Our Friends in the North

They say people are friendlier in The North and I don't doubt it. Sunderland is about as far north as you can get, in England at least, and I've never met as friendly a bunch of people. Just tonight, out on my bike, I got chatting to another guy, also on his bike. It started with us both bemoaning the new "kissing gate" they've installed on the path we were riding. It finished about ten minutes later with us swapping locations of favourite Chinese take-aways in the area.

It's a shame I'm leaving the region at the end of next week. I'm going to miss it up here. It's also a shame that I have a week before I leave and have so much work on that I have no time to do the things I want to do before I go. Here's a list. As much for my own benefit as anything else:

• Make it to Hamsterley Forest.
• Get to Bamburgh Castle with my camera for a sunset.
• Spend a day riding in the North York Moors and a day in Northumberland.
• Ride my finely-tuned 25 mile circular route one last time

Luckily, Karen is going to be driving back up here at least once a month and I will probably join here a few times. When you've only got a weekend it's amazing what you can squeeze in to a day. I feel ashamed that I've been here over a year and not made the most of it...