Wednesday July 5, 2017

We left, Belinda and I that is, at about 14:30, stopping briefly to leave keys for my brother before venturing down the motorways and A roads to Newcastle upon Tyne.

It was an uneventful trip; the tandem stayed safely on the back of the car and the sat-nav thingy brought us unerringly to within 100m of the hotel. That last 100m took about 20 minutes to complete. But we stayed calm, didn’t shout or make snidey comments about the other person’s navigation skills or stupid sat-navs – we were a model, modern couple (or maybe just too tired to care).

We did see the Angel of the North on the way up. It looked just like we thought it would, only about 1/4 of the size – memories of Spinal Tap sprung to mind as we both glanced at it then said, in perfect unison, “I thought it was much bigger than that!”

Anyway, check-in was seamless, the tandem safely locked away and the bright lights of Gateshead/Newcastle beckoned. So, we marched across one of the miriad of bridges, stopped at the first eatery, and devoured two helpings of the Pitcher and Piano’s finest main courses.

Back at the hotel we watched the end of stage 5 of the Tour, and then retired to bed, ready for our briefing from the Skeddadle rep. tomorrow morning and then the beginning of our journey northwards towards the fabled land of ice and snow, the home of devils and monsters and the lair of possibly the most over-rated poet in the English language – yes, we were on our way to Scotland, home of the brave and Robbie Burns ….