Teeside, Wearside, Tyneside..2 Punctures and a Ferry

I am in a very elated state this evening... I am now in Northumbria...I have to pinch myself to realise it.

(Pictures to prove it will be posted later, as internet still a problem!)
yesterday to give a few more details nearly did for me... Whitby fish n chips riding with two old mates, beautiful scenery across the moors...wonderful. Visiting the Abbey, the sight of one of the first places to spring out of Lindisfarne.... an alternative community, that offered hope all those years ago.... it was wonderful ..the piccies prove it.

However when you are out on a bike, you always need to be sure you can get home. Well yesterday I was not the navigator...an old friend Jamie had this role......He picked a fabulous route, and we would have been home and dry, all tucked up for bedtime.... if it had not been for the wind...a strong wind, sapping strength and energy. It came from the west, and my B&B.. aptly named travellers rest...was in the West. I did arrive, I can't help but hope God was 'refining' me or something. I was reminded of a phrase from St Brendan, a proper epic traveller. 'STORMY seas make for weathered seaman.... those who have proved God in the deep." I must admit to feeling a bit like a weathered cyclist!
Still another day another challenge.... I was apprehensive...Middlesborough, Sunderland Newcastle...not necessarily my image of a glorious day out. But ..

today has been glorious... fabulous route, if I say so myself, beauty is always just around the corner, even through the roughest cities. I did see especially around Middlesborough  loads of men out walking, be it on their own, or with their children or with their dogs. I can't help reflecting, they didn't look lazy, just I suspect for many of them rather dissilusioned looking for work.
And so to the coast.... after thinking that I really had done very well to get all this way..now in excess of 400 miles I think, without a puncture, I proceeded to get two in 1/2 an hour.... like London buses! Anyway I managed and set of to follow the coast road through Sunderland and Tyneside...it was absolutely stunning....a real privelidge to be out here. Crossing the Tyne by ferry ...and then the Northumberland sign

....I have cycled from Bristol to Northumberland. in truth I can barely believe I've done it. I am not just North of Birmingham, or Sheffield or Leeds or York....I'm North of Newcastle.... in my book that doesn't exist....and yet all the way I've had wonderful conversations and discussions..a real adventure....and tomorrow..Lindisfarne...so long as I don't misjudge the tides!