Girls on Cogs

So I have finally managed to join Claire and Hels on a weekend cycle and Claire already has a plan! Had the usual faff before leaving, checking tyres etc. Headed off along the Central Way, trying to ignore the big grey clouds, spots of rain and wind. Cycled through Blaby, Cosby, Frolesworth, Claybrook Magna and Pailton where we stopped for a piece of Hels homemade rhubarb cake. At this point we were 20 miles in and I was having my usual blood sugar crash! Really need to sort my eating out, it instantly slows me down.

From there we headed across to Monks Kirby and The GardenBarn at Cotesbach. Rubbish name, but lovely garden centre/gift shop and cafe. The wind had continued and we were actually quite cold as soon as we stopped, so we sat next to the open log fire which despite being May was definitely needed. Enjoyed a bowl of soup before having a browse round the centre. Stav had caught up with us by this point, so being a boy he played on his phone and looked after the bags. After a strenuous browse, we managed a piece of cake and a coffee. All this sugar might be the cause of my constant battle with dropping blood sugar!!!

We headed off again and took a back road round the side of the Garden Centre, towards Gilmorton and route 50. We pretty much took the reverse journey back from Tuesday night, so it was nice to see some of it in the light!  We returned to The Guthlaxton Trail and decided to take the alternative route home via the canal. Stav was not keen because of the tow path, so headed back along The Central Way….. not to say he was right, but my skinny tyres took a bit of a hammering. We finally made it onto a proper path through Ayleston Meadows and no damage or punctures had occurred. Back onto The Central Way and home. Maybe another piece of cake!!!

50 miles and no rain!

Claire and I had planned a 50-60 mile cycle ride out to Market Harborough (the new cycle maps are out for Leicestershire and Claire loves maps!). At 10.30 there was only a slight drizzle, but the forecast had mentioned heavy showers (possibly thunderstorms) so we had some options to cut the route short and loop back early if it got too grim – it is supposed to be fun afterall!

We set out towards Victoria Park and along Evington Lane to pick up route 63 through Stoughton. The rain was getting heavier and we were both finding it a bit slow going (possibly the few beers I’d had the night before and a soft back tyre weren’t helping). We were considering just heading to Wistow and back, when the weather started to clear a little… So onwards through Kings Norton, Illston-on-the-hill and with the sun trying to shine through we continued on to Noseley, Goadby and Cranoe Here we picked up the R64 through Welham and onto the byway through some farmland to Market Harborough.

Refreshed after a quick ciabatta and a coffee, we headed back through Market Harborough along the canal to Foxton Locks (this part of the canal path has a reasonable surface – we found out previously that it’s not good all the way and suffered many punctures from pesky thorns, rahhh!). This part of the canal was very pretty with all the blossom out, and little fluffy ducklings bobbing about… We then headed through Gumley Saddington, Fleckney and just got to Wistow rural centre in time for a sneaky cream tea (with a little tub of clotted cream) before the café closed and Claire managed a little purchase from the Outer space shop! We then had a 10 mile run back through Counteshorpe to pick up the familiar Guthlaxton trail onto Great Central way and home, a round trip totalling just over 50 miles! A good result given the poor forecast.

Before the next May Bank holiday we’ll be on our way riding from Leicester to Edinburgh, so this weekend Claire and I are getting a little training in…

We were heading out to Melton, to check out a garden centre (the Grange – that also randomly sells ski boots). We met at the Rally and headed along the canal, following the path to Watermead Park. The sunshine seemed to bring out the best in people and almost everyone was happy to say hello as we cycled past. From Watermead, we headed along route 48 through Syston, Queniborough, Thrussington and Hoby to Asfordby. We’d made reasonable time, despite the cool, blustery wind (obviously against us) and decided to make an extra loop up through Saxelbye, Green Hill, Nether Broughton and round to Long Clawson. Hopefully we’d have a tail wind on the way home? From there we came back along route 48 to Ab Kettle into Melton to pick up the A6006 to the Grange, around 30 miles. We sat outside the restaurant and had a baguette, before a quick look round the gift shop and outdoor shop (to see if I should come back and look at ski boots for next year).

We were back on the road an hour later; through Asfordby Valley and Kirby Bellars to Gaddesby, South Croxton, and Queniborough. The wind was still blustery and not the nice tail wind we’d hoped for. We thought we’d pick up the cycle route through Watermead again for the return home to avoid Melton Road. We were hoping to come out and pass the Space Centre, but somehow managed to get onto Loughborough Road and joined Melton Road – not quite the plan! Strangely we seem to struggle more getting in and out of Leicester than navigating the country routes… Anyway, we’d managed over 50 miles and a very pleasant ride.

