Coast and Castles | Bikepacking Northumberland

🎥 Coast and Castles – My short film and bikepacking debut

Welcome my first bikepacking adventure, ‘Coast and Castles’. Join me (Sam) as I explore the Northumberland Coastline and venture into the Scottish Borders over 3 days and 2 nights. Alongside me for the journey is my wife Bekah and two friends Richy (hardtail hero) and Rory who was the man behind the camera who made this short film possible in the first place! I am so thankful for the time and energy he put in during the trip and since editing this all together.

This short marks me coming out of YouTube retirement! It was shot on in various locations including Newcastle, Tynemouth, Berwick and Eyemouth amongst others. This was very much a ‘learn as we go’ both in terms of bikepacking and filming. It was alot of fun! This trip was inspired by Richy who had wanted to do this route for some time, for me it was a perfect opportunity for a dress rehearsal for a much bigger adventure I have planned this summer that is 85 years in the making!

If you enjoyed this then keep a look out for my next project ‘Ride 2 Refuge’, as I retrace my Grandad’s bicycle journey spanning over 1000km through France during WWII as he escaped Hitler’s advancing army. At 14 years old, my Grandad alongside his younger brother and parents all became refugees overnight in June 1940. Their true story is incredible and powerful and I hope to shed light on their bravery and determination as a family and ensure their experience is not lost to history.

💬 Let me know your thoughts in the comments and don’t forget to subscribe to stayed connected for future projects.

🔗 Follow me on Instagram 📸: sammyboyadventures
🔗 Follow Rory on Youtube: @roryandthemountain

A big thank you to those who have listened to my story and supported me, check them out to:

📸 https://www.instagram.com/skinnergatecycles/
📸 https://www.instagram.com/cyclewise_ltd/

🎥 Shot on: Sony A640, Go Pro Hero 10 & DJI Mini 4 Pro.
🎵 Soundtrack: https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/UWpApRHSXY/

