Just a few thoughts on the day's ride timings and meals etc.
Saturday
1. Leave the Royal Oak at about 8am to head to Jellies Cafe for breakfast. We don't all have to leave together but as ever happy to lead. Its 10-15mins to Jellies.
2. Leave Jellies at 9.15 (or earlier if we are all ready).
3. Ride to the official start of the real Pennine Way for a brief stop and photos.
4. Fill with Fuel at Bamford
5. Lunch stop at Haworth. Basecamp says this about 3 hours into the trip, but that's without any stops so we should here at about 1pm I couldn't find anywhere where we could easily park all the bikes without paying near the Historic/interesting bit of Haworth (its the narrow cobbled street the Tour De France went up), so its either 80p for an hour at the top car park or slot bikes into free on street parking spaces, then its your time for an hour to look at historic Haworth and get some food. There's plenty of cafes, pubs and shops.
6. As we pull into Hawes we will stop at the filling station and then park up at the nearby bike parking near the Pennygarth cafe for any last minute shopping. Hardraw and the green dragon is only 10minutes/3miles away.
Sunday
1. I will decide soon if we are having breakfast at the Pub or getting it at Takoda camping. For those who went to the XRV national, Paul at Takoda did bacon butties and cups of tea at a very reasonable rate. Hopefully he will do the same again for us. Leave the Pub at 8.30 if we are going to Takoda, 9.30 if we are breakfasting at the pub.
2. Lunch at Bellingham (pronounced Belling-Jam for the southerners). Same sort of plan as for Haworth excpet there should plenty of free on street parking around Bellingham, which isnt a very big place but there are 3 cafes and a couple of pubs plus a shop or two and some nice walks or places for a picnic in the town or just a few minutes away. This place looks interesting
http://www.carriages-tearoom.co.uk/ but I am not really wanting to make a reservation for us all as timing is way too unpredictable and I am sure some will want to make/buy sandwiches and/or have some time off from the group.
3. Arrive Yetholm and the official end of the Pennine Way. There's not much here except a sign, a pub, and a sleepy village. So a few photos and a 15 minute ride to Wooler. My best estimate is that we should be probably around 4pm to 6pm depending on how often we stop, the weather, or unpredictable delays.
4. Arrive Wooler YHA. We should be there in good time to check in, get changed and showered and get together to plan the evening. The Youth Hostel will have a full Kitchen so if you want to do your own thing you can, or we could get a takeway - a chinese buffet for 10 usually goes a long way with a lot of choice.
Monday
1. Not a lot planned yet. If you need to get away to get home then just do your own thing. Otherwise I plan a lazy and slow start to the day with breakfast either at the YHA or a cafe in town.
2. I had suggested a trip to Holy Island which is only about 30mins away and I think safe crossing is after about 11am (there's a link in one of the threads somewhere). So we could have a mooch around there and then either a ride down the Northumberland coast - Bamburgh, Seahouses, Dunstanburgh, Craster, Alnmouth, Alnwick, OR head inland down the tweed valley and then follow the English/Scottish border on ace quiet roads across to the Carlisle area. Then its head North, South or West home.
I hope OK with everyone, shout up if you don't like it or have a specific request.
