The Tyne and Wear Commuter Thread

bennett_346

markhewitt1978 wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

Anyone know the condition of Route 14 Consett to Durham via Lanchester? Suitable for a hybrid with slicks?

At Consett it's mostly hard packed gravel with an ok surface. But it does get rocky around Knitsley, but there's a road diversion you could use there. Down from Knitsley area to Lanchester is fine on my road bike (23c slicks) and tarmac comes in around Lanchester for a while - watch out for some steep descents where bridges have been removed. It turns back to gravel again but not too bad and very doable.

Overall like most paths of this type, compared to the road it sucks big time, but it's the flattest route to take. Also as usual swarming with dogs off the lead

Also what's it like for ice during the winter?

No idea, sorry.

Cheers, was actually out on this route on Saturday and you are right, it was fine. Mudguards may be needed next time though, I think.

Was fine pedestrian and dog wise, at least coming home, since we were out after sunset with torches

markhewitt1978

bennett_346 wrote:

Cheers, was actually out on this route on Saturday and you are right, it was fine. Mudguards may be needed next time though, I think.

Was fine pedestrian and dog wise, at least coming home, since we were out after sunset with torches

Hows the ice on the route? Also have you tried going up to Parkhead on it?

bennett_346

markhewitt1978 wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

Cheers, was actually out on this route on Saturday and you are right, it was fine. Mudguards may be needed next time though, I think.

Was fine pedestrian and dog wise, at least coming home, since we were out after sunset with torches

Hows the ice on the route? Also have you tried going up to Parkhead on it?

Saturday was an unusually warm day so didnt notice any ice, but looking at the extent of the puddles on the route around Lanchester and diggerland I think it'll be quite an icy route during proper winter. Whereabouts is parkhead? I think we left the route heading southbound just past bearpark and turned into Durham city.

markhewitt1978

bennett_346 wrote:

Saturday was an unusually warm day so didnt notice any ice, but looking at the extent of the puddles on the route around Lanchester and diggerland I think it'll be quite an icy route during proper winter. Whereabouts is parkhead? I think we left the route heading southbound just past bearpark and turned into Durham city.

Parkhead is if you follow the path up to Consett and then keep going over the moors.

jongooligan

markhewitt1978 wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

Cheers, was actually out on this route on Saturday and you are right, it was fine. Mudguards may be needed next time though, I think.

Was fine pedestrian and dog wise, at least coming home, since we were out after sunset with torches

Hows the ice on the route? Also have you tried going up to Parkhead on it?

Just got back from Park head. Went up from Durham, through Lanchester. Hard surface now from Lydgett junction to Waskerly station and much smoother from there onwards than it used to be. Could be done on a road bike easily.

Terry is talking about closing at certain times during the winter so if you're heading for the cafe, especially midweek you might want to give him a bell first.

Came back down through Stanley. The bit from Beamish (Tommy Thompson's bench) to Pelton is being upgraded and is very rough. You wouldn't want to do this bit on a road bike until they've finished.

bennett_346

jongooligan wrote:

Came back down through Stanley. The bit from Beamish (Tommy Thompson's bench) to Pelton is being upgraded and is very rough. You wouldn't want to do this bit on a road bike until they've finished.

Do you know what surfacing it'll be? Haven't been down that way in a long time but i remember that being a very long stretch between Pelton and Beamish, is it the whole length being done?

anthdci

Just ordered a garmin 500 from amazon black friday for £89! Bargin.

markhewitt1978

Sustrans said on the CTC forum that they'd be upgrading that section to tarmac - I guess the same as they did with the Annfield Plain to Leadgate section. Pity they aren't doing Beamish to Stanley yet as that would give tarmac all the way from Birtley to Consett (except for a couple of hundred metres of gravel in Annfield Plain)

markhewitt1978

jongooligan wrote:

Just got back from Park head. Went up from Durham, through Lanchester. Hard surface now from Lydgett junction to Waskerly station and much smoother from there onwards than it used to be. Could be done on a road bike easily.
.

Really? What do you mean by hard surface - tarmacced?

I'm planning on riding up there weekend after next as part of the Cestria CC Christmas do - they are proposing to follow the CTC route up to Parkhead, so I'm interested in knowing how doable it's going to be, on a road bike with 23c. It seems on road at least until Stanley is going to be necessary, but what about beyond?

jongooligan

markhewitt1978 wrote:

jongooligan wrote:

Just got back from Park head. Went up from Durham, through Lanchester. Hard surface now from Lydgett junction to Waskerly station and much smoother from there onwards than it used to be. Could be done on a road bike easily.
.

Really? What do you mean by hard surface - tarmacced?

Yep. It's got lots of fresh gravel on it but it's tarmac (or similar).

YIMan

Man down in the north-east.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/cyclist-died-after-collision-bus-6356935

tuktuk

Heard this on the radio thismorning. Very sad!

R.I.P

bucklb

A long shot, but worth a try - anyone know if there are any decent facilities for parking a bike at Newcastle Falcons (Kingston Park)? There are probably railings/fences but wondering if they have any stands/secure/covered areas.

An attempt at googling has turned up nothing of use, and it's too late to call the club.

