Hadrian's Cycleway is a 173 mile cycle route that’s part of the National Cycle Network. During the 2010 October Half Term holiday, with help from the Youth Opportunity Fund, 9 young people from Allerdale, including Workington and Cockermouth set off from the Northside Community Centre.

The plan was to attempt the route to South Shields ‘Arbeia’ Roman Fort, some 140 miles away. Over three days the group travelled nearly 50 miles a day through some fantastic rural and urban scenery.

The weather proved as difficult as some of the hills. We had one of the coldest days in October to contend with followed by torrential downpours the next day. To make matters worse it must have been ‘national hedge cutting week’. Over the three days there were over 20 punctures to sort out! However the skies cleared on the Wednesday afternoon for the last stretch from Newcastle to South Shields.

All in all it was an epic adventure, 6 of the group managed to cycle the entire route.

Andrew Daley, one of the group members from Cockermouth summed up the three days, ‘This is the best thing I have ever done. Setting out on Monday I didn’t think we’d ever get to South Shields, I can’t believe we did it on a bike’