Reviewing Tree Colours & Bike Sheep Herding😂

Join me for a solo off-road cycling adventure along Waskerley Way, a stunning and remote section of the C2C (Sea to Sea) cycle route in County Durham. This scenic trail between Consett and Stanhope is one of the most peaceful and picturesque parts of the Sustrans Sea to Sea Route, perfect for cycling, walking, or even mobility scooters.

In this ride, I head out in the late afternoon to enjoy the amazing autumn colours, rating the trees as I go (yes, I actually give them scores out of 10!). Along the way, I encounter a flock of escaped sheep, try my hand at herding them back into their field, and stop by Nana B’s Tea Room for a well-deserved break.

Even though I forget my bike lights, I’m rewarded with an unbelievable sunset over the moors — a reminder of how special the area truly is. If you love gravel biking, cycle touring, or exploring the British countryside, this is a route you need to experience.

✨ About the Route:

Location: Waskerley Way, County Durham (part of C2C / Sea to Sea Route)
Distance: ~10 miles (main section)
Terrain: Well-surfaced, suitable for all bikes and mobility scooters
Perfect for: Gravel bikes, mountain bikes, roadbikes,hybrid bikes, and walkers

If you enjoy videos about off-road cycling, bikepacking, UK cycle routes, or getting out into nature, hit Subscribe and join me for more adventures!

#c2c #adventurecycling #bikevlog #cyclinglife #cubebikes

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/hemlock/still-hope
License code: N4UKBJRCVWPLOYI2

Other music by Lee Sheridan.

