Deweys and a single speed bag

Yesterday I bagged 3 Dewey hills in the Cheviots. The first one was Ravens Knowe, which I failed to bag a few weeks ago as it was a bit too ambitious on my original route. This time I parked just off the A68 and cycled the Ministry of Defense private road up to Cottonshope farm, where a steep track lead almost directly up to the summit. If you do drive or cycle up this road, make sure the Otterburn range has a none firing day - tanks rarely give way!

The single speeder did excellently along the road. The extra lightnest in the bike felt good and responsive; the extra effort to pedal even made me feel better.  The problem comes at the grassy track, I soon ended up pushing, but it wasn't much of a hassle as it was now a light bike.

Riding downhill was a hoot, as expected in an all rigid bike, very bumpy but still felt safe.

Next I decided to drive along the Kielder Forest drive road and park at the car park at Blakehope Nick. My idea was to bag 2 Deweys, Wool Meath and Girle Fell. If you've ever driven this road you'll know it's rough tracks - very rough. However the car park turned out to be something that only Land Rovers could tackle!

The start of the actual walk was horrible, rough knee high heather and later boggy ground. Typical Cheviot/Pennine ground YUK! Nowt much to say about the walk, nowt much to see - apart from a few wild goats and deer.  If you're intending to climb these 2 hills, a better route will probably be from the Cattlehope car park.