Rather foolishly, I'd booked a ticket on a train leaving King's Cross at 10:30. That meant an early start if I was to get there comfortably without rushing.

My plan was to leave at 06:30 and I did, give or take a few minutes .

It was a glorious morning. Warm already, but still nice and fresh. Not much traffic as I made my way to London on a route I'm pretty familiar with now.

It was plain sailing all the way. I got to within a couple of miles or so of King's Cross and I had well over an hour to spare! So I had a little rest in a park.

Once at the station, I waited for boarding to open then got on board.

Usual pain in the neck shenanigans getting the bike in the ridiculous cupboard things. There were two other people with bikes. They all fitted in the end, but I was a bit stressed out about getting off at Newcastle. I was gonna have to be quick! I started to wish I'd booked a train that terminated at Newcastle.

In the end it wasn't too bad. As soon as we got past Darlington, I got the bike out and loaded it up. Bit of faff as there's not a lot of room!

On arrival, I got out of the station and got my bearings. I also got a notification from LNER saying the were refunding half the cost of my ticket as the train was late. Result!

I needed to find my way down to the river. I only went the wrong way once, so I'll take that!

I was now on NCN72 - The Hadrian's Wall route. The first part was along the river. It was nice and flat and progress was good.

After a bit of ducking and diving around some main roads, it was on to an old railway route. Some nice scenery and the odd bit of old infrastructure which is always interesting. Nothing Roman though!

I started to see signs for a café a few miles away, so decided to head for that. I did pass a "Scran van" but it had just closed. Bit annoying as I could have got stuck into whatever passes for a local delicacy up here!

In the end, the café was good. With a bit of food inside me I was ready to roll again.

I started to become aware of the time. The campsite I had booked was pretty adamant about checking in before 6pm. I didn't think I'd be later than that, but I couldn't really mess about.

I stopped at a Co-op in Corbridge for some supplies. Then set off for the last few miles.

Two things happened. First, it suddenly got really warm. It had been pleasantly fresh up until this point. But all of a sudden it was really hot and super muggy.

The second thing was hills! It had been more or less flat up until this point. Now I was facing a pretty steep climb. To be honest, it was nothing compared to what awaits me, but the first climb of a tour is always a bit of a struggle.

Anyway, I eventually got to the campsite with about 20 minutes to spare. I was met by the woman running the place and she knew who I was straight away. Probably because I was the only person arriving today!

She was very friendly and showed me around. It's a lovely site up in the hills. The only problem was that it started raining as soon as I went to put my tent up!

I waited it out and got set up. Still not mastered pitching my new tent, but it will come. I hope!

I've had a shower but not had anything to eat yet. I'm not feeling particularly hungry. I'm sure I will be later.

The sun is out now and it's a lovely evening. All in all, a good day!