Wednesday 14th September 2022

A cool but sunny early autumn morning produced an excellent turnout with four groups setting out.

Short Ride

Report by John

After the departure of the other three groups just Russell, Rob, Patrick, Rosalind and John remained. The options were Newtown Linford or Long Whatton and the general consensus was for the former.

Russell leading Rob, Rosalind & Patrick

The ride headed out over the rough track past Mucklin Wood before heading for Swithland and then onto the Ridings following a circuitous route past Rothley Station. The group then diverted along Bradgate Road as Reservoir Road was shut due to a recent explosion.

The ride through Bradgate Park was uneventful as the school holidays are over and avoiding walkers posed no problems.

Rob, Patrick, Rosalind, Russell & John at the Jade Cafe

The usual excellent refreshments were enjoyed at the Jade Cafe before the riders returned t;hrough the park and then via Swithland, Woodhouse and Quorn, arriving back in Loughborough at 12.15pm.

Longer Short Ride

Report by Eric

As the riders met at Holt drive and John declared the rides available 2 brave souls, Pat and Margaret joined Eric on a 25 mile round trip to Peppercorns in Abbey Park Leicester. John must however, have twisted some arms because they were joined by Myles, Dom, Paul and Andrew at the last minute. Andrew was obviously keen to find out what course coffee break conversation would take as he had been on the wrong table to catch the fruitier talk on the short medium ride the prior Wednesday.. but fortunately Sue was not here to lead them into such lewd dialogue this week!

Off they set up Beacon Road and the familiar path via Cross Hill lane through the “new” estate to Mucklin wood and thereby to Old Woodhouse. Turning onto Brand lane and an uneventful cruise to Swithland. Turning right and over the humps to Cropston they did a left and sharp right heading to Thurcaston. Up some steepish hills and past the Wheatseaf Inn they arrived at the highest point of their journey.

Having told everyone his intention was to come into Leicester down Mowmacre hill Eric missed the turn and instead sailed off down into the industrial estate at Beaumont Leys, followed by the worried looking pack. Some switching Road sides to find cycle paths and crossing some hairy roundabouts the group took their lives into their hands playing Russian Roulette with the articulated lorries thundering by. After some anxiety they finally crossed Abbey lane and came down to the Abbey pumping station and turned right onto the riverside path up to the park.

At this point Pat departed left as she said she had a pressing engagement….. although there was a certain distrust in the future safety of the expedition in her eyes! There was some major works on Abbey park road to be negotiated which led them through a different access but soon they were sitting safely in the sunshine next to Cardinal Wolsey supping coffee and munching on confections. The talk, fortunately was merely regarding the demise of the late monarch and the suppression of any overtly republican views staved off repercussions from any nearby eavesdropping ultra Royalists or overzealous law enforcement officers. Although Margaret may have to lay low for a while.

Andrew, Myles, Margaret, Dom & Paul in Watermead Park

On the return they came all the way back on the Soar river towpath through Watermead park passing Birstall and here they stopped at King Lears lake and statue for a photo.. Andrew refused to find his inner Cordelia and prostrate himself on the floor and have Dom kneel weeping over him! Carrying on they finally came out in Cossington. Through Sileby and turning down into Mountsorrel they turned right onto the old A6 they returned home via Quorn.

Long Ride

Report by Alan

After an absence of nearly 3 weeks, dog minding up north, I returned to a tumultuous reception from Marcus, Brian, Mick and the rest of the Monday group splitters. Or was that last night’s dream? My advice to anyone contemplating getting a dog is “don’t”, that is if you value any vestiges of personal hygiene.

To mark my return, and as a measure of dedication to the cause I went out the day before, on Tuesday, and rode a brand new route to Enderby. Sadly, the following day, most riders were seduced by Howard’s map on Whatsapp and opted to go with him, rather than my mystery tour. Despite this Brian, Mick and Dave plucked up the courage to accompany me and off we set.

The journey to Palmers Garden Centre took us through Quorn, Woodhouse, Swithland, Bradgate Park, Newtown Linford and past Groby Pool. From there the journey became a little hazy as we left roads and did a couple of miles on cycle tracks across fields. Emerging at Kirby Muxloe we still had 5 miles to go before the coffee stop. As I alluded to in my email, Palmers is not your usual garden centre. Christmas decorations are already abundant, and to keep the riff raff out you have to wait until a waitress escorts you to your table. We managed to smuggle Mick in whilst the staff weren’t paying attention and were surprised to find many of the items on the menu reasonably priced. Our visit was made extra special by the appearance of Deborah Needham from Dragons Den on a nearby table. Having secured 4 autographs, numerous selfies, air kisses and promises to keep in touch we left Deborah and began the journey home.

Brian, Mike & Dave at Palmers Garden Centre, Enderby

The journey home of 18 miles was a bit of a blur consisting of a number of miles going through Aylestone Meadows Country Park, various cycle tracks, residential housing etc. in order to miss the many dual carriageways that are prevalent around Leicester city centre. Eventually we emerged at recognisable landmarks (Glenfield) and from there proceeded on to Anstey and Thurcaston. Before reaching Quorn we proceeded up “Millionaires Row” (aka Swithland Lane) which reminded us all what could have been if only we had been a bit more discerning and married extremely rich partners when we were younger.

PS. If this report doesn’t get past the censors this time, it will be the last one I write!

Medium Long Ride

Report by Howard

Those present: Rob, Andy, Bryan, Jeff♀, Marcus, Philip, Keith, and myself. Destination: Canal Cottage Cafe Draycott, recently opened and I believe one we haven't visited before, also sells Bluebells Ice cream.

An aside Bluebells also has a cafe and is not much further away maybe we could go there next if it wasn't for the fact that it's closed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays. Took in a few hills on the way there to give the ride a bit of climbing. Climb up Ashby road to Smithy Lane, then the back road out of Long Whatton to Kegworth ring road (Andy, decisively took the K.O.M. for that one). From there to the Coffee stop pretty much flat.

Bryan, Philip, Marcus, Keith, Rob, Andy and Jeff♀ at Canal Cottage Cafe Draycott

Our return needed to include at least one climb so the route taken, took us over Fox Hill. The cafe was good and worth recommending also had a table for eight so no need to have Phil re-arrange the furniture. A pretty uneventful pleasant ride, we had to to wait at the railway crossing on Sawley Road going to Breaston for two trains, apart from that not a lot to record. Distance about 50kms with 300m of ascent.