Participants wishing to travel by train can be picked up from Newcastle Central Station train station and should discuss timetables with the office before booking tickets to ensure that arrival times coincide with our pick-up and transfer schedules. The Skedaddle team will be on hand at our city centre hotel from late afternoon onwards, to meet those choosing to make their own way by car. 

The hotel is situated on the Gateshead side of the River Tyne just minutes away from Newcastle Quayside, one the city’s main hotspots for entertainment and nightlife. Anyone planning to arrive earlier on Friday should let us know in advance as we may be able to arrange for an early check-in at the hotel.

The party will dine together, during which time the team will conduct an informal briefing and talk through the program for the weekend before retiring for the evening.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1,200 Metres Approx.

Newcastle is a very compact city and although we begin the day by crossing through its very centre, it’s a relaxed affair with relatively low levels of urban traffic to negotiate. We find ourselves on quieter, more rural, roads within a surprisingly short space of time.

Apart from a sharp little ramp very early into the ride as we move away from the riverside and into the city centre, the morning’s stage rolls very gently. By the time we’ve completed only seven miles we find ourselves bidding farewell to Newcastle’s suburbs as the vast green open space of the Northumberland countryside looms into view.

As we push on, although there are no enormous climbs to contend with, the terrain becomes progressively more challenging, and the scenery more rugged, until we reach Rothbury, a small but historically important agricultural trading town, originally established on a crossroads over a ford on the River Coquet 

Rothbury will be our home for the evening, but our ride is far from over at this point as we end the day with a 25-mile loop-ride exploration of the remote settlements and villages in the surrounding hills. Once back in the town we’ll clean up, settle in for the evening and enjoy dinner together in a local pub.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 850 Metres Approx.

Today, as we start our journey back to Newcastle, we move slightly further to the west to explore yet more of the beautiful countryside that lies on the northern side of the Tyne Valley.

The road undulates, generally upwards, but is only moderately challenging for the first the 10 miles or so. Two climbs, in quick succession, turn up the heat a little and take us up to the highest point of our weekend where we pass by Winter’s Gibbet. A long and glorious descent whisks us away from this bizarre and eerie remnant of a late 18th century Northumberland murder, as we head towards, and through, the villages of Hartington, Cambo and Wallington.

Later in the day we join a route that frequently features in the region’s primary National Road Race fixture, the Beaumont Trophy, where we have an opportunity to test our legs on the Ryals, a notorious but thankfully short climb which has been known to catch out even the most seasoned riders.

Beyond the Ryals we enjoy a relaxed and gently rolling jaunt back to Newcastle which, if all has gone to plan, we should reach by mid-afternoon in time to shower and change before heading home.