Hours of sleep the night before: at least 9!
Units of alcohol: apparently there’s 2.6 units per bottle of Newcastle Brown, and recommended units per day for women are 2-3 so I definintely had more than double that – and binged!
Chain slippages: at least 7 for Em but all expertly recovered whilst still in motion.
Punctures: 0 (hurrah for re-inforced tyres!)
Navigational errors (just a little detour coming into Willington…)
Total Miles: 67
With the weeks ticking away before our big LEJOG (Land’s End to John O’Groats), Em and I decided we should cycle back from the Peaks, during the first may bank holiday. We spent the weekend climbing on Froggatt and walking in the Manifold Valley, and would then cycle back from Butterton to Leicester on the Monday. We awoke to rain on canvas on the Monday morning – fairly typical of a bank holiday Monday, so we didn’t rush to get up, optimistically hoping the rain would clear….
By midday it was cold but dry, so we quickly planned a route along minor roads, and leapt onto our bikes which had been standing locked to a telegraph pole in the campsite for the past couple of days, and were by this point a little wet. Our route took a steep downhill to start with, but conscious of the wet conditions, narrow road and sharp bends, we were a bit cautious. We then had a steep incline up into Alstonefield, and rolling roads through very pretty countryside to Ilam (not 11am! Or the village hit by the black death and origin of the well-known nursery rhyme ‘Ring a ring o’ Roses – that’ll be Eyam). I was being very observant this trip – having missed loads of good stuff previously and we surprised live hares, pheasants –even an owl flew across my path at one point. We made reasonable time over the undulating roads to Ashbourne, then through Osmaston, Alkmonton to Hatton and Hilton. Following the same road as taken during Bar-Yar, we somehow missed Willington and found ourselves heading towards Derby on the A516. Quickly correcting the error, we got back on track to Willington and called in to Pen’s in Repton for a very welcome hot drink and lunch break. Having warmed ourselves up, we were back on the road to Ticknall, Ashby, Packington, Heather (where we’d cycled previously to see the town’s scarecrow creations), then the homeward stretch through Desford and Kirby Muxloe to arrive home by 7.15. Not a bad effort considering the weather wasn’t’ making anyone envious of our plan earlier that morning….
