I had been looking forward to this trip, not just because it was to be our tenth leg, but also because I knew we had passed the grimmest parts of the industrial North-East on our last journey, and I was looking forward to taking in the renowned natural beauty of the Northumberland coast.
Not only that, but, all being well, this trip would involve a milestone moment when we would cross borders for the first time – out of England and into that wild northern realm, Scotland!
All in all, lots to look forward to; not least getting out of my car after a long and soul-destroying drive up the M1 and A1 in Friday traffic. We'd had Radio 2 keeping us company all the way up, starting with Ken Bruce as we set out this morning, and concluding with the dulcet tones of Chris Evans, indicating that it was gone 5pm by the time we eventually made it around to the northern side of the Tyneside conurbation.
I parked the car up in the quiet village of Seghill, figuring that it would be not only a safe spot, but also easy to get back to from Cramlington station once we'd completed our journey and caught a train back from Edinburgh. There was now just the small matter of cycling out to Whitley Bay, where we had turned inland at the end of the previous leg, to pick up where we'd left off...