7th June - Club Run to Edmunbyers with Lunch at the Punch Bowl Inn
On Sunday 7th June we had a club run to Edmundbyers.
Four of the group (the Northen contingent) met early at the Holiday Inn, Seaton Burn at 09:45, planning to leave at 10:00, however they missed that deadline as Bryan had brought his "new toy" and there was much tyre kicking. Paul lead the way in his GBS Zero with trusty(?) satnav, next Bryan in his new acquisition a Robin Hood 2B, then Alan in the Robin Hood Exmo, then completing the troupe was John & his good lady, Margaret, in their Robin Hood 2B. Paul says - In bright sunshine we set off from Holiday Inn towards Belsay via Horton Grange, Ponteland, Kirkley & Ogle. Through Belsay we hang a left heading for Ingoe then Ryal, skipping over the A68 into Chollerton and on through Acomb and Hexham; then its Blanchland, arriving at Edmundbyers at 11:40 just before (the Southern contingent) Nigel & Linda in their Bentley, with Mike & Denise arriving last on two wheels.
I really enjoyed the runout as I had never been on many of the roads before. We have some great roads & countryside in this part of the world, we just need a bit more sunshine to enjoy it. Despite having the satnav I still missed a couple of turnoffs & we ended up doing U turns for a toatl distance in the region of 75 miles. There is a trace of the route available via Google
Oh!, nearly forgot, there was also a pheasant that was trying to kill itself under our cars and I saw more roadkill than I have ever seen.
On arrival at Edmunbyers, we all posed for the obligatory photos - at least the vehicles all managed to look at the camera.
After the photos, some of the group made their way home, while others had Sunday lunch at the Punch Bowl Inn. After lunch, Mike & Denise led Alan, John & Margaret and Nigel & Lynda on a roundabout route to Brockbushes Fruit Farm at Corbridge for "Coffee and Cake" (this had been pre-arranged so we hadn't had dessert in the pub!) . The southerly loop of the journey was included because of the stunning moorland scenery but also because it seemed an unmissable opportunity to visit Muggleswick - that's got to be one of the greatest place names in the country surely, Muggleswick. Anyway, that turned out to add a significant delay to the journey as we were brought to a halt on the B6278 back towards Edmunbyers as the police had closed the road to allow the Great North Air Ambulance to land and attend to a motorcyclist who had parted company from his bike, presumably at high speed.
It wasn't too long before the Air Ambulance and their passenger were off to hospital and we were on our way through Blanchland and Slaley and down to Corbridge where we availed ourselves of the aforementioned coffee and cake. Although satisfied by his small (not!) portion of cheescake Mike was only a lot jealous when a couple on the next table had their afternoon teas delivered - a veritable feast-on-a-plate.
So, as we left the cafe we were congratulating ourselves on a successful Sunday only to find the car park had been overrun by the Harley-Davidson Club on their club run out - the 50 or so bikes and trikes all lined up in the car park overshadowed our little group somewhat but hey, from little acorns .....