Day 6: Midlands Madness

Sherwood Forest to Oakham, Rutland

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Another terrific camp, completely undisturbed and this time I felt a lot warmer in the night and slept right through. I awoke refreshed to a beautiful morning - though I was keeping a nervous eye on the forecast, which promised both rain storms and strong winds from the South.

This was unfortunate as today was to be my dash for home or the vicinity, and so would be pretty much Due South. A natural route would take me through the forest to Nottingham, and from there I planned to cross Leicestershire and make it to the tiny county of Rutland, dominated by its big reservoir, Rutland water.

This is within striking (i.e. one day's riding) of home, and my original plan was going to be to camp there and then make a leisurely ride back to Bedfordshire. However, the worsening conditions and my protracted exposure to the elements had given me second thoughts - and the idea now was that Caroline would kindly pick me up at Rutland water and save me having to rough it another night.

Saddled up and ready to go, in Sherwood Forest

National Cycle Route 6 - which eventually goes all the way to Dover - travels for almost 30km through the forest between Worksop and Nottingham, largely on off-road and traffic-free trails. This was by far the best part of the day and I spun merrily along, "riding through the glen".

Through the woodlands, past Sherwood Forest proper (including the "Major Oak", which the national trust was keen to point out is the legendary hideout of Robin Hood, but which is genuinely 1000 years old), and past innumerable lodges and manor buildings associated with the aristocrats which I'm guessing constituted the "Dukeries".

No chance, I rode right over the kissing cattle grid

Impressive spire on a church on the manor house grounds by the river Poulter

Lodge buildings and grand gates that used to form an entrance to one of the big manor estates. Often these lodges are now (very nice) private houses.

At times the cycle route became narrow and deserted singletrack. No problem with my wide tyres, and great fun.

I don't think I've ever seen such a huge sign for an official bike crossing in England

Another amazing lodge house. This is now clearly a private residence - what a place to live!

Near Clipstone and in a rather nicely-done town park on the old colliery ground, the annoying clink-clink my drivetrain had been emitting suddenly resolved itself in a loud "snap!" - and it was clear my chain had broken.

Cursing the quick-link - they're always the thing to go - I had an oily few minutes clipping it back together while some friendly locals commiserated. The quick-link was a bit bent, and I suspected it would go again sooner or later - but I was keen to get on my way.

This never even occurred to me as a possibility, if I'm honest

Clipstone Colliery. We don't tend to think of Nottinghamshire as mining country, but coal extraction actually has continued in this area in some cases to this day. This one was decommissioned in 2003.

My luck wasn't to improve. Emerging from the woods near Blidworth, the direct headwind picked up to an intensity I can only describe as "howling". It was all I could do to keep moving forward, and I rather struggled through the next few miles.

As well as a picture of a nice horse, this is a good demonstration of the strength of the wind.

At Ravenshead, the weather was finally blown upon me, and the heavens opened. I took rather ineffective shelter under some stubby trees (where had all the forest gone?) and put on the waterproof gear for me and the leather saddle.

It soon became clear that I was going to get wet anyway, so I squelched on through Ravenshead. National cycle route 6 takes the scenic route from this point on through the grounds of Newstead Abbey. Passing the entrance, there was actually a clear entrance fee marked for cyclists, but the kind chap in the booth waved me through - whether this was just standard procedure for through-riders, or if he took pity on my bedraggled state, I don't know.

This is a three-wheeled "Reliant Robin", an infamous British car of the 70s. Technically, it's not actually a car - it was classified as covered motorbike, and didn't need a full license to drive. It was also notorious for flipping over on tight bends. This one is in quite good condition, and I imagine is the possession of an enthusiast.

The dramatic ruins of Newstead Abbey, destroyed during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.

This was also the ancestral home of Lord Byron. You can see where he might have got his flair for the Romantic.

The cycleway took me to the outskirts of Nottingham via Hucknell. I needed to cross the complete extent of Nottingham, by far the biggest city I'd encountered.

Cold, wet, and rather low on blood sugar, I did not particularly enjoy this. First the link in my chain broke again, this time for good. Attempting to wield the chain tool in the rain by the side of a dual-carriageway was not much fun, and I got incredibly oily before I succeeded in removing the dud links and closing it back up again. A nice fellow did stop his car and ask me if I needed any help.

Then into the city. There was a lot of traffic, and every intersection involved an elaborate junction and traffic light system, but to be frank the drivers were fine - it was me that didn't know what I was doing. It culminated in me misjudging some lights, going through them on amber, and not realising that I'd never clear the 200m long junction before several lanes of traffic would start moving across me. The genuine look of terror on a moped rider's face combined with my shouted "sorry!" made me realise I needed to stop and take a break.

