Its been a busy summer at NTR with a many of our members going off on organised club trips, while others have done their own thing. Here are just a few of them.
JULY-SEPTember 2026
Ride Report : C2C2C2 (3X) – Tynemouth to Dumfries to Edinburgh to Tynemouth
Rob Bolton and a large crew set off on an epic C2C(X3) spending 3 days riding from Tynemouth to Dumfries, Dumfries to Edinburgh, then finally Edinburgh back to Tynemouth, stopping in hotels/hostels each night. Kudos to all – a tough 3 days in the saddle I’m sure. Some fine (but windy) weather and fantastic photos from this one
Ride Report : C2C Whitehaven to Tynemouth (July 2026)
Andy Roberts : 14 of us headed down to Whitehaven on Saturday 11th July to undertake a classic coast to coast ride to Tynemouth the next day. After the obligatory whitehaven Harbour photos, we headed through the stunning Lake District up Whinlatter, Keswick, Penrith and on to Cumbria stopping at Alston. Once over the brut that is Nenthead, we headed through Weardale and up Crawleyside all on a glorious summers day. 130 miles, 10,000 ft of climbing and lots of smiles and team work. Highlight of the day, Ian Wright and his surprise pop-up support at the top of Hartside with cold pop and crisps!
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> A challenging but top ride out with fantastic company doing what NTR does best!
JULY
Glorious Gravel – Aberfoyle – by Gemma Fletcher-Richardson
In late June, Dan and I headed to Scotland to take part in one of Glorious Gravel’s rides around Aberfoyle. There were two distances on offer; 100km with 1700m of climbing, or 200km with 3300m of climbing. I opted for the 100km route, while Dan chose the 200km. We travelled up on Friday afternoon and pitched the tent, shortly afterwards the torrential rain arrived but we did remain dry!
Saturday was an early start, with the 200km ride setting off at 6am. Dan headed off on his long adventure under threatening skies, I started at 8am with a light drizzle already coming down.
The opening section of the 100km route featured some really punchy gravel climbs, but the stunning scenery more than made up for the effort. I was a little nervous after seeing a couple of riders dealing with mechanicals very early on, including one person who already had their tyre off the rim less than 10km into the ride.
I reached the café stop at the Pier Café on Loch Katrine just after 11am, where the cakes were excellent (and there’s a steam boat ferry). With heavy rain forecast for 2pm, I was confident I’d be finished before then. Unfortunately, around 10 minutes after leaving the café, the rain started. It was still around 20°C , so I decided to skip the rain jacket. From there, the route followed the loch before heading back through Aberfoyle and returning to event HQ.
Dan, however, wasn’t having quite such a good day. The ferry taking the 200km riders across Loch Lomond was delayed, and not long afterwards he suffered a puncture that wouldn’t seal (closer inspection back at home revealed one large puncture along with a hole in the tyre bead), unfortunately, there were no tubeless plugs in the toolbox.
Dan fitted his spare tube, but that only lasted around five minutes before going flat as well, leaving him no option but to call the event mechanic. Help soon arrived, but the valve on the mechanic’s spare tube was too short, and the repair kit wasn’t compatible with Dan’s TPU tube.
In the end, Dan was given a lift from the roadside to the next feed station, where there were more tools and spare tubes available to get him rolling again. Unfortunately, he went from leading the event (the organisers were keen to stress it wasn’t a race) to being the last rider on the course. It was 7:30pm by the time he rolled back through Aberfoyle on his way to the finish.
It was a great day out for both of us, although it turned into a very long one for Dan.