Ta
Bob

markhewitt1978

jongooligan wrote:

Yep. It's got lots of fresh gravel on it but it's tarmac (or similar).

Good to hear! A lot of the paths in County Durham seem to be getting tarmacced bit by bit. Maybe one day we'll see the lot done (some hope!)

markhewitt1978

First time riding on the Newcastle side of the Tyne yesterday, following the Hadrian's cycle path; was half expecting a gravelly mess but what I got was nice tarmac all the way to Tynemouth . The route is rather typical of this type of path e.g. give way to road, give way to road, through a park, along a bit of road, cross a road, along a path, through a housing estate, etc, but it gets the job done of avoiding the busy roads

jomoj

markhewitt1978 wrote:

First time riding on the Newcastle side of the Tyne yesterday, following the Hadrian's cycle path; was half expecting a gravelly mess but what I got was nice tarmac all the way to Tynemouth . The route is rather typical of this type of path e.g. give way to road, give way to road, through a park, along a bit of road, cross a road, along a path, through a housing estate, etc, but it gets the job done of avoiding the busy roads

yes it's not too bad all said although there are some bits in Walker that are prone to broken glass, turds, burning rubbish and lurking chavas. I tend to bypass those by riding along Wincomblee Rd & White St and rejoining at Segedunum.
The path along the Tyne from St Peter's Marina to the industrial estate (GE Oil and Gas) on Wincomblee road is a nice, quiet stretch although the surface is pretty shoddy.

Very sad to hear of the death, not much detail on the circumstances though.

tuktuk

Watch out for the skip as you come down warwick st sandyford, seen a few people swerving round it last minute or cars almost forcing people into the path of it trying to get past in a hurry!

markhewitt1978

jomoj wrote:

yes it's not too bad all said although there are some bits in Walker that are prone to broken glass, turds, burning rubbish and lurking chavas.

I did notice in parts there were bits which obviously had seen lots of fires lit as the tarmac had been burned away.

jomoj

Yes, that's the worst bit. Arson alley... Some mornings there is still stuff smouldering away.

andy9964

Well that was quite a breeze at 6 o'clock this morning, took around 17 minutes longer to get to work. I think at one point, I was down to the bottom two gears (on a triple) and almost at a standstill.
Obviously, the direction changed just enough to stop it being a full on tail wind by the time I was on my way home

Initialised

Pretty blustery this morning, I decide to stay off the roads as much as possible. At first it seemed like I was going to get a 40mph tailwind then it got nasty and tried to blow me sideways.

Initialised

pearoasted

markhewitt1978

jongooligan wrote:

[
Just got back from Park head. Went up from Durham, through Lanchester. Hard surface now from Lydgett junction to Waskerly station and much smoother from there onwards than it used to be. Could be done on a road bike easily.

Did it yesterday! Very nice surface - it's called fibredeccing, it doesn't provide a perfect tarmac like surface but it does provide a good quality hard wearing surface, and as you say easy enough on a road bike, I did it on mine with 23c tyres no problem. After Waskerly station it's gravel but very well graded and smooth so again no issues on a road bike, especially coming down hill in the wet doing some speed, no issues

Came back down through Stanley. The bit from Beamish (Tommy Thompson's bench) to Pelton is being upgraded and is very rough. You wouldn't want to do this bit on a road bike until they've finished.

Been a few months since I was up there but it looks like the tarmaccing is almost complete, joined at Pelton and the tarmac lasts until the bridge at High Handenhold after that it's very rough but passable with slow care - but I think this will be done in short order.

The main issue on the entire route between Sunderland and Parkhead is getting through Consett, the surfacing of the paths through there is dreadful, I had to get off and push at one point

jongooligan

markhewitt1978 wrote:

The main issue on the entire route between Sunderland and Parkhead is getting through Consett, the surfacing of the paths through there is dreadful, I had to get off and push at one point

Yes, they made a right mess when they were developing the footy club. Hopefully that will get sorted now they've finished. The bit across the side of the footy pitches is prone to flooding and gets very muddy.

Long_Time_Lurker

Saw on the local news that the police have been stopping cyclists without lights.
Concentrating on Jesmond at the moment (and catching lots of students apparently).

They should try North Shields/Chirton next - the amount of idiots around there on their BSOs

markhewitt1978

They've been stopping people in London for no helmets / no hi-vis, even though there are no laws in this regard, but you can't really complain about the lights thing.

anthdci

I work at newcastle uni and id say 75% of students dont havr lights!

Tony Mc

I work in Jesmond and can sympathise with the residents students on pavements with no lights could course a nasty accident potentially
I ride in to work from Dunston and would rather be lit up like a xmas tree at this time of year

jongooligan

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Good to hear! A lot of the paths in County Durham seem to be getting tarmacced bit by bit. Maybe one day we'll see the lot done (some hope!)

Finished early today so went up the track to see how they're getting on with the upgrade. One of the blokes on the black stuff told me they would have the tarmac down all the way up to Beamish from Pelton in a couple of weeks.

markhewitt1978

Thanks for the update I guess by the next time I venture up that way it'll be sorted. A pity they aren't doing Beamish to Stanley too as it would mean tarmac (or decent surface at least) all the way to Consett.