i think you’ve answered your own question there so hi so my name is Sam and this is my very first bike packing adventure that I did with three really good friends uh one of them I fancy a lot uh fortunately for her she’s my wife Becca uh there’s two other very handsome men one Rich who did the bike journey with me it was also his first ever bike packing trip uh the other young man Rory likes to hide behind the camera so being uh being from the Northeast I thought why not check out our back garden uh so we just headed north up to North Thland hope you enjoy it and who knows hopefully by the end of this I might be even better than handstands than I already am so here we are at Tinmouth the first of hopefully three days we’re going to ride to Edinburgh train station so Rich and I had an early start this morning uh getting the train up to Newcastle we’ve just had a gentle ride across so it’s a lot of um just seeing what happens really neither of us have done a bike packing trip before um but we looked apart there’s Richie’s hard tail there’s my gravel so we we’re like all the gear but no idea yeah see what happens [Music] we all [Music] king of the bora we’re just coming in St mary’s Lighthouse i think Rich is still behind me so it’s been a bit of stop start this morning but we knew it would be it’s all part of uh practicing riding naving oh right just going to have to do an evasive maneuver hang on but legs are feeling good full of bacon from this morning and the wind’s just about going in the right direction so can’t ask for more really so I just thought I’d really just introduce myself really because Sam’s not really said much on this uh trip so far about me i’m Richie um not really done much bike packing but I’ve always fancied doing the course and castles trip not really done anything that like that before but I’m always out for a bit of an adventure i do a lot of hill walking a lot of expeditions in Scotland and very remote areas do a lot of rock climbing mountaineering all that type of stuff today I was up at half 4 this morning bright and early down to Durham onto the train with Sam and through to Newcastle and here we are and there’s Richie’s cube reaction rigged up to the max hard tail hero uh not not sponsored by Rock UK but it was one of Rock UK’s higher bikes that they never hired out and he’s very happy with it [Music] [Music] we all need the same so we’re riding on the beach not because it’s part of route one just because it’s fun i think there’s a Oh jeez okay wow so the sand’s not as compact here we were just about to turn around anyway gosh i’m guessing this might not be a flattering shot but it’s just a practice to see what it looks like and it sounds like there’s a road a big a road to my right so sound will probably be really rubbish but h if it works that’s good to know action Richie we’re nearly 60 km in what’s the match report going pretty good so far it’s pretty easyish terrain I would say moderate some of it um few little sneaky uphill sections when you managed to get a lead once on Sam which you’ve had the running joke all day so far the tortoise and the hair i don’t remember him taking over me to be honest sam being the hair on the gravel bike carbon fiber gravel bike for me i’ve gone more traditional this weekend in the hard tail hoping it’ll pee off a little bit tomorrow road sections to be fair I think Richie is a bit dehydrated there he’s what he’s not remembering is that I’ve had uh knee surgery so you know the carbon really just makes it a level playing field i’m going to try and find another water stop somewhere soon fill up the water both getting a little bit low on water aren’t we so uh-huh bit topped up get another cup of tea see how we get on oh yeah it’s gone Connie heat heat chasing him down 81k down maybe 10 to go couple of kilometers out of Almouth don’t know if the camera will pick them up but an army of green flies trying to hitch a ride they think I must be the number 17 bus i don’t know if there’s any on me face as well oh there’s one on the GoPro so doing all right main bit that sore is me hands actually but we’re doing all right probably managed about 15k all day as an average speed that’s 15k an hour steady away we’re in pursuit of a silver scoder elegance breaking the laws in North Thland oh my goodness no regard for nature just killed three flies pop a shoe wow well done mate that was the easy day so we’re at Coast and Castle’s campsite we made it to the end of day one first impressions I’m couldn’t be happier really we rode 95 km that’s definitely the longest bike ride I’ve done in a long time i was probably worried most of all about my knee but honestly that’s not being a bother at all richie who rode with me today I think he he reckons that’s the longest ride he’s ever done so that’s a great milestone the checkpoint system worked pretty well it’s so well that I’d forgotten about two of them and rode past so it’s good job Becca was uh keeping an eye out without getting carried away i don’t think today could have gone better train was on time sun’s been in the sky all day yeah there’s been no mechanicals so I guess days like this aren’t going to happen often but second while we can cooked up a unreal tea so and then people on another campsite have given us their leftovers too and then just by complete coincidence friend of mine from works camping with her family so going to go and pop over and play some cards and drink a beer with them shortly so yeah tents are up and uh I think that’s it for today see you in the morning morning So start of day two uh we nearly had to cancel the trip there actually cuz uh the the support team were crucial in that moment in fact there was there was no L roll and uh I needed some but luckily Becca on call what a professional i’m about 7 kilos lighter ready for the rides so we’re going to first checkpoints sea houses and then straight onto Bambra Castle all being well there’s a campsite in uh near Cold Stream about something kilome away how sore are you from yesterday honestly I’m I’m feeling like better than expected how about you Rich not bad yeah it doesn’t it doesn’t tickle when you sit in the saddle for the first time but we’ll see and we got Becca with us today yeah we do rocking the purple