Monday 11th May
Send off by Cllr Ian Macaulay from Segedunum
Monday 11th May 'the Big Day' we were all ready for the off by 8.30am (though some of us had been up since the dawn). Dave and Keith drove the truck with the scooters and the girls went in cars. We set off on the long journey to Newcastle in convoy hoping not to lose anyone on the way. We arrived at Segedunum where a civic send-off was planned to take place at 11.00am. We were met by an ITV Tyne Tees crew there to film & interview us and were asked to do an impromptu display for them! I spoke live on his progamme with Dominic King from BBC Radio Kent to set the scene for our epic journey. The Chief Executive of North Tyneside, Cllr Ian Macaulay made a short speech wishing us 'good speed' and then tea and coffees were served in the Bath house. Have some great pictures of the team on the communal loos in the Bath House!
The Communal Loos in the Bath House - trying out for size
With much fanfare we then began the walk along the cycle trails from Segedunum through a mixture of scenery some very picturesque some not quite so! We were really lucky and a Cycling Officer, Paul Vincent, from Newcastle Council came with us as a guide to show us the way and also relate some of the history of the areas we were passing through. He had also arranged for the gates across the way (to stop vandalism) being opened to allow us easy access
With our guide Paul Vincent
We reached the riverside and had a beautiful ride alongside the Tyne, with it's many bridges, The views along the river were fantastic and the Sage building a truly wondrous sight. We crossed and re-crossed the river over the Millenium Bridge. We were accompanied by Mike (riding a scooter) who was filming our journey as we went and Carol's husband Philip who walked the journey with us at the beginning. The other men had gone by car to rendezvous with us at the bridge
The Tyne, Newcastle On the Millenium Bridge
We met lots of people, cyclists, walkers and locals as we went, most really happy and chatty with lots of folk filming us on cameras & phones – doubtless for YouTube and Facebook. Had cuppas and snacks on the riverside near the Millennium Bridge and were joined by our 'roadies' who had been watching and waiting for us and had taken some photos of us arriving at the riverside.
We then continued along the riverside enjoying the many differing views and being educated by Paul to Scottswood where we stopped for the day at about 4.00pm and again met up with our roadies who loaded the scooters onto the trucks and us into the cars for the journey back to Carlisle. The weather was fantastic the whole day. To add to our enjoyment that evening an item about us was aired on Tyne Tees news.
