Wednesday 28th September 2022

A bright clear but slightly chilly day saw a good turnout.

Short Ride

Report by John

The short ride proved popular this week with Dom, Marcus, Andrew, John N, Eric, Lyn, Anne, Terry, John C & Myles opting for this

Eric had been delayed so Marcus volunteered to go and meet him and then rejoin the group en route to Garendon Park. This succeed and everyone was together as they crossed the Park

The riders then rode on to Belton where they were offered the choice of a longer, medium (longer & shorter options) and a short ride. The consensus was for the Medium option and the group headed through Belton and out on Mill Lane to Top Merrill. Here Lyn & Eric opted for the shorter option and took a right turn while the remainder of the group headed on to Gelscoe Lane. The main group reunited just outside Long Whatton before tuning into the Manor Farm shop for refreshments.

Terry & Anne heading for Belton

This was the first time we have used this shop. The coffee machine was rather slow and the seating quite "interesting" but sitting in the sun was very pleasant. While John was taking a photo, a peacock infiltrated the group, suddenly taking off to everyone's consternation. Unfortunately John failed to photo this.

The riders return through Hathern, arriving back in Loughborough at noon.

Extended long ride to Bennerley viaduct

Report by Graham.

Howard was offering a 50 mile ride to Bennerley viaduct, which I was keen to join as I'd been headed there earlier in the year until an unfortunate accident befell me. (Insomniacs can read my pal's account of that trip at https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/fe-to-fe-2022.285411)

As we gathered at Holt Square, Howard went into his best sales pitch to tell us that the route was a bit flat and boring! Undeterred, 8 of us: Howard, Jeff♀, Brian J, Dave C, Paul, Mick, myself and my son Thomas headed north up the A6, through Kegworth and then via Long Lane, Warren Lane through Sawley, Breaston and Trowell, crossing the M1 several times. Then on to Ilkeston, a necessary evil to be passed through but a bit grim with impatient cars and trucks scraping past us, but we made it to our first stop, the excellent Junction Cafe.

Sadly, our normally sparking tea shop conversations were hijacked by an opinionated gentleman who had arrived before us on a very high end and shiny mountain e-bike, and who proceeded to give us the benefit of his dubious world views, including that Covid never happened. Thomas later googled his bike, it cost £14k !

From there it was just a short cycleway and then canal path to the viaduct itself, one of only 2 such remaining in the country. We had to push up some steps to the top, and then rode across, taking lots of photos on the way, and down the ramp at the other end, before another carry over a railway bridge to the lane beyond.

Dave, Paul, Mike, Howard, Graham, Brian, Thomas & Jeff on Bennerley viaduct

The return journey was more picturesque and included an offroad section of route 6 between Breaston and Draycott, where we made our second stop, at Pumkinz. As we were about to leave, Paul decided to put a bit more air in his front tyre, but destroyed both the tube and his pump in the process. A spare tube from me and a blast of CO2 from Howard soon had him up and running again to continue south to Sawley and back the way we'd come.

Approaching Kegworth we opted for the A453 section which then zig-zags down to Ratcliffe lane, where Jeff♀ came a cropper on some loose gravel. After more repairs, of the sticking plaster kind, we continued south through Sutton Bonington and pausing at Stanford on Soar. Here we went our separate ways, 5 of us took Meadow Lane back to town, whereas the hardcore 3 extended the ride via Barrow to bag the 100k trophy.

Thanks to Howard for a great (and not boring!) ride, the viaduct really was spectacular. I arrived back at Loughborough at 15:45, having ridden just over 80Km / 50 miles with a relatively modest amount of climbing..