Kielder Water at Last

Mayhem at Tower Knowe Visitor Centre.

Sunday 3rd April. At work on a morning shift and feeling like I'm deprived of fresh air. Talked my shift leader into letting me finish at 12 instead of 2. Yipee!!!! Home and changed into leathers, the weather looks great and Mayhem is free to come out and play. I owe him a good ride out for all the times I've been out without him! After putting our heads together we decide to head up to Carlisle and take it From there. Thirty four miles later we pull into Carlisle McDonalds with grins as wide as our helmets. That quick blast has got us in the mood for some serious riding so after a coffee, a couple of ciggies and a tank of unleaded its off to the A7 and I decide to give Mayhem a bit of a change of scenery. We turn off the A7 at Cannonbie and get on the B6357 to Newcastleton.
All the while the sun is shining down on us and the road surface isn't too bad either. After blowing out the cobwebs on the trip to Carlisle we are both ready for a good thrash and we "make progress" along this winding and challenging road. After Newcastleton the road forks and it is the right fork that we take heading for the A6088. Mayhem has never been on this section of the road before but I can tell he is enjoying it by the way he is chucking the Bird about and never dropping more than 30 meters behind! A right turn at the junction with the A6088 and a blat along to Carter Bar on the A68 where we have a disappointment as there is no burger van in the lay-bye! Oh well , there is a first time for everything. Kielder Water
After a quick ciggie I decide to head along the A68 as this section of the road is fantastic; Sweeping bends, tight bends and large elevation changes make it worth the trip! Left turning on to the A696 brings us along to Otterburn where we manage to find a latte and a great Bacon sarnie in the towns main convenience store. Ciggies, coffee and food dipatched I decide to try and get round the backside of Kielder Water where I have never been before. Taking the B6320 which crosses the A68 we wend our merry way along some tremendous roads. At last, on my third attempt, I am finally getting to go around Kielder Water! It is worth the wait, being a thoroughly entertaining road with great scenery and surface. The Tower Knowe Visitor center Beckons and we stop for yet another coffee, ciggies and crack with other bikers who have stopped here. I seems very popular with the biking fraternity and it is right beside the Osprey Ferry terminal. There are well cared for public toilets here as well.
As we sit and smoke and shoot the shit, a bit of a breeze springs up. It is still sunny and bright as we saddle up and carry on along this lovely road but looking at the sky reveals a massive black cloud and we are heading right for it! Before I know it ,it is lashing down. I start to feel the rain stinging my fingers through my gloves and realise that the shiny road surface isnt actually shiny but WHITE. Its only hoying down hailstones the size of ball bearings! A car in front of me suddenly decides he needs to slow to crawling pace so I pull over to pass , open the throttle oh so slightly and find myself riding a very heavy speedway bike! That's enough of that, I think and carry on very gingerly until the hailstones give way to normal rain. Mayhem has fallen a bit behind so I pull over thinking that as he has a heavy tinted visor on he may be having visibility issues. Sure enough , he pulls in next to me and changes his visor sharpish.
Two minutes later we are back in brilliant sunshine and dry roads. Talk about four seasons in one day! Normal service resumed we head back towards the B6357 and find ourselves back at Newcastleton having completed the loop around Kielder. Will definitely be doing that trip again,hopefully sans hailstones. Newcastleton to Cannonbie is completed at a good pace and once back on the A7 it is time to think about tanking up. A quick stop in Longtown for fuel lightens my pocket by £26, This hobby is getting bloody expensive! Nearly £50 on fuel. Never mind ,it was totally worth it. Mayhem has really enjoyed it too and we are happy to add this run to our list of Sunday afternoon runs. Longtown back to Workington and put the bike away dirty, I can wash it later inthe week when I'm on my days off. A great time was had by all....