Druridge Bay, Northumberland

Dover - Shetland Day 19
North Shields to Shilbottle (Nr Alnwick)

Distance cycled: today 69.5km, total 1309.4km
Ascent: today 342m, total 7162m

Highlight: beautiful day for cycling on generally flat off road trail along the spectacular Northumberland coastline. An early start with Angus accompanying me for the first few miles meant, even with frequent breaks, my earliest arrival of the trip. Plenty of time to relax once showered and changed.

Lowlight: not much, although temperature and visibility dropped sharply early afternoon, as sea mist (called 'fret' in these parts) started to roll in.

What else? with more than 2 weeks on the bike and over half the trip completed, I thought I'd share my top tips for anyone contemplating multi-day cycle touring:

1. Padded shorts and diligent use of chamois cream really does work to avoid saddle sores!
2. A 'gravel' (or cyclocross) bike provides an ideal combination of speed and toughness if you want to follow National Cycle routes (which are a mix of minor quiet tarmac roads and off road tracks, some of which can be quite a rough).
3. You will take too much stuff, especially clothing. Pack and then try to take out half!
4. A quick release handle bar mounted front box (with a shoulder strap and waterproof map display holder) is the best accessory you will buy (all stuff you'd like to keep secure but handy eg money, phone, sunscreen etc. can be stored in it and easily taken with when nipping in somewhere)
5. Always apply sunscreen (otherwise you will get burnt, even on overcast days, as you're outside for so long), take a small absorbent towel (handy for so many things), and wear wrap around sunglasses with quick change lens (including clear for dull days) to prevent sore, gritty eyes. Oh and in summer breath through your nose when cycling through shady vegetated areas, unless you want to swallow dozens of insects!

Photo: it had to be a beach today, with lots of spectacular and almost deserted ones to choose from in Nortumberland. You can see the sea mist starting to appear in this shot and the beach would have disappeared into it just a few hours later.