A year or two ago I had the idea of doing a bike ride that would take in every village in North-West Leicestershire with a name ending in “stone”. I think I did plan a route back then, but I never got round to it.
Last night I planned a new one anyway – it came to about 36 miles, perfect for this evening because I wanted to be back by about 7pm to stand a decent chance of not getting rained on.
So I set off at about 3:30pm and pedalled through Thringstone, Swepstone, Snarestone, Bilstone, Congerstone, Shackerstone, Odstone, Nailstone, Barlestone and finally Ravenstone.
Mostly roads I’ve already done before many times on previous rides but there were a couple of parts I hadn’t done – Church Hill near Thringstone and the road through Barlestone.
I had to keep referring to the GPX app on my phone on the handlebars so it wasn’t the most relaxing ride but anyway, glad to have done it.
I was threatened by some very dark clouds and was convinced I was going to get rained on at some point, but I wasn’t.
Back on 37.35 miles (and actually I could have done it in fewer but I took the long way through Ibstock on the way back). And that’s 500 this month.
I could possibly extend the ride to take in Aylestone and Whetstone one day, but those are a fair way to the east and would add about 25 miles I suspect.