A few weeks ago, Colette was speaking to someone who thoroughly recommended Kielder Water for a nice day’s cycling, so we looked into it straight away. There is a lakeside track running right round the whole perimeter of the lake, and being the largest artificial lake in the UK, that amounts to a pretty reasonable 26 miles of pedalling. We knew this week was forecast to be calm and clear, so we planned our visit on a bright sunny Wednesday in the middle of March.
The run down to Northumbria in the morning was beautiful, and once we left the main roads behind, there appeared to be endless almost deserted country roads that would be idyllic to cycle along. However, we kept to the plan and arrived at Kielder Water at about 10.30am, raring to go. We parked at a place called Bakethin near the top end of the lake and made the decision to go clockwise, so that we would arrive at Leaplish waterside park about lunchtime; if we went the other way, we would get there too soon.
The Kielder Forest, carpetted in moss
We headed off along the Lakeside Way, taking us into the Kielder Forest for the first time. Immediately we found that out of the sun, it was still very nippy. I stopped and put on another layer almost straight away. We then followed the path up to the north end of the reservoir, along an almost flat and well kept path. Any thoughts of a gentle amble all the way round were soon dispelled when we hit some serious undulations. The short, sharp “hills” were made that bit more difficult by the thin layer of mud coating the surface of the path. It slowed us down a fair bit but didn’t spoil the enjoyment too much. I’m sure the mud will dry out after a good spell of dry weather, making the route much easier.
Colette at the Janus Chairs
The side of the lake is dotted with various artistic installations and other points of interest. We didn’t have time to make a stop for them all, but we enjoyed the Janus Chairs and the Salmon Cubes, and went inside the Belvedere for a wee rest. We might have investigated the Wave Chamber, but the route to it was thick with mud.
A salmon cube – this one represents the shimmering scales
As we cycled along, we started to get glimpses of the dam, but it took a long time to get there, due to the route looping round all the inlets and making energy-sapping climbs up into the woods. Finally, we reached Hawkhope car park at the north end of the dam. The car park was deserted and the loos firmly locked.
We paused to admire the dam, which was completed in 1981 – it certainly is a massive piece of work, and not surprisingly, due to the record rainfall this winter, it was pretty much full to capacity. I wondered whether any villages were submerged beneath the dark, still waters, and I got to thinking about that spooky French series, The Returned.
We pedalled on over the dam then rejoined the lakeside path. After a while, we reached Tower Knowe visitor centre (although at the time, I thought it was Leaplish). There were buildings with massive writing painted onto them, including one with “CAFE”, which was encouraging as we were starving by this point. Unfortunately it was closed, but there were at least some toilet facilities. We used the loos and had a small feast of jelly babies in place of lunch before geting back on the trail.
The trail continued to be well signposted for the most part, although we managed to take the wrong turning at one point, forcing us to push the bikes over some soggy grass to regain the track rather than suffer the humiliation of retracing our steps. Call it an optional excursion from the recommended path.
The lakeside path also employed some of the old road, which was just above water level here. In some places you could see bits of the old road running right down into the water, like a slipway. One thing we noticed however was that Leaplish was signposted ahead, so we realised that the centre we had just visited wasn’t Leaplish after all, and we still had some hope of getting our lunch and a nice hot cup of tea.
Eventually we rolled up at Leaplish and saw some activity round the car park and people using the picnic benches. We headed to the restaurant, where we could hear activity, only to be told by a lady on the door that they weren’t open today. Oh well, that was that, no lunch for us! At least we weren’t too far from completing the loop to our starting point.
Lovely curved bridge
The next bit of the trail was possibly the most enjoyable, being out in the open, with a well dried-out track and taking a pleasantly meandering route. We stopped again just as we re-entered the forest at a peaceful inlet which was spanned by an interesting curved bridge. Then it was back onto the bikes and into low gear for another set of switchbacks climbing back up into the woods. There was the start of a proper “red” mountain bike trail here, but judging by the state we were in after following the lakeside trail, I don’t think we’re up to that level of difficulty! I also wasn’t so sure whether the bikes would have been up to it either, as both of them were making some disconcerting noises of complaint and were kind of “tarred and feathered” with a thick coating of mud and pine needles.
I stopped to check the GPS at one point and found that we were no more than a mile away from the start point, so we pressed on, feeling the end was within reach. So we were stunned and speechless when we found that the trail ahead had been blocked off for tree felling. We could see the lumberjacks at work with their chainsaws and the trees coming crashing down. There was no way of knowing how long they were going to be at work, so we weighed up the alternatives to just sitting and waiting. We could back track to an adandoned car park we had passed a few miles back, which would surely give us access to the road, and could then return by tarmac. But there was also a sort of clearing running through the trees and roughly in the direction we wanted to go. It was perhaps a rash decision, but we opted to carry our bikes over through the clearing.
Colette started off and immediately slipped down a ditch. No harm done, apart from soggy feet. I helped her up and we carried on carefully across country. The going was very difficult, as the ground was a meshwork of rotting branches covered with moss. You had to choose your path carefully and also avoid the brambles, which got caught in pedals and feet and clothing. After maybe 100 yards of slow progress, we came out at a path, which turned out to be the other end of the closed-off section. We were very relieved, as the cross-country option had the potential for going badly wrong!
So we hopped back on our bikes, and round the next corner we came back to the car. The filthy bikes were packed up and we headed home where we treated ourselves to a Chinese takeaway to make up for the missing lunch stop. Looking back on it, it was a good day out, although it would certainly be more enjoyable later in the year with a dry track and once the facilities open up. As for the bikes, we gave them a good clean and oiling the next day and they seem to be working a lot better now!