On a sunny saturday, which was more like summer than the beginning of April, Claire and I set off for a ride out to the Ferrers Craft Centre at Staunton Harald. Being very organised Claire had a route already planned, looping round to the craft centre then coming back by the more direct route. We headed west through Kirby Muxloe and Barlestone towards Barton-in-the-beans and Newton Burgoland (mainly because the names sounded interesting) then made our way north through Heather, Normanton-le-heath to Ashby. The villages were only a couple of miles apart so we were ticking them off the list quickly on our way to Ashby, uplifted by the lovely weather and the fact that we were out enjoying it on bikes and singing the Levellers ‘What a beautiful day’ in our heads. From Ashby, it was a short distance to Lount and Staunton Harald’s Ferrers Centre. We’d done 28 miles in 2 ½ hours, so feeling very pleased with ourselves, we obviously deserved some nice food. We sat outside in the courtyard, watched the visitors making garden obelisks from willow and had a big piece of homemade camembert and broccoli quiche with a jacket and salad! Lovely! Then, since we were at a craft centre with shops, we had to indulge! Being on bikes didn’t deter us, so we shopped away, and would then have to drive back later to collect the goodies which were obviously unsuitable for carrying back on bikes!

Time flew and realising we had been there for two hours, we decided we should head back by the more direct route through Whitwick, Copt Oak, Markfield, Newton Linford and Anstey. It wasn’t as pretty, and had many up-hill sections (about 10 miles worth which disappointingly reduced our average speed a little). However, we managed a total of 50 miles with a good overall average and commended ourselves on a very pleasant day out managing to build in a good cycle ride and good shopping!

Day 3:  Tuesday 23^rd March 2010,   Parkhead Station to Tynemouth

Miles completed: 40

Elevation profile:  All downhill!

Weather forecast:  The best so far

Having completed all the remaining climbs before Parkhead, we had a gentle 40 miles ahead of us to the coast, all downhills or flats.  Lovelely!  It was Annie’s birthday today, so we tied some balloons to her bike before setting out over the moors towards Consett, passing steel sculptures dotted along the way in parks, housing estates and on the roadside.  We took Hadrian’s way along the Tyne through Newcastle, all impressed with the route through Newcastle centre, the buildings and bridges lining the route.   We followed the path beside the Tyne, past some nice harbours, some industrial bits and on to  Tynemouth – our final destination.  We had our photo at the signpost, and then headed to Quayside for some beautiful fish and chips.

We had all made it – even enjoyed it (despite some misgivings before the trip),  and beaten the weather!

Happy Birthday Annie  – the coast to coast achieved for your 50^th birthday!

Day 2:  Monday 22^nd March 2010,   Gamblesby to Parkhead Station

Miles completed: 32

Elevation profile:  Best not looked at too closely!

Highest points: Hartside (1903 feet before breakfast!), Nenthead, Allenheads, Rookhope, Parkhead

Weather forecast:  Awful – but improved over previous 2 days from  ‘heavy rain all day’, to showers during the day’ to ‘a band of rain around lunchtime’

The consensus was that as long as it was dry in the morning – we’d give day 2 a go!  Having completed a few extra miles on the first day, we were aiming to tackle all the hills in day 2, in around 30 miles and avoid too much rain if we were lucky.

We had a grey, but dry start from Gamblesby, launching straight into a long, steep ascent up Hartside, but on the promise of a big cooked breakfast at the Hartside café on top!  Having rewarded our climb with eggs, bacon, sausage and much coffee, we felt more able to face the rest of the hard climbs ahead. It was very blustery so no great speeds achieved on the descents, but at least there were some tail-wind gusts giving us the odd push up the climbs.  It was getting very cold though with blustery showers so we planned to stop in Allenheads for some hot refreshments.  Very disappointingly, nothing was open – the visitor centre had a sheltered bench in a porchway, but we were too early for the easter opening.  Sadly, it was a short stop for water, dried mango and flapjacks only.  Boooooo!

Rookhope was a few miles further down the very drizzly road, but as we came into the Village there were lights on at the Rookhope Inn!  Hurrah!   We had pots of hot tea and coffee, a beautiful hot beef baguette and a little warm by the woodfire.  From here, our options to reach the B&B at Parkhead station were around 7 miles along the busy and steep road, or about 5 miles up the rough track across the moor.  We took the moor option – we had to push our bikes up the rocky path and around some quite deep patches of snow, but it was a beautiful route across the moors and the sun was shining.

We spent the night at the renovated and only recently un-snowbounded Parkhead Station, situated in a lovely, but remote spot on the moors.  The owners were very friendly and accommodating and it was a very pleasant evening.

Day 1:  Sunday 21^st March 2010,   Whitehaven to Gamblesby

Miles expected:  40

Miles completed: 63

Punctures: 2 (both H)

Broken frames: 1

Terror rating:  quite high!

