Wednesday 29th May 2019
Post date: 28-May-2019 08:08:16
A bright morning with some thin cloud was another good turnout at Outwoods Drive.
Short RideJohn, Lyn, Eric, Derek, Myles, Patrick, Anne, Jeff and Rob headed south once more past Mucklin Wood to take a rather hilly route to Rothley Station. Instead of turning left for Swithland the riders carried on up Beacon Road to turn left at the Old Bulls Head into Woodhouse Eaves and then on up Maplewell Road to Benscliffe Road which they followed towards Old John. After a rapid descent into Newton Linford the group negotiated the many children on bicycles in Bradgate Park and eventually got to the northern entrance from where the headed to Rothley Station via Resevoir Road and Cropston. After watching some of the engines both diesel and steam while enjoying refreshment, the riders return via Mountsorrel arriving back in Loughborough just after noon.
Long Ride
Alan, Brian, Marcus, Terry, Tricia and myself, (Howard) set off from Outwoods Drive roundabout on the longer ride to Tori and Ben's coffee stop at Melbourne (Derbys.) We cycled through the Uni. and round their Halls to Epinal Way, before following the tarmac path down by the side of Black Brook & under the A6 to join the cycle path by the
side of the A6. To Whatton Rd, and Ashby Rd under the M1 to Belton. Out of Belton, then through the woods to the A42/A453 roundabout. Quickly leaving the A453 we descended into Tonge before climbing up by the side of Breedon Hill and into Wilson before finally arriving at Melbourne. Here Marcus was forgiven for thinking we were stopping at Melbourne Hall for coffee or any of the other coffee stops we passed in Melbourne itself, as I had said we were stopping in Melbourne for coffee. Along the main street we went up Derby Road and the turning right to King's Newton we reached Tori and Ben's on the left. Tori and Ben's is a sort of Farm shop that sells various cuts of meat such as you would find at your local butcher's. That's if there was still such a thing as a local butcher. It does coffee and teas but there is a dearth of cake. Which meant buying biscuits. Though two of our group had 'fresh out of the oven' sausage rolls, which I'm led to believe were very tasty. Returning we picked up the Cloud Trail and followed it all the way to Worthington, up Bull Hill and down Breedon Lane to Osgathorpe, Bypassing Belton it was Garendon Trail all the way back to Loughborough, arriving back quite early for the long ride a total distance of 50k or 30 miles, a tad shorter than usual. Route uploaded, see routes. Plus photo uploaded to Gallery.