Wednesday 9th January
Post date: 03-Jan-2019 15:22:10
A cold and frosty morning but with a bright start saw a good turnout. Howard decided to take the longer ride out towards Great Dalby while John settled on Normanton on Soar for the short ride.
Short Ride
John led Clyde, Norman, Rob, Myles, Joan, Anne, Lynn & Patrick out through the Market Place and on to Meadow Lane and then up Leake Lane to the top of Normanton Hills. It was then a descent towards East Leake but taking a left turn onto the pot hole strewn Rempstone Road before taking Brickyard Lane to the outskirts of West Leake. After ascending Trowell Lane the rider turned into Hungary Lane and dropped into Sutton Bonington and took left heading south along the floor of the Soar Valley towards Normanton on Soar, safely negotiating some new road works at the junction with the A6006. Nine riders arriving at the volunteer run village hall shop provided quite a challenge, but this was met and the riders enjoyed refreshments out in the sun on south side of the hall out of the wind. It was then back over Fox Hill to return to Loughborough just after noon.
Long Ride
The long ride group comprised, David, Mick, Jeff, Alan, Eric, Terry, Phil, Marcus, Brian and myself. We set off along the old A6 to Quorn and Mountsorrel then we turned off to to go through Sileby, Rearsby, Gaddesby and on to Great Dalby. At the T junction we turned left down Kirby Lane shortly arriving at the March Farm Cafe. The March Farm Cafe has recently opened and boasts a brand new building plus new fixtures and fittings which may explain pricier than usual coffee and cakes, but very nice and quick service. The route back took us along Ridgemere Lane to Syston. From here we were on home turf and took our standard route back along the Grand Union canal, and River Wreake to Cossington. From here we went back through Sileby and on to Barrow before returning to Loughborough. We must have been fairly rapid as we arrived back a little earlier than expected, as well as having travelled further than we ordinarily would. The photo has been uploaded to the gallery and the route we took has been uploaded to the the routes page.
