Month: June 2018

Iconic British psychedelic pop legends The Zombies have returned for a UK tour in June this year, led by founding and current members, vocalist Colin Blunstone and keyboardist Rod Argent.

50 mile gusts. Directly from the west, which would make for an amazing headwind. Having been made aware of this, Shane had already called ahead to our proprietress at Kelso to see if her husband could transport us there. Though willing, he could not do this until 4pm due to prior commitments. Thankfully, Chris, the owner of the White Swan, volunteered to drive us and our two bikes in his van to Kelso (and would not take payment, even for the gas). We arrived at Kelso, our first Scottish town, around 11am, settled into our room, and was treated to a very nice pot of tea and biscuits by Christine, who seems to revel in new company. She runs a B&B with at most 3 rooms full, mostly as a diversion, it seems to us. Her husband works diligently in the garden and keeps an amazing array of beautiful roses and perfectly tended grass, overlooking the river with amazing view of downtown Kelso. We walked into town and attempted to go to the local castle, which we found “closed due to high winds”. I suppose they could not risk the liability if the limbs came crashing down on the visitors. I had another restorative nap today, and went into town again for a wonderful meal at “Lemon and Thyme”, with surprisingly fresh and inventive dishes, including Jamaican fish stew and Caesar with pan seared scallops. Apparently, visitors come “by the bus loads” to visit the castles in the area, which allows the small town to support a handful of very worthy restaurants.

What a difference the bike makes. I was somewhat concerned that the sluggishness I felt during yesterday’s ride was mostly due to my deconditioning. With the new hybrid bike, however, I found myself being able to keep pace with Jamie easily (though he did take both panniers). We were going to stop at Alnwick castle (which stood in for Hogwarts schools of wizardry in the Harry Potter series), but thought better of it, and passed up a couple of other castles along the way. Ultimately, we stoped at Seahouses, where we devoured two orders of fish and chips and found that we really enjoyed “mushy peas”, as unappetizing as that sounds. Mostly because I’ve been making noise about seeing the puffins, we ended up on a boat cruise to the Farnes islands, which are covered with sea birds including the ever popular cute puffins as well as guillemots. As we were approaching the islands, we saw hundreds of fat bids with short stubby wings, frantically beating the wings to just barely clear the water to fly (looking very clumsy in comparison to the terns that were gracefully flying all around them). These pathetic flyers were guillemots, which are actually of the penguin family, which makes their awkward flight somewhat understandable. That they would even attempt flight with those chubby bellies was admirable. Having taken 3 hours or more with lunch and puffin viewing, we pedaled toward Lowick, a lonesome tiny farming village, where we would check into the White Swan Inn. We had another great meal at the pub, of chicken Jalfrezi (who knew that British pubs can make such good Indian food?) and steak and Guinness pie, while emptying a bottle of merlot.

Less than a mile out of town, I noticed that, though the battery is fully charged, the computer on the bike was registering only 2/5 charge. Also, there was no longer the familiar sound of the motor whirring to life, no matter what level of assist I put it on. It seemed that the electric bike is no longer electrified. After some discussion with Shane, we decided to ride on to Warkworth on my heavy bike, and have Shane rendezvous with us at our B&B to swap out the electric bike for a hybrid. I definitely felt the weight of the bike with any sort of slight incline, and was pretty whipped by the time we ended at our pretty little B&B in the pretty town of Warkworth (with another picturesque ruined castle on top of the hill). The weather, which had been threatening rain for the last hour or so of the ride, suddenly cleared by the time we showered and headed out for dinner. We ended up at Mason’s Arms, a local pub. The steak dinner and the salmon dish we got truly was a cut above what we would expect as the usual pub grub (in fact, quite a bit better than what we got at the French bistro in Hexham). With our back toward the setting sun, under the brilliantly blue skies, in the cute little beer garden in the middle of this quintessential British town, we experienced another perfect end to a perfect day, as so often happens on a bike tour.

