Castle Gresley

Seemed a bit cold out there, but I wrapped up warm and took the Boardman out, hoping to do 40 or 50. On call again alas, so once again I applied my usual strategy of doing an elongated route, with home roughly in the centre. I planned to go south first, then up north, possibly over Swarkestone Bridge and over Derby way, then back home.

I planned to go down through Ibstock, Ellistown, Bagworth – but I absent-mindedly missed by turn at Ibstock. Rather than turn back in Ibstock I decided I’d busk it and find my way to Ellistown without backtracking. But I got lost and ended up back on the A447, so I went that way instead. No matter.

I went down as far as Kirkby Mallory then turned across for Sutton Cheney, with the intention of coming back up along the Twycross route the “wrong way”. Pretty much like I did a week ago, except that I went the right way at the junction with the A447 this time and didn’t take a detour to Stapleton.

Started to feel very cold suddenly though, cycling west along Fenn Lanes – probably because I was cycling into a headwind. Definitely the coldest I’d felt on a bike for months, and at this point I started to harbour thoughts of heading straight home and having a cosy Saturday afternoon in. However once I turned north for Twycross I seemed to warm up slightly and the Sun even came out briefly – so I decided to press on. I realised that the road I was on would take me to Measham in a few miles, so I decided that I’d head west from there for a bit, rather than going up all the way up over Swarkestone Bridge. I thought I’d go to Coton in the Elms and back.

However a few miles from Coton I saw a signpost to Lullington, so – since I was only going to go a few more miles before turning back – I thought I’d go there instead. I did. The last half mile or so to Lullington was obscenely muddy though, so I decided to try to come back a slightly different way to avoid it. I followed a sign to Coton, intending to return the usual way from there – but came unstuck at a junction when I took a wrong turn. This took me to unfamiliar territory – Linton, High Cross Bank and a village called Castle Gresley. At this point I thought I’d better consult Google Maps, which suggested that my best bet was to come straight down the A444, turn off for Moira then come home through Ashby. So I did that.

Really a thoroughly enjoyable run out, with the challenge of attempting to navigate home from unfamiliar surroundings giving it a nice, adventurous twist.

Near Kirkby Mallory I saw two crows (I assume – largish corvids anyway) pestering a buzzard, which was sitting on a post. The buzzard didn’t seem that bothered but the crows were swooping around it and dive bombing it. I assumed they were trying to get it to go away and I’ve just googled this behaviour – “mobbing”, apparently.

https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/ask-an-expert/previous/mobbing.aspx

No rain and the roads were mostly dry. But a lot of the fields still look waterlogged, with big shallow ponds that wouldn’t normally be there.

Anyway – I did 51.98 miles which takes me to 82 this month.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2981867250

One day in early January 2015 a friend called Rob (aka ‘Moving Target’) started a thread on the old (now sadly defunct) Counterparts message board for Rush fans, suggesting a sort of Counterparts “cycling club”. I think I said I’d aim to do 500 miles in 2015.

I only had the hybrid at that time and although I’d used it for the odd 7 or 8 mile run out in previous years, I hadn’t used it for over a year – possibly two. I went for my first cycle ride of 2015 on January 7th, took a wrong turn onto a farm and got bitten by a dog. But I wasn’t deterred. I found the practice of recording my distances on a spreadsheet and sharing my experiences with like-minded people quite motivating. I bought a proper road bike and ended up doing 2702 miles that year and 5775 the next, increasing my distances gradually.

And since I set off on that cold day in January 2015, I’ve now cycled a total of 20,001 miles. Here’s to the next 20,000.

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