Finally escaped!!!

[Steve]

Cheers men!

[Charger]

nice one Steve!!

looks idyllic

[Mossy68]

Glad you followed your heart me old 4 door buddy !!!
Remember you first speaking of your plans a good few years ago.
I'll be up one day.
All the best mate

[Steve]

Thanks Si.

Bring the beast Gary, that will make 8 glorious doors for us to drool over whilst drinking beer and talking man rubbish.

[billybob73]

thought i recognised the pictures , i work a lot in your area hauling timber , im based in brydekirk near annan , we could start up a south west scotland mopar club welcome to the area port william is stunning

[Steve]

Hi Billybob, you've just got yourself a new coffee stop on your rounds!!

I like Port William, just a stones throw from me. Nearest beach is Monreith.

Love the idea of the Dumfries and Galloway chapter of the MMA!!

Cheers Steve

[Dave999]

If you ever feel the need for a hair raising drive with fantastic views and a bit of roman fort visitation

Brampton to Newcastle using the B6318 Military road via Cholleford is a truly cracking drive along the roman wall

you will have to go A69 to Greenhead first and up Greenhead bank. (i did this on a bike during hurricane charlie, Never again)

beware of the severe dips.... if the sign says its severe, for a 1960s/70s car it will be..... the grooves in the road surface prove it

i can also recommend the Kielder reservoir and observatory but that is a bit of a hike.

the carlisle- longtown - newcastleton route to kielder is a sweat inducing, teeth grinding rollercoaster and make sure you take your debit card. the petrol station is un manned card only single pump.


i lived in Newcastle most of my younger life and used to holliday near Dumfries so the boarder region was explored with my parents and later on "Boys Weekends away" (i.e learn to drive and then go and annoy the female inhabitants of the lake district or Dumfries and Galloway at the weekends)

tent beer fags nice chinos new shoes and a car

ahh.... the quest to meet a girl that didn't have a bright orange face and hair like a pineapple


Dave

[Steve]

Nice memories there Dave. Once I'm properly settled I will start to explore. Great suggestions there on routes etc.

Cheers Steve

[Challenger007]

If you ever feel the need for a hair raising drive with fantastic views and a bit of roman fort visitation

Brampton to Newcastle using the B6318 Military road via Cholleford is a truly cracking drive along the roman wall

you will have to go A69 to Greenhead first and up Greenhead bank. (i did this on a bike during hurricane charlie, Never again)

beware of the severe dips.... if the sign says its severe, for a 1960s/70s car it will be..... the grooves in the road surface prove it

i can also recommend the Kielder reservoir and observatory but that is a bit of a hike.

the carlisle- longtown - newcastleton route to kielder is a sweat inducing, teeth grinding rollercoaster and make sure you take your debit card. the petrol station is un manned card only single pump.


i lived in Newcastle most of my younger life and used to holliday near Dumfries so the boarder region was explored with my parents and later on "Boys Weekends away" (i.e learn to drive and then go and annoy the female inhabitants of the lake district or Dumfries and Galloway at the weekends)

tent beer fags nice chinos new shoes and a car

ahh.... the quest to meet a girl that didn't have a bright orange face and hair like a pineapple


Dave

Great story. Is this from real life or a fictional story? Interesting enough. If you detail, you get a good story.

[Dave999]

True.. yes....

sorry steve, thread hijack for 1 post


The road is there, locally known as the military road. follows the path of the roman road on the English side of Hadrains wall.
there are roman forts and museums along the road. and 2 villages next to each other Once brewed and Twice Brewed...
and it is truly a great drive unless you get stuck behind a tractor or some sheep

keilder exists. it was a village until they flooded the valley to make a massive reservoir in the 1960s. they let the people out first.
there are still roads that just disappear into the water...
middle of nowhere, so designated a Dark sky area so there is an observatory and they let you have a go on the telescopes
2 roads into the valley... a sensible one from Bellingham, 2 lanes, snow posts to show depth and where the edge of the road is, and road signs. And a stupid/ mental road from Scotland which you can access via the newcastleton route mentioned, its 2 miles from the boarder so you criss cross about 6 times, its a single track road with passing places and cattle grids for about 20 miles. the kind of country where you can feel you are the only one alive.

I did my duke of endiburgh silver award on a bike
Ponteland- Morpeth- Rothebury over the tops to Elsden across A696 at Otterburn over to Bellingham. it was a killer.
the next day we intended to do keilder forest with 20 mile trip round the reservoir and back home on the Monday

Hurricane Charley hit that night, our youth hostel nearly blew away and we abandoned the project altered the route to stilla achieve the distance went cross country got lost end up miles in the wrong direction and cycled back along the millitary road which included the 3 mile up hill stretch at greenhead bank in 50+MPH gusts.
We didn't fancy keilder forest after the wind blew down acres and acres of fir trees

when i was in my late teens the girls in Newcastle had a habit of covering, their faces at least, in false tan and 1/2 an inch of orange foundation which came off all over your shirt/coat etc and hair would be bonnie Tyler style massive bush of blond hairspray straggles or up like a daft pineapple on the top. and the blokes dressed like sid the sexist from Viz trainers jeans your best top.... it was the only place other than liverpool where a freddy mercury style tache and a tight T shirt didn't automatically indicate your sexual preferences

the unwritten rule was, get into town for 6 pm Friday, for a night out with the boys, and hit the happy hours in the Bigg market and down the Quay Side and try, after Triples for £1 and 6 bottle of brown ale or websters bitter, to chat up the lady folk.


Saturday being reserved for night out with your girlfriend who you may have just met the previous night... this was an infrequent outcome as you might expect, so local pub sufficed with all the other nackers who sadly didn't meet the girl of their dreams the night before

after a while the weekend routine gets a bit boring so you spice it up, designate a driver and expand your horizons by visiting other places and doing exactly the same thing. much to the annoyance of the local chaps from that area, who didn't like the idea of a bunch of "Geordies" turning up, with their highfalutin city ways, expecting to "talk" to the girls they went to school with.

so we'd pile into a car, with whatever we'd need for the night/weekend. tents may be involved, and go and annoy the locals of another place, totally different from Newcastle and its satellite towns. hence the quip about orange faced girls and looking for some that were not, across the other side of the narrowest bit of our country.

obviously you start off local

Morpeth violent nutters
Cramlighton much the same
bedligton much the same
Blyth much the same
Coast (whitley bay tynemouth et al) alright depending on which pub you went in. they were used to out of towners, both full of scottish people down for the warm seas and weather during Glasgow fortnight (summer hols)
Sunderland waste of time ice rink but no cinema! whats all that about?

Etc

sorry steve

Dave

[Steve]

No problem Dave....very interesting...... far more interesting than my thread to be honest!

Cheers Steve