While the west side of the Pennines gets a lot of love it’s easy to forget that there’s some top quality riding to the east too. This ride takes you through some wild and exposed scenery. Some love this, some don’t, but if you like the sound of it then here is a mecca for soulful, moortop, mud-in-your-eye mountain biking that’s as good as anywhere in the world.

In a lot of ways, Northumberland is a forgotten corner of the country. You can ride mile after mile of trail, cutting deep into the wild, rolling hills of the Cheviots and North Pennines, and you won’t see a soul. Not one. Some love this, some don’t, but if you like the sound of it then here is a mecca for soulful, moortop, mud-in-your-eye mountain biking that’s as good as anywhere in the world.

Threading its way between a few of the small villages in the area, our ride climbs steadily out of Blanchland on fire road, past the poetically named Pennypie House and onto the wilds of Blanchland Moor. Keep climbing up to Slaley Forest where a left turn spits you back out onto open moor and onto the first singletrack of the day. The trail is peaty but firm, although heavy rain left us with lots of surface water, and it winds across the moorland at speed. Names like Embley Fell, Burntshieldhaugh Fell and Bulbeck Common all pass under your wheels. Keep your eyes to either side for the rolling views, but don’t forget to take the left down Birkside Fell, onto the super-fast road down the valley. A short left at the bottom takes you immediately back to Blanchland if anything has gone wrong, but otherwise steel yourself for the brutal road climb up to Edmondbyers Common and the singletrack leg back across the hill to Edmondbyers itself. A final few miles of quiet tarmac finishes the day perfectly.