RANDONNEE
Mark climbs up onto the Lincolnshire wolds
The town toilets, right opposite the Co-op, were locked so it was a quick visit to the bushes 3 km later, (too much information?). Apart from a short section of relatively quiet main road there was virtually no traffic all the way home. As the route skirted Lincoln we called in to see my brother in Saxilby and his wife quickly produced a welcome cup of tea. Still very little wind and arrivée at 18:45.
300k
After riding to the Pyrenees with my wife, and riding up the Col de Toumalet, 300 k ought not to present to many problems. The weather forecast for Saturday was about the worst of the whole summer and I was tempted to try and persuade Mark to move our ride back a week. In practice it didn’t turn out anywhere near as bad as expected. Mark arrived in good time on the Friday evening, (he’s never, ever late!) and was soon ‘Carbo’ loading. I didn’t sleep much, if there’s one thing I dislike nearly as much as riding in the dark it’s riding in a wind. Because of the adverse forecast we moved our start time forward on the basis that it would be better to ride in the gloom of beckoning daylight rather than late into the night. We set off just after 05:00 and although
Arrivée and SR Series complete
50
Arrivée Autumn 2016 No. 134
Past Fenny Spring Mill into Charnwood Forest
lights were necessary it was reasonably bright from the off. Heading out towards Ashby de la Zouch was probably the hardest section, with little shelter from a stiff head wind: it was soon raining heavily and it barely stopped until lunch. After skirting south of Ashby riding became far more manageable as virtually all the way to our most westerly point at Wem there were narrow lanes, mostly well sheltered with high hedges. Thank goodness for mandatory routes that make picking out all these lanes possible. Through Rosliston, far too early for either café to be open, and then after Barton Under Needwood a new section to the edge of Cannock Chase was followed by an absolutely gem of a route into Penkridge. We dripped all over the café floor as breakfast number two arrived. From here to Wem progress was often slowed by the state of the roads, poor surfaces, deep puddles and many places where care was needed as wet sand and soil produced a thick and slimy layer. In Wem the café I had researched on Google Maps failed to materialise. Fortunately we came across a transport café on an industrial estate 3km later. Now at least the wind, approaching gale force at times, was on our side, or half behind,
through Hodnet, Eccleshall, Stone and into Uttoxeter. Unfortunately we arrived at the garden centre just before Uttoxeter as the café was closing; at least Tesco provided an alternative, although we were somewhat apprehensive as there was a large group of bored teenagers next to where our bikes were locked. Apart from a narrow and busy 3 km into Repton (Probably the worst bit of the whole SR.) the journey back to my house was easy and uneventful. Arrivée and SR series completed at 20:15 with just 20 minutes of daylight left.
Thanks to Chris Smith for his advice and approving our routes and validating our tracklogs. Even though we carried two spare GPX devices we had no problems with the equipment. Planning the routes and validating our rides proved very easy.
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Care needed on the way to Wem
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