This morning I got the bike out of the porch, it is quite heavy so I will have to develop a knack. Then when I was setting it up the chain fell off, so not the best of starts. Anyway, I rode down our road without wobbling, the knees hurt a bit but I am hoping that will improve. Going up the quite steep slope on the next road was scarily quick and I only had it on the middle assist setting. Hopefully the weather will be fine on Saturday and I will be able to have a longer trial. Tina and I set off for Newcastle at about 10.45 am, we had to take a different route because Darren had sent a message to say the road we were going to take was closed. We started quite well but then came to a standstill for over 15 minutes, sat behind a police car. When we did eventually move after about a mile the road just cleared. It was bizarre. They were painting the white line in the middle of the road so we presumed they has just stopped the traffic on our side to get on with it! We saw lots of pheasants and a jay walking red grouse, then one of a pair of pheasants on the other side of the road decided to head our way, Tina braked and he took off missing the windscreen by a whisker! Quite a sight and luckily the car behind was well back! After that we came to a hill going down that was 25 % and the view as we came to the top was breathtaking, no photo but I did manage to get a picture of the Angel of the North.
No bad as I took it while we were driving along. We went to the ecclesiastical robe makers for Tina to get her training cassock altered and then we went to the hotel and checked in. We then took a short walk to the bus stop and headed into the town. We did a lot of walking and some shopping the we had a meal in China Town.
Tina is in there somewhere! Then we got a taxi back to the hotel but asked the driver to go via the millennium bridge so that I could take a picture. We had been going to walk down later but we felt too tired!
He even offered to take one of me in front of the bridge but it was a similar viewpoint to this one. We are settle in the hotel now, we are such a party pair!!
The bike will turn out to be a great asset, I'm sure of it, specially in the nicer weather. Getting it in and out of the house is just a knack, which I know you'll soon learn. You're definitely not one to give up!
ReplyDeleteWhen I stayed over in Newcastle, it was on the quayside right next to the bridge. We walked around by it in the evening, and as your picture shows, it is lit up beautifully. In fact it was a nice place altogether. Hopefully you'll have a good day tomorrow too. I'll be heading to Harrogate in the morning for the day, so fingers crossed we both get some good weather!
Yes, I will certainly try and get the best from the bike. I second the wish for us both to have a good day tomorrow.
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