A bright sunny day, but a bit windy and very cold. I devised a route that would see me cycling in four counties after work. Not as ambitious as it might sound – the border between Leicestershire and Staffordshire is only about 2km long, with Warwickshire at one end and Derbyshire at the other. None of them are very far from Chez Slim.
So I headed down that way, through Heather, Swepstone and Snarestone, then west to Appleby Magna.
I hadn’t been through Appleby for years – it used to be on my Wales route, though I wouldn’t go that way now. I got slightly lost and ended up taking a different route through and out of the village than I intended, but I was happy I did – it was really beautiful along there in the cold sunshine. Reminded me of going on winter walks with my grandmother when I was (at a guess) six or seven years old.
I exited Leicestershire to enter Warwickshire at No Man’s Heath, at 1607. Six minutes later at 1613, I entered Staffordshire along Main Street. Another nine minutes later I penetrated Derbyshire along Netherseal Road, following a right turn from Clifton Campville at 1622. I connected with my usual Lower Westbound Route thirteen minutes later, and at 1551 I successfully performed re-entry to Leicestershire again, at Acresford.
So: over the 15 minutes between 1607 and 1622, I had cycled in four counties.
I should say that for the purposes of this exercise I was using the modern “ceremonial” county boundaries, not the historic ones. I didn’t actually visit historic Derbyshire at all. All of the Derbyshire territory along this ride is actually in historic Leicestershire. Derbyshire annexed a chunk of Leicestershire a century or two ago, in return for land elsewhere. But I definitely visited both versions of Staffordshire, so that’s another neighbouring country ticked off.
I’d never done the road between Clifton Campville and Netherseal before – it was lovely just before dusk. Very quiet, almost like a secret place. I’ll try to remember to do it again.
I hadn’t been through No Man’s Heath for a few years and I was pleased to see that the road surface was better than I remembered.
I went up through Ashby on the way back to add a couple of miles. Back on 27.61, not as many as I wanted really but it was seriously cold after sunset so I don’t feel too bad. My average distance figure is a bit rubbish so far this year, but on the other hand I’ve done 264 miles which is more than acceptable 16 days in.