth was unpleasant - sand being propelled across the path at speeds enough to make it feel like being shot blasted. I was grateful to board the train for my homeward journey.
I look forward to riding here again in a couple of weeks but I shall choose my route according to the current and preceding days' weather - if it is wet or has been so I shall again avoid the coast paths.