If you ever visit Alnwick Castle, you need to be aware of the Harry Potter factor. It seems that the first two Potter movies were filmed at Alnwick, and this, of course, brings floods of Potter-crazed visitors. They pile off buses and mill around, and it is pretty difficult to get through with a loaded bike.

We don’t have time, nor inclination when we see the crowds, to visit inside, but we take in the free views from the grass out the front and prepare ourselves for the day, at the end of which will be at our own castle sleep over.

It is a peaceful morning’s ride through the countryside, not on any particular bike route, but on comfortable back roads that wind through lush green farmland.

All is well, until hunger strikes, and we realise that we’ve still failed to stock up on emergency snacks. We ride on anxiously though several small villages that don’t sport a pub, a shop, or any visible sign of commerce. However, we soon arrive into Morpeth and luck upon the Black and Grey who serve us up a fine vegetarian tasting board.

In previous trips to central and eastern Europe, my standard fare has been fried cheese, sometimes twice a day. Those parts of the world are not very vegetarian aware, let alone vegetarian friendly, and it is my happy luck now to be visiting a country where most menus offer up multiple vegetarian choices, that are nutritious to boot. It’s a little funny that this lovely tasting board has two kinds of fried cheese (haloumi and goat) and I eat it up with gusto.

After lunch, the ride gets more serious as we approach Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and we ride busy roads in and out of the city. We are headed for Chester-le-street, which is only a short ride south of Newcastle. Neil has booked a room at Lumley Castle, and we arrive there around 6pm. The castle is rather grand, and overlooks a beautiful golf course. There are rooms in a side court, but we are inside the castle itself, in stateroom 60, the favourite of the porter who shows us too the room.

And what a room. It is exquisitely furnished with lush draperies, bed clothes, furniture, and has a bath behind a curtain on a platform. We have windows on two sides, and a bench seat to recline on. The only thing that is missing is … the toilet. I act on a hunch and open what looks like a wardrobe, and find a bathroom behind, complete with toilet with an electric disposal system. This is something I’ve never came across before, and it must be there to pulverise all deposits to make it easy on ancient plumbing. It is a bit disconcerting, as it occasionally makes spontaneous munching sounds when the toilet is unoccupied, and also mid shall we say, deposit.

We’d hoped to go into town for a beer before our castle dinner, but town is too far away and time too short, so we content ourselves with a drink in the bar, which acts as a waiting room for guests with dinner reservations. You order your food while relaxing in the bar, and when your meal is ready somebody leads you off to the dining room. All the staff are dressed in costume, and the service is efficient and polite, but lacks the personal touch we’ve had in other places. We figure the place is full of very rich people and the service is what is expected by most.

I roll out of dinner completely stuffed. I had a lovely tomato tart tartin and beetroot summer pudding, and Neil and I shared two desserts, one of which was chocolate, and one was an avocado and white mouse. The desserts were probably our least favourite part of the meal, while the rest was exquisite.

We take a walk around the castle after dinner. It is a bit of a local venue, with a high school prom in full swing, complete with dressed up, fuelled up teenagers and the requisite messiness and tears that accompany such occasions. But the castle walls are thick, and there is no sound of the outside when we finally retire to the stateroom. To the stateroom. I feel like a privileged person.

Stats for the day

• Distance: 73.6km
• Moving time: 4:27:51
• Average speed: 16.5km/h
• Climb: 608m
• Average temperature: 21C
• See our ride on Strava.