[Music] Welcome back to Trail Mix. I’m out on me bike on a lovely autumn day. Absolutely gorgeous. It’s like summer. So, I’m heading up to a a place called Wasky Way. It’s part of the sea to sea long distance bike route. Um I haven’t been up there for a while actually and I was thinking about doing a bit of a wrecky cuz I’m thinking about Vivian up in that location. [Applause] Yes. Plenty of bivy spots around here as well. Got to be careful on that loose gravel. So, I’m just passing this uh wind farm, which I pass quite regular when I’m out on me bike. One thing I’ve never noticed before is that, do you know the the things on the top propellers, whatever you call them, I didn’t know they’re like rotated. You know what I mean? That’s I think that’s the first time I’ve seen it point the other way. It’s always pointing that way cuz the very little wind the day and the wind that there is is blown towards the west which is usually it’s usually blown from the west isn’t it towards the east. All right. Look at this one here. That’s got to be eight out of 10. [Music] 7 out of 10. [Applause] I’m sad on that. I like the red ones as well. The red trees, you know, and they go like crimson red. See if I can find one. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] That’s got to be a seven out of 10 that one. Some nice colors coming there. So, we’re heading over Houndsgill Vio now. This is actually an amazing view of the vio from down there. You don’t realize how uh impressive it is. Does anyone know about the caves that are underneath here? Has anyone visited them? I’ve only been once. Well worth a visit. Might go down there and get some footage one day. More nice colors up there. Look. As you can probably tell, I like the autumn, especially on a day like today. I mean, who wouldn’t? A little rabbit there. Uh sheep. You what? Sorry. Oh, is it? You don’t know who the farmer is, do you? No. Well, there’s a farm up there like I might give him a knock and tell them. Yeah. I’m not going to go past with the dogs. Does it look like they’ve got out like Yeah. Well, the lady there says the walls knocked down, but they have literally just all walked across like like a lot of All right. That’s the farming. That’s the only farm I can think of. Do you know the they are do you know the cafe up further up? Yeah, I think it’s called Nana Bees. I’m sure that’s a farm. Well, I’ll not even if I speak to her, she might know cuz all the farmers probably know each other. I was just stopping for that rabbit. Well, it mustn’t be very well cuz it’s just literally walked into his Yeah. and he’s picked him up. But it looks like it’s hurt its eye. So, it’s probably can’t see. What a shame about then. Yeah, I will. I’ll try. Is this what she’s talking about? Oh, I’m going to get squashed by loads of sheep here. [Applause] I should see if I can herd them back into the uh into the field. Go back that way. I don’t want to frighten them like All right. Some of the margo in the back the way they should be. I think that woman they’ve got out of a field further up. Can you heard uh can you hurt sheep with a bike? I’m just saying can you heard she can you hurt sheep with a bike? Well just done it. But there some of them went down there. Oh well I just what I was trying to avoid was pushing them onto the road. Yeah. You’ve done the right thing. Yeah. But as I said there’s another lot further up. The only farm I can think of is further up there. So I think I might give them a knock and tell them. Yeah. Yeah, I would. Cuz it may not be their stock, but they’ll probably know the they know the other farmers, won’t they? Yeah. Enjoy your ride. See, they must have broke out the little prison like the great escape. [Applause] You know what happened to Hilts? You’ll be putting the cooler for breaking out. No wind at all. I just thought I’d get some footage just to show you is how peaceful and quiet it can be up here. This is one of my favorite places. So, like I said before, this is actually part of the the C2C, Route 7. I’ve been up here loads of times. I actually haven’t been up for a while. I’m not originally from the um Durham Stanley area. Um so, when I actually discovered this route just by looking at maps and that, I was blown away at how quickly you can get out into like quite a remote area. It’s uh I mean it’s only probably 7 milesi from concert and look at it man. Look at the scenery. It’s unreal. Totally different in the in the heights of the winter mine. I always find if you go out in the winter when it’s quite cold, you come up here right and it’s like 5° colder if not more. I’ve been up here before in the spring and it’s there’s still full snow up here, but it’s just uh absolutely amazing, I think. But I think it’s worth coming up here just for the if you love peace and quiet and uh natural picturesque nice places, then uh I you can’t beat this. Like, if you’re from the local area, you probably know what I’m talking about. But if you’re not from this area, um you could probably park up at Rolley Station if you look at that on the map or Lidgate Junction and they just ride up here. And then the good thing is some people ride up here against the wind slightly uphill and then turn round and uh you’ve got a downhill going all the way back and you you literally fly. But I’m doing a circular route of the day there. It’s a little cafe, right? That’s a cafe there. It’s called Nana Bees. So that the cafe is actually shut for the winter. But the lady who owns this farm is like set on a farm. By the way, I’ve just spoke to her about the the sheep down there and she knows who they belong to and she’s busy on the phone to them now. So I’ve done me good deed. So she’s a really nice lady. So she keeps this open all the way through the winter and it’s got like um just like an honesty box. Do you know what I mean? It’s not staffed anything. How nice is