Hartside Roadtrip 2013

I tore out a road trip idea from Practical Classics a couple of years ago and today I drove it to see if it would be good for us to use as a drive-out day.

The route began at Bamber Bridge and I took the M6 north to junction 40 (75 miles). Onto the A686 towards Alston and Hartside Summit.



















A stopping off point half way (ish) round at a cafe will give a welcome break and a leg stretch (110 miles)











Turning right out of the cafe carpark begins the decent.  A lot of hairpin 'S' bends running up and down hill are quite testing for clutch, gear and braking!!!

Langley Castle was visited briefly…..



A stop off at Vinlando a Roman fort dating back to AD 130 and see the excavations of the ancient ruins
http://www.vindolanda.com/

Hadrians Wall isn't too far away either so we'd nearly be in Scotland!!!!







Keeping on the A686 through Haydon Bridge and then left onto the A69 (113miles) for a bit of easy A road motoring. From there it's all the way to the M6 again.

All in all the round trip back to Bamber Bridge was 232 (ish) miles and done in the spring sunshine was a real treat to be out in the car again.

How does that sound for a day out? No dates as yet though.
It took me 5.15hrs driving time to get round without a rush and with the days getting longer we could easily set off at 10am and still have an easy day sight seeing.

Show of hands????

looks like a really nice route

i'll weight to find out on dates

Very nice route! If my MK1 was on the road I'd be in

We're up for it depending on the dates.

Lovely route and smashing views by the looks of it. Would be a massive trip for me to come along though

We would be interested depending on dates 

I would be interested, very close to me so save a bit of petrol too!

smudger1980 said

Lovely route and smashing views by the looks of it. Would be a massive trip for me to come along though

Massive trips are what we need to be encouraging! We're a car club and need to get out more as a club driving as well as at shows.

Essex IS a long way but if you combined it with a couple of nights in a Premier Inn (other hotes are available!) then it would be manageable - funds allowing.

I did a Bristol meet a few years back and that was a long way for a car par meet. Hopefully this will be better than that!!

I was amazed at how open the county was, there is really nice scenery and the motorway north of Lancaster are really quiet.

The will is there Dano mate believe me just depends on the all important funds. I will keep an eye on the thread and the dates when they are confirmed and go from there

I used to go up to Hartside every weekend on the Z1000, the cornish pasties are amazing!! It's worth the journey just for them