Wednesday 7th April 2021

Short Ride

It was decided to head for a new tea place Millie's cafe & farm shop at High Meadows Farm on Melton Road above Barrow upon Soar.

David, Pat, Derek, Lynn, Eric and John set out through Loughborough taking Meadow Lane to Stanford on Soar before heading south, taking the road to Prestwold and on up to Hoton.

The riders then headed east through Wymeswold taking Narrow Lane to Six Hills. Then they turned to punch into the cold wind heading west along the Salt Way until they reached High Meadow Farm where Derek tried out a new mount.

Some excellent value refreshments were then enjoyed outside in the sunshine before the riders returned home with Pat and Eric splitting off in Barrow.

Famous Five go to Thrussington

The famous five, Julian, Dick, Anne, Georgina and Timmy the dog, (oops I meant the infamous Bryan, Margaret, Myles, Mick and Terry not the dog) left Holt Drive for a 25 mile ride to the Deli in Thrussington. We left via Shelly shops and the ring road to Quorn on leaving Quorn we were overtaken by Alan and co on their way to Long Clawson, but they left 5 minutes before us and we weren’t going THAT fast????

Into Mountsorell and left over the canal to Sileby, a check of the map in Sileby to ensure the correct route, it’s a long time since we’ve been out! At the top of the hill out of Sileby we were overtaken AGAIN by Alan and co??

Through Ratcliffe and onto Thrussington I was about to turn right (towards Hoby) in Thrussington when several shouts of “aren’t we stopping at the Deli”? Oops.

A bench was found on the Green and tea and coffee ordered, two “gentlemen” sat on the bench and Margaret on the grass.

We left the Green suitably refreshed and now headed to Hoby. The views over the Wolds between Thrussington and Hoby show why cycling in Leicestershire is so wonderful. On our way out of Hoby Mick and Bryan found the electric starters on their mopeds and flew up the hill.

On to Six Hills and Paudy Lane at Paudy crossroads Bryan and Mick turned right to the wastes of Walton, Margaret, Myles and I carried on down the hill to Barrow, how come the wind is always against me down Paudy Lane and I have never been able to freewheel down it!!

Through Barrow and Quorn and the three of us split at the Aldi island and went our separate ways.

Long Ride Report

If one word could sum up the long ride to Long Clawson on the 7 th April it would be “freezing”. Despite the sunny skies giving a false impression of warmth, Trish, Brian, Rob, Mick, Marcus and I (Alan) set off from Holt Drive in temperatures hovering around zero. Our destination was Long Clawson via a scenic route that would cover 25 miles. We had barely covered 500 metres when the first satnav blimp happened in that it insisted I turn left back to the university when in fact we wanted to head to Quorn. A reset meant that we caught Terry and his group up in Quorn despite him leaving after us. Strangely the same thing happened 6 miles further on when we bumped into him again at the junction of Humble Lane and Ratcliffe Road. Spooky or what?

The journey to Long Clawson took us through Mountsorrel, Sileby, Cossington, Ratcliffe, East Goscote, Reasby, and Gaddesby. We then followed the longest and possibly the nicest lane in Leicestershire (Gaddesby Lane), before passing through Kirby Bellars, Ashfordby and another long lane to Ab Kettleby. It was at this point an arctic cross wind cut through us but we were in touching distance of our destination. The advantage of this route was a nice long steep hill down into the village. Lying prone down on the crossbar you could reach 33 mph if you tried (which I did).

The cafe in the village is one of the few places open even for a takeaway and as a consequence is always busy with large men clad in lycra discussing gears and derailleurs. We therefore had to decamp into the childrens’ play park for our coffee and photo. Here common sense prevailed and instead of a longer trip back via Kinoulton and Wysall we opted for the shorter, more direct route via Upper Broughton and Wymeswold. Again the wind cut through us causing Mick to have 3 comfort stops this week but I can hardly blame him.

The outskirts of Loughborough were reached after 40 miles and hopefully things will warm up in seven days time.