All that lovely weather over Easter, and Muggins was stuck at home doing the decorating and sorting out the garden. Then came the flatpack furniture. Couldn't wait to get back out on the bike, so I planned to slap it together as fast as humanly possible, then do a quick change into my cycling clobber and hit the road pronto. Now meet Archie..... He had other ideas, and got in the way so much I never got my ride in that day, and had to wait a further 2 days for my next fix..
Eventually got out again this morning on my restored Saracen Skyline ... my "explorer" bike. Thought I'd just go exploring at a gentle pace. No, not the upper reaches of the Nile or anything like that. Thought I'd start with Stonehouse. (Gotta start somewhere).Instead of just bombing through like usual, I took every sideroad I wasn't familiar with, and every turn where I'd always pondered "I wonder where that goes?" . Turns out it really isn't the most exciting place to explore, but I did get to climb a decent hill up to a care home outside town when I turned left just because i liked the name "Horsemarling Lane". The view from the top of Moreton Hill was surprisingly industrial though.
Twisted and turned my way through Stonehouse and Stroud, and eventually came across some nice old locks on the Stroudwater Canal.
... where I saw my first ducklings of the year.
Loosely followed the course of the Stroudwater Canal back to saul Junction, where it joins the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.
I like Saul Junction. It is not only a canal crossroads, but also a residential marina, the site of a favourite local cyclists' cafe and a working boatyard. There are always boats coming and going, requiring the swing bridges to open and close regularly.
The stretch down to Framilode, where the Stroudwater canal is still silted up and full of reeds doesn't look like it will ever be restored. A lot of the money that has gone into restoring the other end of the canal is apparently not as altruistic as it seems. I have heard it said that the main reason for the restoration is that "London needs the water", and it is a way of tapping into the Severn via the canal system.
After Framilode, I headed back home along the dyke wall near Epney. The flood bank is the highest land around, and seems to attract the type of creatures with a "King of the Castle" mindset.
A nice leisurley 27.8 miles on my number 2 bike in glorious sunshine today. Good to be back on the road... and nice to just go exploring for a change. Back to the tougher stuff at the weekend, as I've arranged to go on a local 100km event towards my Metric Century a Month Challenge.
Cheers, Donger.
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. So I followed the road round the end of E.Mids Airport to the lovely downhill into Castle Donnington, where I took to the back streets again to pick up an old [muddy] lane which ended at Shardlow. From there it was a short run along the Trent and Mersey Canal to the new Long Horse Bridge across the Trent, which I followed all the way back towards Nottingham.
