Nice day. Sunny, mild, very low probability of rain. Light to moderate wind from the west. Seemed an ideal day for another Fondo. I didn’t really fancy one of the westbound routes so I thought I’d go down Fosse Way – essentially the southbound route as far as Stoney Stanton, with a different turn from the crossroads there, down the aforementioned Roman road. This was a route that I discovered a couple of years ago but I’ve only done it two or three times, and not since the summer of 2020. It does have a very pleasing long, quiet but well-surfaced stretch with gently undulating hills.
I noticed that my Xoss bike computer wasn’t working, shortly after setting off. I’d only done a couple of hundred metres. I couldn’t get it to work. I think the GPS circuit is dead. Usually it picks up the satellites very quickly but today, nothing. So I tracked back to the house and got one of the Garmin ones.
The trouble with my two Garmin bike computers is that they both give up the ghost after 50 miles or so. I think their internal batteries are past their best. I do have a number of GPS watches capable of tracking much longer rides but I like the convenience of having the display on the handlebar.
Anyway – very nice to go down Fosse Way again. I followed it as far as Brinklow, where I found the Lost Deli. The what? Well – I’ve long held a fond memory of stopping at a superb Deli with a bench outside on a ride, but I’ve never been able to remember where it was. Happy to see it again today, though I didn’t stop there on this ride. I went in the Co-op at Stoney instead. As I was about to pay for a sandwich, a small bottle of juice and two egg custards, the lady behind the counter told me that if I went and got a Crunchie as well, I’d get the lot for 75p cheaper than I was about to pay. So I did. Handy.
From Brinklow I went exploring a bit – I only had a couple more miles to do for the requisite half Fondo distance and I went and found a village called Easenhall. Nice to do a bit of new territory.
Turned back, unsure whether I’d remember all the turns and I wasn’t using a GPX app or the eTrex. But I did as far as High Cross, where I took a wrong turn. But I realised I’d done this a mile or two later and got back on track with the aid of Google Maps.
I saved the Crunchie for the last 15 miles.
Sadly, I lost my woolly hat. I’m not sure how exactly. Must have left it outside the shop at Stoney when I went in. It was the red one, with an England flag on. Not really my sort of thing, I bought it in Hartlepool as a stopgap because it was cheap and I didn’t have one with me. But I was wearing a tubular neck scarf so I pulled that up over my head in Hijab mode and that worked nicely. I must have looked like an old woman with a headscarf on.
Oh well! Back on 65.08 miles. I haven’t done two January Fondos before. 307 done this month, which I think is a January record.
Had to record the last 15 miles on my watch and concatenate the tracks, the bike computer conked out after 51 miles.