abendgules | En vacances, au velo 1

Our first modest cycling holiday was a success.

The point of the trip was to attend the christening of Haakon and Odindisa's little boy J, with Robert standing as one of the three godparents. Looking at the map, we saw that several castles were within fairly short distances of the village we'd be visiting, but were a bit too far for walking. So we decided to try cycling - short distances, regular breaks, and no offroading required.

We have now returned from Ooop North oozing with virtue (literally out our pores), only moderate achiness and discomfort, and a sense that we've gotten a break with a minimum of stress on ourselves - in fact, it was far more relaxing a holiday than I expected.

Early start Sat AM, to reach 8am departure from King's X station. But before 7.30 on a Saturday morning, the pedestrian paths are empty, even in London. We rode almost straight into the baggage car.

Arriving at midday we found that Haakon had sent his dad to collect us, not knowing we were on bikes. However, this worked out well - we had someone local to advise us, and we could leave the big backpack at the family house, and carry on to Warkworth castle unencumbered. And so we did, testing our legs on the first part of the trip. Most of the hills on this stretch were gentle (though the road proved a smoother ride than the designated bike path), except for the last one, the one that Warkworth Castle is actually perched on, which left me gasping.

At the bottom of the village, we stopped for a picture at the bridge. The modern bridge dates from the 60s, so the 14th c stone bridge with a keep at one end is, I think, the one my dad would have known when he was a keen amateur cyclist in his youth, along with my grandad.

Warkworth is one of the Percy family castles, and features an all-mod-con three-storey keep that was the latest in 15th century efficient design for lighting, heating and supply management. It's even featured in the recent Brears book about kitchens and dining in the middle ages; all the food supplies stored on one floor, with careful accounts kept by the comptroller, and the kitchen and living space on the top two floors.

The earlier ground-level hall and kitchen are now gone, with just a single tower to show where you once entered the duke's hall; aside from the excellent tower, most of the castle is perimeter walls only.

After lunch in the pub (someone has a sense of humour here, having installed leopard skin print toilet seats in the ladies' room - not certain what it says about the owners), we rolled on, back south towards Alnwick.

Jeeeeeez - who put all these hills in the way??

I had to stop and get off a couple of times (once in each direction). It wasn't so much that a given hill was too steep to ride, but it was too steep to ride after the three previous hills had sucked all the strength and stamina out of my legs.

I spent a couple of hills just panting, unable to catch my wind. After the first stop, I tried to concentrate on breathing more deeply and exhaling just a bit longer than before, to try to make the most of the work my lungs were trying to do for me.

Alnwick came not a moment too soon (yet another wretched slope! you wouldn't even notice it in the car). Spotting

ormsweird 's excellent suggestion, Barter Books, we pulled into the former train station and flopped on a bench.

The bookshop is a delight; huge, eclectically arranged, with both current fiction and non-fiction and antiquarian books. It has a model railway circling above your head, and a coffee station with an honesty box (apparently with a 120% return on 30p coffees and biscuits). Comfy chairs and padded benches throughout, to encourage you to browse. What a pleasure!

We spent at least an hour there, before tackling the route back to the village - which proved later (consulting an OS map) the hilliest route between Alnwick and Longhoughton available. Sigh.

However, we found that our B&B was absolutely luxurious. £40/night buys you a lot more in NE England than it does in the SE; like huge bedroom, high-quality bed, huge ensuite bathroom with large tub and separate shower, and a well-stocked paperback bookshelf - even puzzles and board games in the cupboards.

The whole suite was very stylish - well lit, beautifully finished, with thought put into all the details.

Maybe I've just grown accustomed to our mismatched china and cutlery in our cluttered, decor-free flat, but the elegant bone china and cutlery seemed to complement the colour scheme and the very restrained decor.

And...it was beautifully quiet. No neighbours' noises, no screaming matches, no babies. Just birdcalls. Amazing.

We fell into bed and I dozed off looking at the OS map.