Gale force winds left only one day that I could ride on this week, so I made the most of it
Ride 1 – In search of lemon top
I took the time to get the bike ready on Wednesday evening, so getting out on the road would be easy. I shoved two bananas and a couple of gels in the back pocket of my rain jacket and got going.
The first ten miles took me along the Wear to Bishop Auckland, then up Dene Valley 
to Newton Aycliffe. The wind was strong and gusting more heavily than the 21 mph predicted by the forecast. As an hour ticked by I crossed the border from County Duham into Darlington Borough and started to make my way South and into the wind.
One of the many joys of riding is that on the back lanes you get to see things that you miss on car journeys. On this eight-mile windy slog, I’m treated  to Sadberge and Middleton One Row to picturesque little places that are a delight.
A welcome change in direction along the Tees sped me to Yarm and a stop for lunch at the wonderful cafe run by the inmates at HMP Kirklevington Grange. I first came across this place on a voluntary sector visit to the Prison in 2013 and was impressed. Kirklevington is an open prison with the purpose o preparing inmates for life on the other side of the fences. They run a number of enterprises including the cafe, a valeting service and sell garden ornaments, furniture and plants. My double espresso and barbecue chicken panini lunch came in at an unbelievable £3.90.
Fired by lunch and caffeine my legs took me out of Yarm and up the Leven Valley. The new energy soon ran out as I climbed toward the Hills of the North York Moors National Park crossing the Leven and the Tame before joining the Leven again at Great Ayton. I turned left in the centre of Great Ayton to pass under the peak of Roseberry Topping – I’ve always thought that sounds more like the name of a pudding than a peak – which I’d been able to see for more than five miles growing slowly on the skyline.
I passed through Newton under Roseberry just after the 40 mile mark and my lack of long training rides was beginning to tell. I was grateful for the tailwind, which powered me onto a garage stop to fill the water bottles at Guisborough. The last six miles to Saltburn included three climbs that I felt were entirely unnecessary for a fat bloke at the end of a long ride, and I couldn’t wait to see the sea. I passed the Saltburn sign by Saltburn Golf Club and rolled on down to the clifftop by the upper halt for the cliff railway. It was closed for winter maintenance.
Ride stats: 50.4Â miles, 1,674 ft, 03h 38m 12s
Week total:Â 50.4Â miles, 1,674 ft, 03h 38m 12s