and black not going to miss me so we’re going to have three riders to start the day and see how two drops out [Music] wow reaction cam that was the greatest moment of my bicycling life so the train was like 500 meters ahead and just then the lights turned and the gates came down and Becca was like “Oh that would be a great shot.” So I literally pulled out the Lance Armstrong legs only without the illegal performance enhancers just fueled off a porridge and a banana got there in time got a lovely shot hopefully of the train with the But if that wasn’t enough what was then coming the other way a Massie Ferguson oh yes wish list complete a tractor in a dream my dreams have come true i mean yeah i’m just I’m floating right now that’s not cool [Music] so we made it to quite possibly the most handsome cricket pitch certainly I’ve seen and I don’t even care for cricket made really good start 20 25 miles something like that so Becca’s joined today which is really cool she’s um rocking her e ebike um but barely needed it to be honest we’ve just been riding in a line and uh it’s it’s been a lot of road riding actually compared to yesterday vast majority was on like traffic free routes but today it’s been mostly mostly roads cup of tea break here what do you reckon Richie looking good just checking the map and see where we are bam i mean it’s obvious where we are bamber cast in the background one of the most historic strongholds I would say North Humberland but it’s spectacular to do mhm look at it on there so you can actually go right to Holy Island depending on the Yeah if you want if depending on the tide t cuz that’s See the campsite there yeah that’s where our next checkpoint is and there’s a cafe there [Applause] afternoon made it to the top of a hill and now we get to ride back down it woo climb complete so we are about 2/3 into the journey today we’ve just stopped off at a little cafe and be had a look at Holy Island and uh we decided we didn’t fancy it well not really just we’ve decided we don’t want to put the extra miles on we probably do have time with the tide um but we just don’t want to rush it and we’ve got a lot of miles on our legs already with a few more to go today and then a lot tomorrow that sign behind me says 11 miles to Beric and then plan is Becca who’s done amazing carrying our baby in in her belly has uh ridden with us all morning and afternoon and we’ll keep going to Beric and then Richie and I the lads lads lads we will finish off at the campsite so let’s see what happens we all need the same we all need the same [Music] Someone [Music] [Music] Course [Applause] legs finished 76 km we finally had a bit of uh gravel on the old gravel bike we’re making quite a good time half free quart we’re going to say bye to Becca not forever hopefully and Richie and I are going to do the last leg to the campsite which is about 12 miles i keep going from miles to kilometers i know I do but never mind [Applause] well two days down we’re at second camp for the night it’s been a brilliant day but it’s definitely been a a tough day especially when we left Becca at Beric it was quite a a windy hilly windy finish pretty much almost all on the road there was a really nice section that followed the river like gravel section which kind of came out of nowhere that was one of the nicest parts of the actually wasn’t it towards the end of the gravel track from which kind of took us down into eel didn’t it and then along to here yeah and those are like a few extra like little surprise castles that you just took behind some trees and then 3 2 1 there they are loads of positives from the days like the the thing I think we’ve come to realize was tomorrow the original planet was always going to be a big ask um you know the distance the time limit with with the train booked so we made a tough call but the right call to to sort of re replan tomorrow’s ride uh we do have to figure that out don’t we but assuming that the train passes Beric on its journey back to Durham we’ll uh we’ll plan a ride from this campsite and to finish in Beric but we’ll just do a a different uh section than we we’ve done today um the weather’s bit mixed bit of wind bit of rain bit of sun um so yeah we’ve got that to do tonight after we’ve had a shower and a brew and it’s it’s definitely your longest ride Richie’s ever done and it’s probably according to Straa it’s my longest too 115k a day was it yeah just about whatever that is in miles 70 something yeah sad thing is there’s only one canala left but we might we might share it like that much each there’s one thing not to overlook at all so Richie’s done this whole ride on a hard tail mountain bike with chunky tires so hard to tell all the way it’s uh he’s he’s benefited like 10% of the ride for it but 90% of the time he’s it’s it’s made him slower and he’s got to put the work in 4,000 calories late credit to you for that yeah anyway I’ve just seen some good looking toes which tells me wife’s out the shower so it’s Rich’s turn next yes and then mine good night god bless bye-bye so after breakfast on our third and final day uh we said farewell to Becca and Rory they headed home uh they took their camera and drone with them as well so we just had the little action cam that you’ll get to see a few shots of our final leg the weather was pretty grim at times it was just soaking wet but then it was quite fun when the sun came back out and h we headed up tooth after a little stop off for a bacon booty that kept us going we uh yeah got to the bay if that’s what it’s known as I don’t know and uh got got mugged by some seagulls so quick get away from there and we managed to make it back to Beric and good time before our train and we even managed to get to the chip shop so we had a fantastic three days almost 300 km I believe thank you so much for watching i really hope you’ve enjoyed it uh as much as we did doing it and uh if you did enjoy it you’d be pleased to know that there’s going to be another trip uh much bigger than this one actually we’re planning on a twoe trip through France uh to recreate a very very special journey that my family undertook in the summer of 1940 which if you do know was during World War II so keep a lookout for Ride to Refuge thanks for watching bye