C2C challengers:  Annie (the organiser), Debbie (my cousin), Quentin (Debbie’s husband), and of course myself.  For the first day we were also joined by Annie’s son Charlie and Annie’s friend Sue (the proper keen cyclist).

Day 1 saw a group of ethusiastic (well maybe 1 enthusiastic, 1 terrified and the others somewhere in between) individuals ready to embark on the C2C challenge.  Obviously we had all been training very hard for this 3-day cycle route totalling 135 miles – Debbie had done 20 miles in the past week, Quentin 10  miles, and I’d cycled to the pub and back on Friday.  Annie I think had also clocked up a few miles.  So all feeling confident and well prepared!

We arrived into sunny Whitehaven around 10.00am, dipped our tyres in the sea, took some obligatory photos and set off on the C2C bike path.  Almost immediately, Sue discovered her bike was broken – the back fork had rusted through completely – nightmare!! It was quickly taped up and we were back under way.  Then I had a puncture, so after a quick replacement inner tube, we broke a match (to complete the run of 3 things, superstitiously speaking)  and tried again.  We had completed 2.5 miles in around 30 minutes – excellent!!

We followed the path climbing up through Cleator Moor, Kirkland, Lamplugh, Loweswater and High Lorton (great views along the way),  and past Derwent Water to Keswick for a lovely and soup and sandwich lunch at the Theatre Café.  After an hour or so, we were back on the path heading towards Annie’s place at Greystoke, where she runs Quirky workshops and a cycle café – What a brilliant place to have a hot drink and a flapjack!  We still had over an hour of light, so we pushed on towards Gamblesby, a mere 63 miles from the start.

Miles: about 30

Sunshine Rating: Very

Navigation: 1. boys took wrong turning, but it gave us the opportunity to catch up!

Bugs: trillions!

Beautiful sunny and warm evening so great to be outdoors. Mat, Stav, Hels and I headed out on the Hinckley Road towards Desford and Newbold Verdon and Market Borworth. Mat and Stav started out leaving Hels and I for dust. We eventually kept pace with them….. or they slowed down!
From Market Bosworth we travelled about a mile to Bosworth Pools. Decided to have fish and chips and sit down by the lake. Hels and I headed back up the hill to Market Bosworth to the chippie. Its was decided we needed the training, whilst the boys paddled in the lake!! Enjoyed our fish and chips whilst watching the fire brigade training with their big hose and listening to the gentle…… roaring of a gang of American cars on the other side of the lake. Mat was appalled someone was bothering to take a photo of a Ford Capri!
Headed home in a cloud of bugs and stopped at the pub for a beer on the way.

Miles: 48
Sunshine rating: Very sunny
Navigation: Excellent (well there was only really 2 roads involved!)

It was a lovely sunny weekend and with only 2 weeks before the start of LEJOG (Land’s End John O’Groats) it didn’t seem right not to be out cycling… Emma was away for the weekend and I’d been invited over to Rugby to see my friend Fabienne’s new house, so having checked the miles (only 24 according to google maps) I decided to cycle over there. I set out at 12.30, heading up great central way. I’d just got a text from Fab saying there was a pear cider waiting in the fridge (what a lovely mate she is!), so I decided to stick to the A426 all the way to Rugby (just in case my navigational skills should fail me on the country lanes…and inconveniently cause extra time!). I made good progress through Dunton Bassett, Lutterworth and followed the road south through Rugby to Bilton. I took a couple of right turns as instructed and was at Fab’s by 2.30. Excellent! We had a pleasant couple of hours sitting out in her spacious new garden, with a little cider and raspberries from my garden. Probably the wrong sort of calories but very nice! I headed back as it started to cloud over, and had a very comfortable ride back, in less than 2 hours.

Thought for the day: Nearly 50 miles cycling in the sunshine, a little cider in the garden can make a very pleasant Sunday afternoon, and still count as training!

Miles: 32

Pub stops: 2

Light aerobatics: 1

So it’s Wednesday night this week for cycling, and a lovely sunny evening but only 2 takers as Em was a bit under the weather…Stav and I planned a nice simple route (so as not to challenge my navigational skills too much) out towards Kings Norton, Ilston-on-the-hill and arrived in Tur Langton in about 50 minutes! Since we’d made good time we stopped at a nice pub in the village and had some good lasagne and an ale in the sunny beer garden before heading back through Kibworth, Wistow and into Kilby.  There was a 20 mph speed limit here, so we took the challenge and broke the speed limit!  It was still early, and there was another little pub – oh go on then!   It was then a shortish ride back through Counteshorpe and onto the cycle trail home – and my front light only jumped off once!