reivers

Easy - Moderate

A very easy start (other than the initial pull up from the River Tyne to higher ground), the Reivers route finds the best way it can out of a crowded Tyneside using in part a straight disused railway line out of Tyneside and into Ponteland and Nothumberland. Then it's quiet country roads towards Bellingham and Kielder Forest. The Forest section is a little challenging whichever side of the reservoir at Kielder you take, and then some short but steep sections towards Newcastleton. Then its easy cycling to Carlisle, and later a few climbs to Hesket Newmarket but they're all short. Thats the hard bits over with as you head to the Lake District, Workington and Whitehaven.