To Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Moonlanding i picked up friend Chris with his Moonlander and drove down over the Border to Berwick to park at Spittal, with rain forecast in the afternoon and a 10am low tide we had a few hours to cross the 9 miles of exposed low tide sands to Lindesfarne where we would toast the occassion with some Lindesfarne Mead,
I got busy when Chris had to take a phone call...
It was a lovely morning as we rode along the beach past Goswick, the sand was quite soft, softer than any previous visit and we were both glad to be on the maximum size available Fatbike 5" tyres on 4" rims...
We got to the river crossing and as expected it was to deep to cycle, i waded in first to check in a few areas before we walked the bikes across as they started to float-keeping the hubs and bottom bracket from getting submerged...
Then the next section which was tough going as the sand was really soft, we dropped onto small front chain rings and slowly winched the mile or so across to the high tide line at the island....
9 miles across all types of sand and back on dry land...
Across to the village where we headed to the Lindesfarne Mead Centre...
And a lot of new varieties since my last visit where only the original was available...
Sampling the new Mead`s we toasted the Moonlandings, and our fun cycle, we had earned this as was hard work in places...
Across to the Crown and Anchor and food and refreshment in the sun...
Surly Moonlanders; The Need for Mead... from coastkid71 on Vimeo.
The Island was real busy with day visitors and we were glad to get rolling again, we headed to the line of wooden poles that mark the Pilgrims crossing therefore avoiding the traffic on the causeway road...
It was several inches deep a lot of the way and we stopped at the safety tower for some pics and put on waterproofs as rain clouds as forecasted for afternoon were moving across the bay and the noise of the approaching rain echoed off the water-something i have never heard before...
And boy did it rain!, intense downpour for about 10 minutes,, we sat sheltering then after it cleared grabbed some pics then continued to the second tower and water crossing to reach the shore line at the start of the causeway...
That was the first time i had cycled the Pilgrims route, and i doubt many bicycles have successfully cycled across - except Fatbikes, the bigger 5" tyre fat bikes was in it`s element in the soft wet sand...
Film of the crossing, Song is `Fragments` by Thievery Corporation
Surly Moonlanders; The Pilgrims Crossing... from coastkid71 on Vimeo.
Back on the mainland and along to Goswick and past the old County Tractor in the dunes,,,
It started poring down with no light cloud ahead and sign of it passing quick we cycled back through the dunes and then cliff top trail to Spittal...
He he huge puddles!
Of course it went off just as we neared the van!,
Sensibly we both had a change of clothes, and driving back we reflected on a great day out, using Fatbikes as they were intended for, adventure cycling...
Film splashing through the puddles on the way back to the van. Song is `Ganky` by ChrisT
Surly Moonlanders. Goswick to Spittal, in the rain... from coastkid71 on Vimeo.
And that's a wrap, The Moonlander was washed once home, dried off then next day sprayed over with WD40, and put back in storage until another special occasion, maybe when they return to the Moon in the near future...
More soon...
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