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looking for a bit of advice from any northumberland riders.
going up in a few week with some mates, to ride the Sandstone way.
i have done some bits which i enjoyed, so we are gonna make a 6 day trip of it.
rough plan is,
Berwick - Wooler
Wooler - Rothbury
Rothbury - Hexham
Hexham - Alston
i know the distances are not massive, but we are all old boilers now.
and looking at the map most of the route can be done offroad, BUT the sandstone way follows a fair bit of road, so i am hoping to keep as much offroad as possible.
so any pointers on route choice would be greatly appreciated.
I'd just follow the route to Hexham.
From Hexham a few options. You could head along paths and tracks to Halwhistle then pick up the railway line to Alston. The bit to Halwhistle is meh (pleasant enough but small roads). The Railway is really nice. You get to go over the Lambley Viaduct but as it then goes through some ones garden you have to drop down and walk back up which a pain. I really like this track though, walked bits of it and ridden.
https://www.strava.com/activities/7409838264
Another option would be to head up (up!) to Slaley then cut west. Its nice again but I think you'd run into trouble with the shoots. There are lots of gravel roads but they are not the RoW. The bridleways tend to be moorland.
https://www.strava.com/activities/4216348543
Also on this one I walked about a mile up really rocky path and a couple of the descents were a bit much on a gravel bike.
I can't remember the official route. It's ages since I've done it.
https://www.strava.com/activities/311830922
We bailed at Bellingham as we were casual in our plans and realised we wouldn't get back in time. That bit is supposed to be harder. There are a lot of gates near the start so get a bit of a relay going and don't regroup at each one!
Happy to give you specific pointers but it's hard over a trip of that length.
I think @Jonba is fairly on the money. I'm not a massive fan of the Sandstone way but I can see why it takes the route it does. Once you start trying to cut bits of the road out for better off road it pretty quickly becomes something fairly different. If you have an OS map it would be handy as there are quite a few sections that you might choose to skip on minor roads if you're not enjoying it/weather/mechanicals etc.
Berwick to Wooler - along the coast to Holy Island all makes sense, as does the way across the A1 to kyloe woods because there arent may nicer options, from there to Chatton fine if unexciting lanes, then over to Wooler (can cut out chillingham by riding directly on road or on bridleways with no great loss/gain).
Wooler to Rothbury - first bit to Ingram again makes sense (alternatives giving more off road via Chillingham - Ros Castle - Powburn OR Threestoneburn and the Dod are circuitous and much harder work), Ingram to Alwinton again no straightforward other options, likewise to Rothbury nothing worth detouring for that doesn't take you miles off route and round Rothbury the route itself feels a bit circuitous (could skip the edge of the cheviots by heading more directly south on minor roads between Alnham and Thropton and pick up the final bit into Rothbury).
Rothbury to Hexham - Simonside to Harwood is all pretty logical and ok, from thereon to Bellingham is mostly minor roads to avoid traffic, from there is a bit of a drag. You could consider going direct to Haltwhistle by heading into Wark Forest on forest roads and down to cross Hadrians wall at Shield on the Wall/ Steel Rigg (or even further west there's a fab bit of road down from Butterburn to Gilsland though the edges of the firing ranges but that's easy to get lost finding from the east).
Hexham to Haltwhistle and then Alston - similar to Jonba's routes. Either stay north of the Tyne, head west via Warden Hill bridleway, stanegate (roman road though newbrough), byway SW (roughish in places) to New Alston (no connection), byway W across Thorngrafton common (fields and lanes, well surfaced), minor road west past Vindolanda roman fort, byway past Cranberry brow farm, drop down to Haltwhistle and pick up S Tyne trail all the way to Alston.... OR stay south of the Tyne, take road to Elrington, then byways through farmland to Langley Castle, head west along minor roads and byways past Allen Banks then either A: (low route) use the footbridge across Tyne between beltingham and Bardon Mill and minor roads into Halty, or B: (high route) over Ridley/Plenmeller common to pick up the S Tyne railway at Coanwood. Follow to Alston. The final option here is much higher and harder, even if direct as it usually is into the wind.
You could also do a variation of Jonba's suggestion across the moors on Bridleways to Allendale and then Alston. There are plenty of legal "gravel" friendly options and great minor roads but It's tricky linking East and West Allen valleys in reasonably direct ways with Alston. And there's more climbing here. The obvious option on the map avoiding the main road is Long cross Byway - tempting but an absolute beast of a climb and the surface is brutal for parts on a cx/gravel bike in either direction, I wouldn't recommend it/or not without knowing the person doing it well.
managed to get about 150 miles of very very quiet and very scenic riding done. most of it was off road, except a couple of shut forests due to the big storm.
northumberland is a super place for cycling.
the sandstone way was super, the ride from hexham to alston was tough and a bit meh.