Fresh Roads For 102 Mile Route

For 2026 we've given all four of our Challenge Ride routes a refresh, with some tweaks focused on the ride north past Morpeth and on the ride down from the Ryal summit to the village of Marfen.

The biggest changes have been reserved for our longest route, which comes in at 102 miles after a major re-route, before and after the village of Elsdon.

The significant changes begin with a more direct route from Rothbury to Elsden, along the B6341. This has removed the loop through Alwinton, but the B6341 has always been one of our favourite roads and it provides one of the best river-valley cycling experiences in the area, with great views of Coquetdale and the surrounding hills.

Above: The 102 mile route with the new sections highlighted in yellow. You can study all our routes in detail here.

After leaving Coquetdale, you climb over the top of Billsmoor and into Elsdon - where there's a great village-hall feed station. Here the most telling changes take effect. Immediately you are on to the climb of the Gibbet (aka Winter's Gibbet), a hill that's featured in our second longest route for several years and which takes you up 500 feet in just over 2 miles - more on this famous climb on our Climbs Guide page.

A long south-easterly descent parallel to the huge conifer tracts of Harwood Forest is a real treat, especially with a tailwind driving you along through its frequent dips and hollows.

Then it’s onto a completely new road across from just north of Cambo to Bellingham. At times, the road is a narrow single-track band of tarmac crossing a wild and beautiful landscape, passing the beautiful Sweethope Loughs, which are partly hidden by forestry.

The general trend of the roads here is to take you upwards, though the climbing is largely gentle and barely noticeable with a tailwind. That ascent ends as you approach Bellingham, where you’re onto a second great, new descent, plunging some 600 feet into the village.

After Bellingham, another new stretch of road takes you from the top of the sharp ascent of Dunterley Fell across Wark Common. This is a more direct route than in recent editions of the event and allows you to maintain height before the descent into Wark village itself.

These changes completely change the character of the ride between Rothbury and Wark, a forty-mile stretch at the very heart of the 102 mile route. We think you’ll enjoy the freshness of this section of the route and the fact that you’re onto even quieter roads than the previous editions. You’ll travel for miles without meeting a vehicle and the only A-roads you’ll meet are simply crossings. Indeed, most of the roads are unclassified, with a few stretches of B-road in between.

Find out more about the Challenge Rides here.