that? You mean you get yourself a cup of tea in there. some biscuits. Um, it’s even got a little heater on as well. Kettle. I’ve been in once in the winter, so if you’re up here in the freezing cold in the winter, you know, you can come in here, get yourself a copper. All right, let’s crack on with the rest of the riding. [Applause] There’s only a couple of gates up here. [Applause] How was that for a view? Looks like a trail to nowhere, doesn’t it? So, it’s quite um late on the day. Well, in the afternoon, it’s 4:00 and I’ve just realized it gets dark at half 6, doesn’t it? So, the reason I’ve went out quite late is cuz I’ve been quite busy this morning. And because it’s such a nice day, I thought, “Oh, I just have to get out.” Do you know what I mean? I would be uh I’d probably be miserable. Well, not miserable if I didn’t get out on me bike at some point, but I always try and squeeze a bike ride in. You don’t have to go out like the full day. You know what I mean? You can go out for an hour or, you know, 2 hours, 10 mile, 20 m. It’s just good to get out. Well, there I’ve seen on the internet somewhere. There’s some interesting uh remains from the Second World War like old barracks or something like that. I haven’t actually been in that direction actually towards Tonsil Reservoir. Some good bivvy spots, but I’m keeping the eye open for a one up here somewhere. But it’s top secret. No one’s got clearance to that level. [Laughter] What you reckon this tree? What marks? Seven. I’m being a bit strict like with me score. I’ll tell you when it’s a 10. When it’s a 10, you’ll see a grown man getting excited over the color of a tree. Eh, why do people say that? A grown man. Can you get a man who hasn’t grown? Well, then there you’ll be a baby then, wouldn’t you? Oh, I’m speaking nonsense again. Oh, speaking nonsense when I’m on me bike. No, you don’t let you speak nonsense all the time. All right, Lay off. At least I’m consistent. What a day. It’s October, you know. Wow. We’ve been spoiled with this uh this weather like can’t think of any other thing I’d rather do and ride me bike. Is that sad? Well, maybe some other things. Can I share that on camera though? No, I was talking about having a curry and like a couple of beers. That’s what I was on about. Um, all right. So, I’ve got me short sleeves on. Back to me summer gear. So, I’ve got me arm warmers and gle and me knee warmers and me waist pack. I used to call Gilllet for years. Like I said before, like all my words I say, you probably notice. Oh, are gilllet. I got any gilllets in stock. Oh, I made a school boy error as well, which is unlike me. Well, maybe not. Yeah, like I say, I’ve set off quite late. It’s after 4:00 now cuz cuz I was busy this morning and I haven’t got lights on me bike, but I’m hoping I’ll be back by then. Might get uh some good footage of a sunset. That sheep’s looking around going, “What’s he doing with yourself? [Applause] What are you doing eating grass? I’m a sheep man. It’s what I do. I love these trees through here. Could probably biv bey in here.” I know. Somebody who bivied in here actually and not say who. [Applause] Maybe here now. It’s almost a shame to speak. It’s that quiet up here. It can be really windy up here sometimes, but today is just unreal. Amazing. So, what I’ve started doing, I’ve been uh reviewing the colors of trees. Well, you’ve heard of food reviews, haven’t you? Eh, bet you’ve never heard of somebody reviewing the color of trees before. I bet if you search on YouTube though, somebody’s done it. Think of the most weirdest thing you can think of, right? And search on YouTube be on there. Actually, there’s one thing isn’t on there. Been looking at some roots. One of them called the border county route. Um, and I was want to watch a couple of videos, see what the actual terrains are like and that. I can’t find any on YouTube. So, that’s a a route I come across uh when I was doing some research online on roots and that and I fancy doing it. I think it’s a 80 mile route. I think it’s like a bike packing route. now and do one day, two days, three days, four, as many days as you like. Uh, but I think it’ll be quite good when I’ve looked at the ordinance survey map. A lot of trails going to the borders of Scotland around Northland and that. And the other one I’ve been thinking about doing is the Sandstone Way, but I’ve heard mixed reviews about that. Some people saying it’s just constantly opening gate. So, if anyone’s done any of those routes, let us know what they’re like. Put them in a comment. And if anyone’s got any suggestions of any roots in the northeast or anywhere really, really good ones, multi-day roots, day roots, whatever. I’m always open to going to new places and having a look and exploring, trying new things. Most of the roots I do, I sort like plot them myself. I devise them myself. But do you know the coast to coast, the C2C? Um, it’s not actually called the coast to coast. Apparently, it’s the C to C, you know, not the letter C to see. Am I rambling on again? Waffling on. Sorry. Um, I have been thinking about doing that. But a bike packing wild camping bivian version. I haven’t seen anyone do that before. So yeah, that’ll be something good. Might have to wait for the spring now. Like cuz the days are getting shorter. So there’s a couple of reservoirs around here. There’s Don’t think I’m going that far up. Not today anyway. You got Wasy Reservoir. I think it was Smitty Shore Reservoir down there. Um, do you know that little farm that we passed before? You probably didn’t see it. Little too busy talking. There’s a lovely little church there with all the history of the area. Used to be a village up here called Wascal. And in this church, there’s old photos of the train line as well. Oh, it’s him grouch. But I think that church is actually somebody told us it was shut now. It’s closed. It’s a