Wednesday 15th December 2021

A mild December day with some sunshine saw an excellent turnout or riders resulting in 4 groups leaving Holt Drive.

Short Ride

Report by John

After most of the rides had left Rosalind, Lynn, Jeanette, Ian and John opted for a short ride to the village shop at Normanton on Soar..

The group headed out through Market Square, then out on Meadow Lane taking the road towards West Leake. Arriving at the end of Brickyard Lane the riders were faced with three choices of route and chose the longer one out to Kingston on Soar from where they turned south towards Sutton Bonnington.

As the rode down Station Road the distinctive sound of a steam train was heard and the Duchess of Sunderland came into view in full flight. (Details obtained from a photographer we met further on).

The usual very good value refreshments were enjoyed outside the village shop.

The remaining riders then continued south (Ian having taken the direct route home) and, as they approached Fox Hill, Rosalind observed at least four buzzards circling in the sky above, probably as a result of some carrion available in the area.

The group carried on over Fox Hill returning to Loughborough via Meadow Lane, arriving back in town at about noon.

Short(ish) Ride

Report Alan Dossett

Not too many people came forward, this week, to answer John’s weekly email regarding a plea to lead a ride. To counteract Rob’s offer to take a ride to Market Bosworth, which can be a bit brutal in terms of hills, (at least the way I get there and back) I decided to offer a more leisurely ride to loop around Bradgate Park. On paper 28 miles(ish).

I won’t list the riders on this trip, because
a) There were too many of them (12 including me) and .....
b) There were some faces completely new to me and I didn’t have a clue what their names were.

The route to Bradgate Park took us through Woodhouse, Swithland, up Leicester Lane and along Bradgate Road. The park was busy as expected, with walkers and even a womens' large running squad. On leaving the park, and turning right, we faced the first climb of the day. There were a few grumbles when I mentioned we were going up Sharpley Hill, past the Grey Lady restaurant, but my teacher training kicked in and I pretended not to hear. I couldn’t take Vic out without facing at least one significant climb. A notable feature this week was the large number of cars on the road. This was never more evident than at the bottom of Warren Hill where it took the group about 5 minutes to negotiate the crossroads.

The coffee stop was to be the Goscote Nurseries outside Cossington. To get there we had to pass through Rothley where for the umpteenth time an impatient driver flew past, far too close, angrily sounding his horn. Despite having 12 in the group the riders were widely spaced out, with sizeable gaps between us, and so it’s hard to fathom out the reason for such impatience. Perhaps it was another sign that Christmas is round the corner?

At the coffee stop we thankfully had Phil to arrange the chairs and even a waitress to take the picture. 

Alan, Andrew, Tricia (hidden), Vic, Mick, Rob, Myles, Eric, Margaret, Keith, Phil and Betty. (l-r)

Refreshments over, Vic decided to retire around the corner as he was within walking distance of his home. Trish also decided to curtail the ride through a sore back and she was joined soon after by Eric who was still suffering the after effects of Covid. The remaining 9 pressed on through Cossington, up Humble Lane and through Sileby. It was at the top of Seagrave Road that Andrew gave everyone a sugar boost by handing out chocolates. Turning left just outside Seagrave, we reached Walton on the Wolds via Big Lane and eventually Loughborough. The group split up outside Loughborough railway station around 1.00 pm.

 

Intermediate Ride to Pumpkinz

Report by David

It was a mild, still December day and most of the rides had departed, when Howard appeared with a ride to Pumpkinz.  Four of us were looking for an intermediate ride, so we set off - David, John, Pat and Howard. 
We started on a typical route to Bridge Street, then turned left along Canal Bank and carried on alongside the canal, crossing an old brick hump back bridge to get to the end of Bakewell Road, via a gap in the hedge.
We were now in driving practice territory, although nobody seems to want to learn to drive at present. This allowed us a hazard free route through to the A6, joining it by the rugby club.
We carried on through Hathern, and were then presented with a choice of route: we could go via Long Whatton (the hilly route) of straight ahead (the less hilly route).  We will never know what the Whatton route held in store, but the Kegworth route took us past a popular transport café where we had to dodge through parked lorries, and observe a Ryanair flight coasting in to land its captive passengers.  In Kegworth, we took the Nottingham Road and turned left onto Side Ley to come out on the Derby Road, not far from junction 24. 
This area is replete with cycle ways and repurposed old roads.  We tracked alongside the new end stretch of A50, then via a couple of loops crossed the M1, under the A50, under a feeder road for the A50, then turned right alongside the A50, then went under the A50, again.  A Kestrel hovering nearby would have had a more direct route.  We emerged onto Netherfield Road, which is partly covered in brambles and not generally open for motor vehicles.  It comes out on the B6540.  We turned right, went under the M1 and crossed the River Trent into Sawley.  Here we had a short break by Bothe Hall.
To get to Wilne Road, a narrow passage by the hall conveniently by-passed two turnings on roads, emerging between two high brick walls and put us in front of the Sandiacre Social Saunterers, a small band of casual cyclists also out for a ride.  As we climbed the Wilne Road to go over the M1, their leader caught me up and asked where we were from.  He was also bound for Pumpkinz, and implored us not to eat all the cakes if we got there first.  Howard put on a burst of speed, so there was never a question of which group would get there first, or at least not a perceived reason why we wouldn’t.  Our common route led us along Wilne Lane, bumping over clods of mud and emerging by a field of horses enjoying a grassy field with bumps like a skateboard track. 
We duly arrived at Pumpkinz to receive their excellent hospitality and sit outside in the courtyard.  Presently, the other group arrived and did the same, there being plenty of cakes to go round, even for those of us who are already starting to go a bit round. 
On resuming our ride, our leader discovered that he had a puncture.  This was an education to the rest of us as Howard pulled the tyre off in one piece and replaced it with another from his bag.  My role in all this was to hold onto a metallic red dust cap.  Meanwhile, the leader of the other group produced a small pair of pliers to ensure the valve insert was fully scwrewed in and secure.  The tyre was reinflated from a small cylinder of CO2, and we were soon on our way.
We turned right onto Derby Road, then continued along Sawley Road. Just before we got to the M1 bridge other cyclists emerged from Wilne Lane, and were bemused by our apparent disappearance into a brick wall, like Harry Potter on his way to school. We emerged by Bothe Hall. We retraced our route on the B6540, until a gate into Sawley Marina magically opened for us, allowing us to join Warren Lane and wiggle our way back to Long Lane.  The sight of dozens of beer barrels tossed in the ditches either side of the lane indicated that we were not the first to wiggle along that lane, although there are more responsible ways to dispose of beer barrels.  Surely those Kegs were Worth something?
We emerged onto Remembrance Way, crossed the River Soar, then went under that road to Ratcliffe-on-Soar.  An egret was sitting in a field some distance from the track.  We continued on Kegworth Road, and took a left turn under a railway bridge to pass through Kingston on Soar.  We turned left onto Station Road and, at the top of the hill, Pat left us to head home via Melton Lane after reminding us the group photo still had not been taken. 

The rest of us passed the agricultural college, crossed the railway line and went downhill into Sutton Bonington.  
As we emerged from this village, a proposed housing development triggered a thought about a merged village of Bonington on Soar – perish the thought!
We continued through Normanton on Soar, and had one last hill to climb before returning home.  John left us on the corner of Stanford on Soar, and Howard and I separated at the North Road traffic lights in Loughborough.
The ride was 31 miles back to Holt Drive with a modest 814 feet of elevation gain.  Our average speed was 11 mph.