Past Events – Tyneside Loipers

24Sep 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

East of Newcastle to the coast cycle ride

Summer 2019

Mark and Jane Okeeffe were joined by Neil Waters for a lovely cycle ride on Saturday 14th September. We set off from the Rising Sun Country Park, Benton at 9.30 am on a sunny morning. We were using National Cycleways and a selection of other linking routes of which Mark has an in depth knowledge. Travelling via Willington Quay, Percy Main, Holywell, Seaton Sluice, Blyth, West Monkseaton, Murton and NewYork. Café stops were taken liberally during the day which meant plenty of time to catch up with each others news. We covered around 48 km and got back to the Rising Sun Country Park in the early afternoon. Hopefully we will repeat this trip when Alan Mitcham is fully recovered and maybe one or two other Loipers might be interested!…

12Sep 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

SSE Roller-ski Coaching Weekend at Hetton, Aug 2019

News, Summer 2019

The August Bank Holiday weekend surprised us with a mini heat wave (too hot for some!). Twenty participants from around the UK turned up for two days of top quality coaching from Martin Watkins, Dagmar Junghanns and Adam Pinney, with each of the coaches covering all aspects of classic and skate skiing technique. Alasdair organised the all-comers race on Saturday afternoon, part of the 2019 GB roller-ski race series, with great competition particularly from some of the GB Nordic Juniors who made the trip down from Scotland. And a particularly impressive performance too from ex-Olympian Martin Watkins. Many thanks to our three coaches. And especial thanks to Alasdair and others from Tyneside Loipers for the efficient smooth running of the event, at short notice, with the 'organiser' undergoing lifesaving surgery…

31Jul 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Hexhamshire mountain biking – 28th July 2019

Summer 2019

Mark O'Keeffe led another great day of mountain biking on mostly gravel estate tracks of Hexhamshire Common and Blanchland Moor. A few friends joined us from Tyne Valley Mountaineers, making 9 of us in total. We finally managed to do the route which we abandoned last year due to gale force winds. The route took in 3 shooting huts (courtesy of the Allendale Estate) which meant that we had 3 comfortable stops for morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea! The final distance was a mere 35km but there were plenty of climbs and descents and plenty of challenge - thanks Mark! Looking forward to another ride soon. The ford near Heatheryburn The tricky ladder stile near Riddlehamhope Ben leading the fast doewnhill from Riddlehamhope David along the Carrier's Way

26Mar 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Tyneside Loipers hut touring in the Jotunheim – March 2019

Winter 2018-19

Eight intrepid Loipers went directly from Dalseter to the Jotunheim for 9 days of hut touring. We arrived at the lovely Spiterstulen Fjellstue after a few hours on the bus and an expensive taxi journey. The snow in the Spiterstulen valley was thinner than we would have liked. We followed the winter route first to the unstaffed hut at Olavsbu and then on to the staffed hut at Fondsbu (still run by Solberg, a wonderful lady who some of us remember from 2004). Olavsbu was very cold (-12 degC) - clearly nobody had been there for a few days. We spent the whole evening wearing all our layers. The route to Fondsbu had been newly marked with birch twigs and it was mostly sunny and an easier day except for…

22Mar 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Tyneside Loipers at Dalseter, Norway, March 2019

Winter 2018-19

No less than 26 Loipers (and 15 or so cross-country skiers from elsewhere in the UK) joined John Mordue and his team of leaders for a week of track skiing and off-track touring at Dalseter, 2nd to 9th March. A number of us had stayed here in March 2016 and it was a pleasure to be back at the Dalseter hotel run by the ever helpful Grethe. A few of our group were new to cross-country skiing. They made good use of the coaching available from John's team of SSE-qualified leaders. Several new members of the Loipers skied mostly on prepared tracks, with excellent coaching from Dagmar Junghanns, Pam Curwen and Rosie Blades. Others (including some of our first time Nordic skiers) joined Stefan and his wife Lisa for some…

28Feb 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Scotland Weekend, February 2019

Winter 2018-19

We were hoping to find some good snow in the hills around Braemar but unfortunately the weather was against us. However our joint Tyneside Loipers and Tyne Valley Mountaineers meeting was enjoyed and well attended (14 people) staying at the Braemar SYHA for the weekend. Mark O’Keeffe chose to do some cycling on Mountain bikes around the locality with Patrick and Julie Hazelhurst (TVM) while Neil Waters, Paramjeet Bhogal and Carl Brown had a very windy walk on the White Mounth and Carn an t-Sagairt in the Lochnagar hills. Peter and Alison Aldred had been staying in the area the week before and had also managed to increase their Munro tally. It was a shame that we couldn’t get out on skis as a few non skiing members of the…

18Feb 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Ski touring in the Queryas

Winter 2018-19

Loiper club members, Tim, Penny, Robert and Alan, plus a friend Philip from Dorset, had a great week of ski touring (telemark and alpine) in the Queryas area, southern French Alps, arranged by Pyrenees Odyssey. We stayed in a small friendly hotel, Maison de Gaudissard which was very French - we were the only Brits! Richard, our guide, was very good indeed. We started the week with appalling snow conditions - it was the end of January and, although very cold, it hadn't snowed since mid December. But it got gradually better after the second day and we had a huge dump of snow at the end of the week (24 hours continual snowfall from mid-afternoon Thursday). So with poor visibility (and too much snow!) we spent our last day…

12Jan 2019 by Tyneside Loipers

Dec 2018 – Telemark skiing in Val d’Isere

Winter 2018-19

Val d'Isere in December - great snow, lovely scenery, six telemarkers Six keen telemark skiers went to Val d'Isere in mid December and had a fantastic week of freeheel skiing with Ben Langridge from Telemark Tracks. Loipers (Tim and Penny, Steve and Alan) were joined by friends Ros and Mark plus a friendly Scot who we met in the resort. The coaching from Ben was excellent - 'The best I have had' (Alan). We were all skiing much better by the end of the week (style, confidence, etc) but maybe a bit more practice is needed for skiing off-piste. The major breakthrough which we all made was to start the turn before the lead change. Easier said than done, but it can hugely improve your skiing. Tim Owen telemarking on…

19Nov 2018 by Tyneside Loipers

Canoeing on Ullswater – Nov 2018

Summer 2018

Tyneside Loipers have had a good summer - not just roller skiing, but also walking on Hadrian's Wall, a couple of mountain biking trips, a day out on tandem bikes and two Canadian canoe trips. After a fabulous sunny evening in July, with 15 of us paddling up the Tyne from Newburn to Wylam, we had a slightly more challenging trip last weekend on Ullswater. Twelve intrepid Loipers launched from Oldchurch Bay and paddled against a strong southerly breeze all the way to the ferry landing at Aira Point, a little over 3 miles distant. We rafted up part way down the lake and Alan and Mark swapped over with Jane and Jane to even out the paddling power. After a pleasant stopover in the NT café at Aira Force,…

09Oct 2018 by Tyneside Loipers

Hexhamshire mountain biking – 9th October 2018

Summer 2018

Seven of us had a great bike ride on the day of the AGM, starting from near Blanchland. Thanks to Mark O'Keeffe for coming up with the route (and then missing the ride!). It didn't take us long to realise that we were riding into a 40mph head wind, so the route was changed and we headed down to Heatheryburn Farm and through to Beldon Shield and then into Slaley Forest. Total 19 miles - great ride.