Nick Oliver, County Councillor for Corbridge and Cabinet Member for Corporate Services tells us a little about the Tour of Britain Stage held in Northumberland this Monday 4th September.

For Northumberland to secure an entire stage of the UK’s largest free sporting event and largest professional cycle race is a major coup. We are hosting Stage Two on Monday starting at 10.15am at Kielder Water and finishing 211km later in Blyth. The route takes in Bellingham, Otterburn, Rothbury, Alnwick, Amble, Morpeth, Bedlington, Seaton Delaval and Cramlington and more detail can be found here - http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-two/.

It is a major opportunity to showcase the breath-taking beauty of our county with the race being televised live on ITV and watched in well over 100 countries. It will bring tourists to our county and the economic impact will run to millions of pounds. Interest will be high with the five top teams in World Cycling competing and Mark Cavendish riding. Tourism is a major contributor to our economy and our new administration at county hall will be doing all we can to support this sector. It’s particularly important for economic growth in rural areas.

We are also very keen that Northumberland becomes a healthier county and cycling can play a major role. People of all ages and fitness levels can get involved. To ensure that the Tour has a lasting legacy we are working with Active Northumbelrand, Northumberland Sport and many other cycling groups to encourage people to take up cycling for the first time or to get out on their bikes more often. We have a diverse terrain and our county offers many cycle ways and quiet county lanes. We also have many important recognised routes including Kielder Water & Forest Park, The Sea to Sea (C2C), Reivers Cycle Route, Pennine Cycleway, Coast & Castles Route, Hadrian’s Cycleway and the Sandstone Way.

Get out on your bike, enjoy our beautiful county and get a little fitter!