No rain in the forecast yesterday, and light winds. I wanted to try a route that I’d devised a few days ago, similar to the recent “alternative out east” route except that it crosses the Trent and continues north of the river for a distance, along flat terrain.
Got up early and set off at about 0800. As soon as I closed the garage door, I noticed that it was raining. But at least it was light.
Quite a pleasant route, nice to be doing something different. The actual route I’d plotted on the eTrex continued all the way to Lincoln though I didn’t expect to go all the way. I decided to do about 55 miles, then turn back. Predictably though I took a wrong turn after Newark, and started improvising. Which wouldn’t have been a big problem except that when I rejoined the purple line on the eTrex map, signifying the planned route, I started following it in the wrong direction. I realised what I’d done eventually and turned back.
When I got to the A46 I decided to take a short cut along it. Normally this would be sufficient cause for a coroner to record a verdict of suicide, but yesterday it was pretty quiet. Certainly made a change to be rolling along what’s virtually a motorway instead of the leafy lanes and B roads that I’m accustomed to, but at least it was well surfaced.
I continued on the A46 past Newark, just to avoid going into the city again. I rejoined the intended route after about 4 miles of A46.
Conditions improved in the afternoon. The temperature improved considerably, though never quite enough to prompt me to remove a layer. And the rain stopped.
I took another wrong turn near a place called Gunthorpe, just after crossing the river again to the east of Nottingham. This was quite unfortunate as I ended up pedalling along a gravelly footpath for a mile or so, which wasn’t particularly enjoyable. I rejoined the original route (again) at Radcliffe on Trent, following a brief run along the A52.
My poor old knees were a bit hurty after 80 miles or so but nothing dramatic. They feel OK today. I’m pretty encouraged actually.
Once again I pursued a no-shops strategy, and took lunch and other refuelling snacks in a backpack.
Despite the rain in the morning – quite a nice adventure, really. Home on 116.20 miles, which takes me to 2004 this year, 153 this month.