great place. Oh, there’s a reservoir in there. Look. Smitty shows it. [Applause] Very rare is there’s no wind up here. There’s always gale force wind. Well, not gale force, but I’ve been up here even on summer days and you you’re literally like riding on the spot. You know what I mean? And you’re going like 1 m an hour. A tell you what I’ll do. I keep forgetting to do this. I’m going to get a thumbnail shot. All right. And also a ride pass shot. All you know where I go back for the camera. [Applause] So when I go out on me rides as well, especially if it’s a day ride, I don’t like um like riding to like a location and like turning me bike around and coming back the same way. Always try and do like a circular a circular route. So there’s a short bit that’s on the road, but I’ll loop back around and back end up back on Wally Way further down. Brings us out towards concert area. I think what I mean I think I’ve done it before. I know. Not I think. I know. Um all right. There’s a couple of little hills. There’s a really fast downhill coming up and then there’s some short uphills just on the road. just stopped at this junction just to show you. I’m going to be heading down this steep hill, but over there is a place called Muggleswick in Edmund Buyers. There’s some really good hills around there. Um just on the road, but if you if you follow the road around, you get like right up on the hills on the um on the trails. Really gnarly trails as well. I’ll have to do that right uh again, get some footage. Nice little hill. Then there’s another short little hill around here. I like the challenger hills. I think one of the if you look on one of me previous videos, the one where I was in Cornwall, I think that was one of the few rides where the novelty of hills was starting to wear off, but I’m back to liking them again. What a lovely evening. Hey, this is better than sitting on the city watching Netflix, man. Wow, look at that. I think I’m going to get home just before it gets dark. Right, I’ve got to remember that, mate. Put a put me lights on from now on. Yes, I am talking. Actually, I’m not talking myself. I’m talking to you four subscribers. There’s a sign there for that muggleswick in Edmund Buyers. Some serious hills around there. Over 20%. They’re not as long as Swainby Hill. That one I done in the last video, but they’re steep. Well, and just like that, I’m back on the trail. Don’t like that on the road like so. What do you go that way for then? Got to do a circular route, man. Got to go around in circles. Nice colors. Five out of 10. 8 out of 10. So, the sun’s starting to set now. Well, it’s got another hour before it actually completely sets, but you can see it starting to lower in the sky and the temperature drops. So, I’ve got me arm warmers back on. Um, I’ll have to put me knee warmers on a minute. Like, well, I don’t have to. I’m not that soft. I’m just used to putting them on. Did you know it was important to keep your your knees warm? Can’t remember how tall is that? Got a stone in my shoe. Knucking. [Applause] Just got that stone out of me shoe. So, see them signs up there that tells you I think I’ve said this one of the other videos, but where I’ve just been there up towards Stannon. That’s Wasy Way. So, you could just park. There’s a car park there. If you want to bring your car, park there, get your bike out. If you go that way, you go down to Derwent Walk, which takes you down to the Gates Head River Time. Up there’s Wascal Way. Like I say, that way you can get all the way to Bishop Oakland, Barnard Castle. That way you can get to Sunderland all well more or less off-road. Yeah, it is off road. It’s really good. And this is this is that lid gate junction. So yeah. Oh, there’s a good cafe here as well further up called Houndskill Tea Room, but I think it’s only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, something like that. Anyway, see you in a minute. Haven’t said that, have I? See you in a minute. Anyway, I’ve just stopped here. Look at this sunset. Told you it was going to be a good one, didn’t I? Wow. Gorgeous view of Tesco. Here’s another one. Red one. Nine. You reckon? Hey, I’m strange. I Doctor Strange. Oh, bit moist. Well, it’s not actually very dry. Everywhere is dry still. Make the most of it. Keep me fingers crossed like for having a good autumn. Positive waves. If we all have collective joint positive waves, then we’re going to have a good autumn. I was thinking about doing some night rides actually. Well, in the dark, not like 2:00 in the morning, although I don’t know. um videoing it. See what kind of video that would make. Good or bad. I don’t know. There’s the sunset there. Look. Don’t know if you can see through the trees. Think I hadn’t seen a sunset before. Never get bored of them. See, they’re always different. Sunrises are amazing as well. Oh, that’s like fog over there as well or mist dramatic. What word would you describe this scene? Apart from that pylon, put in the comments. Yes. [Music] All right. Can you see that? The fog rolling in or the mist. What’s the difference between fog and mist? It’s not a joke I’m about to tell, by the way. It’s I’m actually asking a question. So, I think I’ll get back home just in time, but it’s all off road. Look, all this kind of stuff. Well, I would say it’s off road, but it is. It’s away from the road. It’s a cycle path. This is the C to see. That’s it. I’m going to end the video here because the light’s failing. I’ve stopped next to this uh street lamp so there’s some light so you can see us. Anyway, thanks for watching. Hope you enjoyed coming along on the Wasilly Way. Uh recommended for all different levels of uh cyclist and fitness. Whether you’re on a bike, whether you’re on a mobility scooter, whatever. Even if you’re just walking, actually, it’s it’s a really nice place. Thanks for watching. See you in the next one.