Wednesday 17th April 2024

Medium Ride

Report by Graham

Today's ride was to Forest Hill Golf & Conference Centre, Botcheston. I'd never been before, but had spotted another club had ridden there and thought we'd give it a try, so on a bright blustery morning, Nim, Tricia, Laurence, Robert, and Terry followed me and we made our way through Quorn and Mountsorrel, turning up through the quarry, then via Thurcaston and Anstey to join route 63 along the disused railway behind Glenfield to Ratby.

From Ratby we headed towards Newton Unthank, then a couple of right turns and a gradual climb brought us to our stop at the golf club. It was not an unqualified success. I guess golfers don't cycle, as there were no racks, so we locked the bikes together against a wall. Once inside, Laurence asked about the advertised sausage rolls, but they were "still being cooked", and all that was on offer was lemon drizzle cake. Luckily (?) they had 6 pieces, but it was obviously yesterdays batch as they were dry as cardboard. Nice location though, overlooking the golf course. As we got ready to leave I asked the server when best to arrive to get a better choice of food options. "Any time after 10", she said, pointing me at a full menu including breakfast cobs etc! The menu definitely wasn't there when we ordered earlier, maybe they don't want sweaty cyclists, although I had phoned up to check.

Laurence, Terry, Tricia, Nim, Robert and Graham at Forest Hill Golf & Conference Centre, Botcheston.

Anyway, chastened but unbowed, we pedalled on, through Thornton (where as Terry pointed out, there was a probably more suitable cafe at the garden centre), then Markfield and back towards Loughborough via Copt Oak, with the group going various separate ways at Bawdon Crossroads.

When I got home I'd done 50Km and 500m of ascent, thus neatly proving Howard's 1% theory of distance to climbing in Charnwood.

Short Ride

Report by Derek

It was a bright day with a light breeze, although there was a slight chill in the air at first. There was an overflow of riders for Eric’s short ride, possibly because rain was forecast for the afternoon and a desire to be home before it arrived.

So, David led an additional short ride to St Joseph’s tea room via a meandering route to avoid arriving before they were open. He was accompanied by Derek, John, Mick and Pat.

We rode through Loughborough by a habitual route that happened to go within sight of the houses of Derek and Mick. Of course, neither of them needed to go back for anything, and in Derek’s case that would have involved crossing the canal, and in Mick’s case there was no need to cross a canal.

It was a lovely spring day as we crossed the Meadows to Stanford on Soar and the climb up Fox Hill set us in the frame of mind for more hills to follow. 

John, Pat, David and Mike in Normanton on Soar.

There followed Normanton on Soar and the road through Zouch, then we took the A6 towards Hathern but turned right on the Ashby Road. The leader’s old Garmin had indicated right on Hathern Road, so we were off our planned route but later rejoined it. There is a long steady climb towards Long Whatton. We stopped at the summit of this and it was expedient for Mick to leave us for his dental appointment. We followed him along Hallamford Road, but he was well out in front, then we went right after the notorious very steep few yards before the mini roundabout on Tickow Lane. Fortunately, kindly motorists waived their right of way to allow us to use any residual momentum to make it round the roundabout.

On Tickow Lane, there were warnings of road closures which we are apt to regard as beneficial by keeping cars away. There weren’t any serious obstacles until we reached the old bridge, under which passes the Jubilee Path that used to be the Charnwood Forest Railway. Here, not only was the road blocked, but a cat would have had trouble getting past the barriers.

David, John's back and Pat on the Jubilee Path, Shepshed.

We took the muddy footpath down to the Jubilee Path, then headed west. This would have been a picturesque route for the old railway as the embankment was high over the Black Brook and high alongside the A512 where it dips over the Black brook. The path turns muddy, then moves away from a bridge that used to go over the old railway. After this, we went through Blackbrook Farm and out onto the A512. Here, we concluded that a less meandering route to our refreshment stop would take us across the A512 and up Swannymote Road. This was another long climb, but then we turned left onto Oaks Road and were at St Joseph’s tea room at about 11:30 after a few more ups and downs.

The meanderings had added about 2 miles to our ride and St Josephs had had time to accumulate many other customers, most of whom preferred to be indoors. There was plenty of space outdoors and it looked like St J was in need of someone to move tables. We sat in the peaceful sun and watched a Buzzard fly over while we waited for our refreshments to arrive. David admitted to having a birthday and wondering if everyone will keep up with him at 70. Perhaps fewer navigational errors will ensue when using his new Garmin.

For our route home, the wind was behind us as we continued on Oaks Road, through Oaks in Charnwood and onto Charley Road. At the Charley crossroads, Derek left us for home. The rest of us continued to Beacon Road, over the brow of the hill next to the Beacon, then down the hill to Quorn. There were traffic lights at Woodhouse Eaves, so it was not all plain sailing. At the Quorn crossroads, Pat continued straight, John went right and David went left.

The total distance back to Holt Drive was 24.5 miles, and the arrival there at 1:20. We gained a modest 1519 feet in altitude and moved at an average of 10.5 mph.