Rest day. Sorely needed to heal Jamie’s traumatized butt, and to give my knee a rest. After a very leisurely morning routine of full English breakfast (minus the black pudding) and 2 pots of coffee, we visited the remains of the Abbey/Castle that loom large at the entrance to the town. We also found a bike shop and checked the tire pressures once again to make sure we don’t end up with another puncture along the way. We ended up going down to the Edwards Bay, a popular sandy swimming beach just beneath the castle, to partake in food from Riley’s fish shack. Made of two containers (one, which houses the griddle, the oven and all food prep areas, and the other with rows of communal high top tables for patrons to sit while enjoying the food). The 4 person staff expertly wend their way around the kitchen area like clockwork, filling long lists of orders for fresh, cooked to order, fish meals (mackerel wrap, crispy skin halibut, etc). Though the service hardly felt efficient while we waited for an hour for our food, I know for certain that those 4 people were constantly in motion and aiming to please. The queue of more than a dozen people at any time seemed to appreciate that, as well. After the stroll through town, it was nap time, then dinner again. Jamie had lost all appetite, fighting a cold, and initially did not want to eat anything. When we got the order of chicken Jalfrezi and sat down at the B&B’s dining room, with the company of the gay couple (Neil and Stephen) that runs the place, though, the smell of the tasty spicy dish and the company seemed to have reawakened his appetite.

Another fairly scenic ride today, down from the hills onto the coast. Except for occasional not-so-pretty detours, when we lost the cycleway, it was fairly easy going and pleasant throughout. The skies started to cloud up for the first time since we started our bike trip, and some raindrops did make an appearance as soon as we checked into our B&B, right on the Front Street of lovely Tynemouth, on the eastern coast of England. Here, there was an energy of lots of tourists, taking advantage of the unusually good weather and sandy beaches, not to mention lots of great restaurants. On the recommendations of our proprietor, we ate an early dinner at the Longsands Fish Kitchen. Though mostly a good experience, I feel that they tended to undercook their seafood a tad.

Today was a hilly ride, though gorgeous hilly countryside, on another beautifully sunny early summer day. Of course, this means that hay fever is getting the best of me. Before we set out, we had topped up the pressures on our tires. While we were sitting down at a park bench in Haltwhistle, a very cute little town that saw the departure of its main industry (paint manufacturing) move onto greener pastures, we heard a sudden loud bang, which startled half the people on the Main Street. Turns out, Jamie’s rear tire blew out, possibly due to tire that wasn’t properly seated during last inner tube change, and could not handle the additional pressure. Hexham, our stop for the night, was another moderate sized English town dripping with atmosphere. While hunting for a bike shop, we read a board advertising “menu of the day”. It turns out to be a French bistro of some repute, so we made a reservation for early dinner. Our B&B turns out to be a former mansion of a coal baron (who did not fare well during the Depression era financial crisis). The mansion was located on top of the hill, with great views and absolute tranquility. All in all, it was a lovely way to end the day (except for my indiscretion of choosing an overpriced wine at dinner).

We wound around the peninsula north of Silloth and onto Brampton. Though long in distance, most of it was flat and did not feel like such a long day. Another bright sunny day, which, reportedly, is very rare in this part of England. Scotch Arms Mews is a converted set of stables that have been serving as the local watering hole for quite some time. The recent owners took over, gutted the place and tastefully renovated into very nice B&B. The proprietress runs the bar at night, as well, which seems well patronized by the locals, who all seem to know each other. We were explicitly encouraged to bring “takeout” food, so we ordered 3 Indian dishes to go, plopped ourselves down in the bar area, and feasted on very intensely spiced curries, all the while taking in the local scene.

Met Shane from Open Roads Open Skies, who delivered our bicycles to the B&B. I had opted for an electric bike, to make sure I don’t overuse my right knee, which is 6 weeks out from ACL reconstruction. The bike is extremely heavy, cumbersome, and I am a little trepidatious. Eventually, we get the seat height sorted out, and we set off on the “Hadrian’s Wall” cycle route. As per Jamie’s entreaties, I keep the assist level at “tour”, and I hear the motor whirring every time I pedal. Mostly through dedicated bike paths around the coast, we arrive at Silloth, on a very sunny, summery afternoon. Silloth is a beach town, mostly catering to city folk needing a dose of the sandy beach. It does boast a “championship golf course”, which hosts national level golf tournaments, but not international ones, due to lack of capacity for accommodations. We stayed at “the Queens” B&B. The building actually used to be a hotel. The couple who ran the hotel for years have found the task taxing, and are now limiting themselves to 6 rooms at most, and running it as a B&B. Our room was very spacious and light filled with sweeping views of the ocean, but the severely sloping bathroom floor and cracks told of difficulties in maintaining such a place of former grandeur. They are trying to hold on for as long as they can, though, for the lovely view that they have come to treasure.