Wednesday 8th May 2024

A beautiful sunny "Darling Buds of May" morning produced an excellent turnout with four rides departing from Holt Drive.

Short Ride

Report by John

After the other 3 rides had departed John was left with Andrew, Derek, Myles, Chris, Rob and Eric who had opted for the shortest ride to Rothley Station.

The group headed out via Cross Hill Lane climbing up to Haddon Way and they negotiating the lane past Mucklin Wood. John had assumed that without rain for few days there would not be much mud. This assumption was incorrect.

Myles & Rob leading group past Mucklin Wood.

Derek and Chris leading Andrew and Eric.

Leaving Beaumanor behind them the riders turned down School Lane passing Clyde and Dom who had stopped outside St Mary-in-the-Elms church.

To ensure that those without electric assist bikes would get some good exercise, John led the group up Swithland Road to Roecliffe. From there it was mainly down hill to Cropston and and easy riding along the flat to Rothley Station.

John, Chris, Derek, Andrew, Myles, Rob and Eric in the sunshine.

Here they were joined by Ray Clay and the tea drinkers discovered that if you ordered a pot, it was delivered in a very attractively decorated tea pot.

The Decorate Tea Pot

Andrew, Derek, Myles, Chris, Rob, Eric and Ray at Rothley Station.

After a leisurely refreshment break, the riders returned via Bradgate Road to Swithland and then on through Woodhouse and Quorn, where Eric left the group. The riders were back in Loughborough just before noon.

Short ride to Tyler’s Café, Castle Donington

Report by David

Weather: Warm and sunny day, with little wind.

Riders: Howard, Betty, Margaret, Alan, Wendy, John, Dave, Mick, Lee, Rob Stephens and David.

We set off along Holt Drive and crossed Forest Road for Ashleigh Drive. Having crossed the university to the roundabout with Ashby Road and Epinal Way, we continued round the Epinal Way, turning off along Maxwell Drive briefly before coming off road along the Black Brook Way. Emerging from under the A6, we headed for Hathern on the path. In the centre of Hathern we rejoined the road and went left on Whatton Road. In Long Whatton, opposite the Falcon, we took Kegworth Lane. This should be a quiet country road, but we were sharing it with several trucks and heavy lorries. At its high points it affords good views across the Soar Valley. The horse chestnut trees were in full blossom.

We regathered at the Kegworth bypass before heading towards the Amazon warehouses. The junction with the A453 is complicated and there is no pedestrian crossing here, so care is needed to work out which direction the traffic would come from in each lane.

There is still expansion on this site, with cement mixers and trucks coming and going. Taking a path to the north of the site, we negotiated a width restriction to get to the village of Lockington, which was quiet apart from grass mowing in the churchyard. We turned right on Main Street then left along Hemington Lane. We went left through the village of Hemington, then up the hill to Castle Donington. Perched up on a mound and having old narrow streets with cafés, Castle Donington could be somewhere else in Europe. It has quaint street names, whose origin is lost in antiquity. We came in on a road called Barroon. Some of us whose minds were somewhere else in Europe carried on down this road, but should have gone left at Clapgun Street. After this Tyler’s café was found by turning right onto Apiary Gate. After a while everyone found their way to the café.

Dave, Leigh, Betty, Mick, Robert,  Wendy, Margaret, David, Howard,  John  and Alan at Tyler's.

Tylers was efficient and we used their whole stock of chairs when sitting outside, where we talked about media, including old phones and audio and video systems. The sun was hot enough to melt chocolate on Rob’s themed cookie. Somebody questioned the choice of red or brown sauce with one’s sausage or bacon. The forthright view of the café management about what constitutes good taste was to have red sauce with bacon and brown sauce with sausage, so that settled it. Parked across the way in a small line of cars was a large American car of about late 50’s vintage. None of us could positively identify the car, but it was surprisingly manoeuvrable in the narrow streets. It left at about the same time as us, leading us down Market Street and turning left into High Street. We could estimate its fuel consumption based on the amount of coughing recorded while we were all stopped at traffic lights. The car was ironically liveried with a large dinosaur. It carried on up the hill while we went right at the traffic lights into the fresher air of Park Lane.

Our route took us to a new Castle Donington bypass. This led up a hill to the perimeter of East Midlands airport. We were able to use cycle paths to get over to the A453, also avoiding getting red tyres from the lines in the road. A short distance along this road, we entered the south of the airport and took the Ambassador Road and Viscount Road. Then we located a turning past kerosine tankers to a short footpath to cross the A453 onto Grimes Gate. Grimes Gate goes down into Diseworth, where we went right onto Hall Gate and right again onto The Green. After a short distance we turned left, heading generally south, on a road that took us under the A42 then joined Mill Lane. Turning left onto Mill Lane we found our way into Belton. There were some road works in Belton and traffic was moving slowly. We were sent down Church Street, from where we crossed the Ashby Road to the Carr Lane cycle route. There was some debate about the route home. When we got to Shepshed, Rob left us for Hathern. The rest of us followed Howard around the centre of Shepshed, up Kirkhill and along Leicester Road. We continued on the Ashby Road, until everyone went their separate ways home.

I recorded 25.8 miles, average moving speed 10.1 mph. With various hills we achieved an elevation gain of 1362 feet. Many people thanked Howard for the ride, which was fun and manageable for all, and we lost none of the 11 riders. All should have been home by 1pm.