I reached the university, and planted myself on a bench just outside. It wasn't a super scenic location, but I was quite happy there to sit and eat some of the mountain of food I'd acquired in Worksop.

Big Gurdwara coming into Nottingham. The cities of the East Midlands have quite a big Sikh community.

Some elaborate yarn-bombing at a cycle crossing

Feeling much more restored I found my way to the city's river, the Trent, which flows north from here and also joins the Humber. Suddenly the sun came out, and the riverside walk made the town look really handsome.

I was happy to follow the river to the east all the way out of town, happy to avoid the traffic and city centre.

Centre of Nottingham and handsome bridge over the Trent

This is quite an elaborate pedestrian bridge

I passed the very red stadium of Nottingham Forest football club. The name on the stands is that of Brian Clough, their famous manager (so famous that even a football know-nothing like me has heard of him).

Following the river past the stadium I emerged from the town, and tracked through a large area of lakes and stream which was billed as the National Watersports centre. It being entirely closed up, the roads were empty, and I could easily work my way between the major roads to the villages of Cotgrave and Owthorpe.

I was leaving the city behind, and heading for a rural corner of Leicestershire. The terrain is hilly all through Leicestershire - I topped a short, steep hill and then had a great descent into the bowl of land between Nottinghamshire and Melton Mowbray. This area is pastoral and pretty, and famous across the country for the quality of its produce: the distinctive blue cheese Stilton can in fact only be made in these few villages, most prominently Long Clawson which I passed through.

Coming over the top past the village of Owthorpe to descend into Leicestershire and the bowl of land before the next set of hills that would bring me into Rutland.

At 85km unfortunately at this point my camera gave up the ghost. Which is a real shame as the terrain was lovely - really nice little villages, and rolling green lanes that took me all the way to Melton Mowbray. Just before I got into Melton my GPS also gave up, and to cap it all (after I'd taken a wrong turning down a rather steep hill) I was spectacularly pelted with hailstones as I fumbled for the batteries.

Melton is a nice little town as well, and seems to have a lot of character - but I was sadly rather flagging, after my hammering by the elements and two chain breakages. 95km down and I reckoned I had around 20km further to get to Oakham, in Rutland - but it was getting on and I was afraid I'd lose the light. I knew it would be hilly too, far hillier than anything in the flat land to the east.

I stopped and bought a Lucozade, something I almost never do, and pressed on. The little villages on the Leicestershire/Rutland border were equally as nice: Little Dalby, Pickwell and Somerby, charming places. As the light started to go and I hit 105km, I called Caroline who was on the other side of the reservoir.

I figured it was easiest to keep cycling, so I spun through the last of the Leicestershire villages, then turned on my lights as the darkness came down after a spectacular sunset (sadly not pictured). I passed and cheered the sign welcoming to Rutland (I think I may have even shouted out its motto - "multum in parvo, mother***!") then had a fast and somewhat hairy descent down into Oakham.

Getting off the bike to get my bearings in Oakham, I had a bit of a moment of light-headedness - but after a dodgy moment recovered and managed to avoid the embarrassment of passing out in front of Oakham station. I located the carpark where Caroline was, and she kindly helped me bodily break down the Shift so it would fit in the back of the car. The temperature was now pretty low, and I was freezing and having quite some difficulty using the tools, so it was a bit tough. But we got it all in and was very thankful to be on the way home.

The bike stayed in the car, we ate chips, and I had a very much-needed bath. It was a very good decision not to camp another night - I would have been looking for a place in the dark, and freezing too. Civilization and a real bed were a much better idea.

Today's ride: 115 km (71 miles)
Total: 647 km (402 miles)

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Graham FinchIs the camera knackered?

Bad luck the chain breaking - twice! It sounds like you need a new one.

It sounds like you went into the red. Hopefully you felt refreshed in the morning after a decent sleep.
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2 years ago

Jon AylingTo Graham FinchIt turned out to be a memory card fault: there was a worrying point when I could retrieve anything off it, but once I found a card reader I could recover and reformat it ok. The camera (a fairly basic point-and-shoot Sony, as befits my limited photographic ability) has been a good workhorse but has been a bit ill-treated, and is glitching from time to time...

Yep, that chain has definitely outlived its usefulness. It's done well for two (three?) tours, so time to replace.

I definitely pushed too far on this last day - it wasn't so much the distance, but I think five days in the open (and particularly the cold, which I just wasn't ready for - I almost only took a single over-layer!) did for me. Must remember: even if there are nice sunny days, it's still cold in this part of the world in spring in the middle of the night!
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2 years ago