Wednesday 15th February 2023

A sunny fairly mild (for February) morning , with no rain forecast until the afternoon, saw a good turnout of riders with four groups departing from Holt Drive.

Long Ride

Report by Jeff♀

The weather was lovely at Holt Drive, with only a light breeze and a blue sky. Howard offered a ride to Trent Lock Tearooms with a warning of some "rough stuff", and was followed by me (Jeff♀), Mick and Dave. I was borrowing a GPS from Howard, with the route instructions loaded on it, while Howard still had his own GPS as well.

We set out on a zig-zag route through town to leave Loughborough along Meadow lane, taking the bridge over our first railway line. Further along Meadow Lane, we went under the second rail track belonging to the Great Central Railway.

From Stanford, we took Normanton Lane up Fox Hill, and back over the Great Central line, marking our third crossing.

I put some good effort into Fox Hill, as I want to get faster at cycling. Not so that I can join a fast road club or anything, just for practical reasons, like in case I'm being chased by a lion. After Fox Hill I slowed down and we all regrouped, just in time for our fourth rail crossing back over the main line.

We went through Normanton to Sutton Bonnington where we took a right turn onto Hungary Lane and crossed the main railway line AGAIN, making five crossings so far. I hadn't been on Hungary Lane before: it was a nice gentle ascent on a quiet road. Though the road surface is a bit sandy.

From there, we went North, North, past East Leake and through New Kingston up to Remembrance Way.

Remembrance Way is quite a busy and fast main road, but right alongside it you'll find the old main road, Barton Lane. This is a lovely wide road with very little traffic, as most of it is on the main road alongside.

Heading North up it we had a good ascent, not too steep but quite long. The lack of traffic made it a lot more relaxing than some climbs.

We followed along until we reached Clifton, where we took the cycle path to avoid merging with the main road traffic. The height we'd gained was lost all at once, going down towards the river Trent along the same footpath. We crossed the road and took the bridge over the river.

Once over the bridge, we turned left and headed down the path alongside Beeston Canal. The ground was nicer and the path wider than a lot of canal paths, and was probably the nicest canal path we went down today. When it came time to cross the canal, though, the bridge was very roughly cobbled and me and Mick opted to walk over it instead of cycling.

Shortly later, we had our first level crossing over the main line of the day. This had a green light, but also a manually operated gate and we made sure to look carefully before crossing.

In Attenborough, we cycled back across the same line at a level crossing on the road, right next to the train station. That's a total of seven rail crossings so far, if you're keeping track. (no pun intended).

We cycled past Attenborough Nature Reserve and took the Greenway trail South West until we reached the edge of Long Eaton. Here we crossed a railway again (walking across crossing #8), and about 200m later went back across at the level crossing (#9).

At this point, we took an ambitious route Howard had not taken before. In fact, not even the well travelled Mick had taken this path before. It worked out fine, the ambitious part was that we weren't sure if it would be navigable by bike, but in the end it was. We even came across a gate which seemed designed to make bikes almost impossible to get across, but it was broken in a way that we could easily get through.

This landed us along another canal path, and took us under two rail bridges, right next to each other. I'll conservatively call that just one crossing, even though it was two separate bridges.

Then, suddenly we had arrived at the Trent Lock Tearooms. Mick suggested that we had crossed a lot of railway lines, and we each had a guess of how many had actually been crossed. 5? 7? I can now confirm that by this point we had crossed 10 railway lines, or more depending on how you count them.

The café was most of the way along the route, a bit later than the café would normally be. Having brought no snacks with me I was hungry and very happy to order myself a scone.

Tea, coffee, flapjacks and a scone were enjoyed while Mick and Dave talked about their impressive longest rides ever. My scone (rhyming with "gone") was brilliant. The café itself was tiny, and the largest table they had would seat only 4, so it was convenient that there was 4 of us.

Jeff♀, Mike, Dave & Howard at the Lock House Tea Rooms, Trent Lock.

We left the café and continued alongside the river Trent to where there was a very narrow and steep footbridge. Mick and I got off our bikes to walk it, and though I didn't see it, Howard and Dave must have cycled across because they were down the other side waiting by the time Mick and I were on top of the bridge. The footbridge was right by a train track, too, which we had crossed under (#11).

There was a brief discussion of whether to take the Sawley Marina road or Netherfield Lane back to Loughborough, and Netherfield Lane won. This took us out to the loopy maze navigating the intersecting main roads - where we crossed the 12th railroad of the day.

At Kegworth, we could see dark clouds behind us, and the wispy evidence of rainfall the way we'd come from. Howard confessed that his original route would take us through Long Whatton (Long WHATton?!) But the risk of rain had made him rethink and offer us to go straight back along the cycle path by the main road to Loughborough.

