Monday 18th May
Monday 18th we made our way to Markham Cottages at Haltwhistle where we were met by the Ben from ITV Tyne Tees TV who had asked to come on our journey with us for a follow-up item for the 6.00pm news. Dave arrived with the truck and while we got organised we were filmed. Ben was with us all morning filming as we went whilst riding our spare scooter like some kind of boy racer!
On the road To Walltown Crags
Nasty clouds were gathering and we all dressed up in full wet weather gear (looked as though we had burkahs on as only our eyes were on view) with layers of clothes, gloves, the heated handlebars on our scooters also came into their own. Rain came down as expected as we set off but we were snug with all the clothes we had on. Trundling through the countryside to Walltown Crags – farmland tracks with deep ruts and with sheep, lambs, cows and calves abounding plus attendant cowpats, etc we had a whale of a time. Our scooters were not looking quite so pristine now. Ben was still filming as we went along. We popped into the Roman Army museum to use their loos and then made our way to Greenhead using the track next to the Military Road used by the cyclists on Route 72. From Greenhead we continued on the road with our escorting car flashing behind us on our way to Gilsland.
Hello to the pupils House of Megs for a cuppa
On reaching Gilsland we first went back to the Primary School to wave to the children. The whole school turned out to greet us and we did little (music-less) impromptu display for them. Ben filmed us there and then he had to leave to ensure the film made it back in time for the news. We even gave some of the children short rides on our scooters sitting on our laps and answered the many and varied questions they asked. We bade them a fond farewell and then on to House of Meg’s Tea Rooms where we stopped for lunch. We were all very cold but soup quickly helped warm us up. From Gilsland it was on to Birdoswald Roman Fort which involved quite steep hill – nothing for Quingos but a bit rough on the cyclist…
We stopped at Birdoswald for the loo and a hot drink and had a word with Miriam – the manager there. A lot of us also had a good look around the site which was much more disabled friendly. There was an intriguing sign on the loo door saying – “please close door to discourage swallows from nesting”!! The scooters were then loaded on the truck and back to base for us. We drove home via Lanercost where we were due to go next day just to check there was a cafe for our break. After such a cold day but one we had all thoroughly enjoyed it was baths all round to take the chill out of our bones! Later we all met in the lounge of the hotel to watch ourselves again on TV.