Total distance: 60km

Longish Ride

Report by Bryan

Great weather for a ride today. The Strava map below details the route taken by Laurence, Keith and Bryan, which includes a mixture of cycle paths, quiet single track roads and a few miles of the cloud trail.

It seemed a long time before we reached the tea rooms reflected in the fact that the usual breakfast rolls were no longer being served😱 The ride back was extended to complete the remainder of the cloud trail and investigate the new tarmac we saw a few weeks ago. We can confirm that the whole of the final climb has been transformed into smooth tarmac.👍👍

Intermediate Ride

Report by David

The weather was milder than last week and sunny, although rain was forecast for some time in the afternoon. Philip, our leader, was made mindful of this possibility when determining his route, to make sure we were home before the weather turned. Otherwise, riders, you’d have cramp in your toes, and a fly on your nose, and some fluff in your lung, and a feverish tongue, and a thirst that's intense, and a general sense that you haven't been sleeping in clover; and you’d get home to shower, turned up to full power, and sigh “thank goodness its over”.

Despite this, Philip was joined by David, Paul, Trisha, Pat, Vic, Betty, Rob and Jim. We made our way down Beacon Road, through town turning left off Woodgate and emerging up Baxter Gate. We took Sparrow Hill to Meadow Lane, then made out way towards Stanford on Soar. Turning off onto Stanford Lane we breathed the country air and realised it’s muck spreading time.

Having negotiated the A60, it was a relatively quiet crossing to Cotes Road, to Barrow upon Soar. We rode into the sun and continued along Sileby Road, through Sileby, to Cossington. Having turned left onto Bennett’s Lane, it was time for a climb up Humble Lane. Trains were running under the bridge, so no strikes today. 

After a short gathering, we descended under the A46 then past some blokes repairing a stone wall and through Radcliffe on the Wreake. We reached Thrussington where, on the rise up Hoby Road, too many motorists were trying to turn right against each other, leading to a delay. But patience won the day, and generally motorists were courteous. Again, there were cars passing through Hoby, but on the road out some of us were nearly batted by the drivers mirror of a heavy lorry speeding around a bend towards us. The road took us down to the entrance for the new Race Hub. Actually, the Race Hub building does not look very new: it could do with new windows and the ship lap was more like ship flap when the wind got up. But inside, the service was friendly and there was a warm fire. We were each given a wooden spoon, to help staff serve the generous portions of coffee and cake to the right persons.

Ed. note - the building is the previous club house of Melton Mowbray Sailing Club - see https://youtu.be/L9roizsFICA .

When we emerged, Jim took another route. The rest of us rode into Asfordby and turned left onto Saxelbye Road. We crossed over the by-pass, then continued on Saxelbye Road up the hill, round the bend then dipped down skirting Saxelbye on our way to Grimston. As on the previous occasion we entered Grimston, there were snowdrops on the grass verge, although this time crocuses too. There was a short hill out of Grimston before we reached Six Hills Lane.

As we cycled straight along Six Hills Lane towards Loughborough, we once more had the sun in our eyes. So, full marks to anyone wearing cool shades, and half marks to anyone who can explain the conundrum of riding into the sun in both outward and inward directions of the ride.

When we turned left onto Paudy Lane, Pat and Rob kept on the B676, whence Pat took Narrow Lane home. On Paudy Lane, the country pong of muck spreading returned. Vic took a turning for Sileby, and Betty turned right onto Big Lane, for their respective journeys home.

Four of us remaining gathered at the roundabout at Barrow upon Soar at the bottom of Paudy Lane, then rode up Melton Road and Grove Lane into South Street for the dinosaur roundabout. The traffic lights were in our favour as we sped down Barrow Road. Having crossed the A6, we said goodbye to Trisha and the rest of us made out way back to Loughborough.

We will have been home by 1:45. It did rain a little, later in the afternoon. The route back to Holt Drive covered 32 miles with an altitude gain of 1312 ft. A respectable speed of 11.3 mph was maintained.

Short Ride

Report by John

The short ride hadn't visited Rothley Station since October, so this was chosen as the refreshment spot for Rosalind, Robert, Dom, Myles, John and Derek.

Setting out past Mucklin Wood to Beaumanor, the riders climbed to Woodhouse Eaves and then on up to Maplewell, before turning south east to Warren Hill.

Derek leading Myles and Rosalind down Roecliffe Road.

A fast descent to Roecliffe Manor was followed by a steadier descent along Roecliffe Road, where the group was passed by about ten cyclists going considerably faster, but fortunately not heading for coffee at Rothley Station

Rosalind, Robert, Dom, Myles and Derek at Ellis Tea Room, Rothley Station.

Refreshments were consumed out in the sunshine before the riders returned via Swithland and Quorn.