Section History for 2005.
We started the new year with Brenda, our clubman (woman) of the year, leading a well-attended run on a very cold day. I recall doing a lot of running rather than cycling trying to keep my feet warm.
The Section’s Annual Dinner and Prize Presentation was held the following Thursday partially replacing the Charnwood Social that had to be abandoned due to lack of interest. Unfortunately the enthusiasm for putting the event on at this venue has waned a little and may need a rethink for next year. The Bubble at Stenson was tried for the first time for elevenses with Martin at the helm. It was discovered that the venue lacked indoor seating for that time of the year. Eating a bacon butty with coffee on a park bench outside in January is not quite the thing although the view over the canal locks is very acceptable. I took over the run from Lyn, who was detained at university, for the Avecote Water Park run. Entering from the Amington end the trail through the park, now called the Pooley Wood Trail, has been improved and instead of coming out in an industrial estate continues along the canal towpath into the centre of Polesworth. Very pleasant.
The winter madness ride did not quite follow the plan due to an earlier stop for elevenses to revitalise the energy cells and meant the run had to be shortened somewhat. Instead of climbing up the High Peak Trail to Brassington we climbed over Cross o’th hands to Hollington. If anything the views were better than those from the trail and I personally enjoyed the run on a beautiful day. Alan had a bit of a set back on his run, when we found that Thornton GS was closed for our elevenses stop. Hope this is only temporary as a D.A. event is organised from here later in the year. We were really ready for an early pint in Markfield after a tour round Thornton Reservoir.
As for the Section’s future, varying abilities of members has made it necessary to reform two groups on Sunday rides, the ‘Generals’ & ‘Easyriders’. These have been introduces gradually through the year to make sure that the division is successful. Generals rides include a number of reliability/Audax rides and easyriders include a few camping weekends. Family group rides are also included and may offer easyriders an alternative on some Sundays. John Dickinson gave a very interesting slide show on the silk roads across Asia with some super slides …. thanks John. I have been so involved in organising and holidaying recently I have almost forgotten those cold Sundays prior to Easter. I seem to remember a couple of us braving shorts on a couple of Sundays but it was not till Easter did the weather really pick up. Nice to see so many on the Dave Sulley rides on a reasonable day though a little windy. Rode most of it on my own but managed to catch up the rest of the Charnwood gang as they came tumbling out of a pub at Smeeton Westerby/
What a super Easter we had. Good weather for us to ride in this fantastic scenery around Rhayader. Lots of thanks and no complaints so I assume everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Several separate rides were organised mainly based around the Elan Valley and a joint ride of sorts on the Monday to visit the cycle museum at Llandrindod Wells and the kite feeding station south of Rhayader. Will have to get my thinking cap on to find somewhere as good next year.
Thanks to Jim and in particular Keith and Jean for organising the ‘meander and freewheel’ Sunday, once again very well attended. The following week the section successfully split into two groups meeting for lunch at Shirley and riding back together for tea at Don Amots in Hilton. The following week we split into three groups but I understand the audax was not well supported by our section.
Along with Roland, Martin and Fred, my mate Hugh and I jetted off to Spain for a couple of weeks. I think I have mentioned elsewhere in the Chat about Easyjet, written before I went. Just to add to that the bikes went free of charge both ways this time but one must pack them completely in a poly bag. Flying to Alicante from East Mids we set off southwest with blue skies every day for the first week and most of the second week. The towns and villages built on any available hill or rocky outcrop are really beautifully, most of them having one or more Spanished styled churches and a castle at the top of the hill. The original streets are narrow and the houses tightly packed making them most attractive. So narrow are the streets that most towns have a sort of bypass around the old part of the town. We then explored Cazoria and the Segura valley, unfortunately on a Sunday that made the roads a little busy, though did not take away the charm of the area. We then moved on to a more remote area north of Yeste. Totally unspoilt scenery except for the reservoirs that only added to the beauty of the countryside. The final part of the holiday was in the mountains inland from Benidorm that probably had the most attractive towns of all if one tried to compare them, and super views from the high roads over the mountains. At one point we could see the high rise concrete jungle of Benidorm some 10 or so miles away, way down on the coast. With all those holidaymakers down there the surprising thing was there was not a tourist in sight up above, a mere 10 miles away. If only they knew what they were missing.
Unfortunately while we were away we missed the Section’s 54th Anniversary tea this year held in my local, ‘The Cross Keys’ at Newbold. I hear it was most successful with the landlord effectively giving us the pub and its facilities for the whole afternoon. We also missed Andy’s run to the Hambury tramways and the CTC 127 that I understand attracted a reasonable turnout.
15th May was another split run that met at Church End Brewery at Ridge Lane. Lyn lead the ‘generals’ through Clifton and Harlestone to Tamworth for 11’s while Brenda led the ‘easyriders’ an interesting route through Bilstone, Twycross and Orton to the garden centre at Newton Regis for 11’s. Both groups continued to meet at Ridge Lane for lunch. The ‘generals’ being a little quicker had a pint start on the ‘easyriders’. A good selection of bitters were available with a 6% ABV one that was absolutely morresh, some of us as a result found balancing on a bike a little difficult for the first couple of miles after lunch.
The Meridan weekend for a change was held on a sunny warm weekend. Three units from our section were on the campsite over the weekend. A funny but strange French comedy film was shown in the village hall in the evening. Three members from our section rode down on the Sunday morning to join us for the service and afterwards along with my mate Hugh cycled to Church End for lunch.
The last Sunday in May I was at the helm taking the easyriders along the now finished extension to the Derby – Hilton trail between Hilton and Etwall. It is a pity that this trail does not continue further into Derby along what use to be the London and North Western line to Friar Gate but unfortunately estate developments have devoured much of the track through Mickleover.
Lyn organised the Heart of the Midlands Audax this year and she had certainly attracted a large number of riders although I only noticed two from our section at the first checkpoint. Lyn has expressed her thanks to the rest of our members who were helping with the event.
Once again I missed national bike week by jetting off to the Northern part of the French Alps for a couple of weeks and cannot comment on the various events that took place during that week. The scenery in the Northern French Alps is something special and the size of the passes really made me begin to show my age. Alp d’Huez was found to be a tiddler of a hill compared to Col d’Iseran and the Galibier. On the summits of these passes snow still lay in large drifts and the temperature was cold in spite of being sunny. A selection of the photos taken can be seen under ‘my pictures’ on the Charnwood website. How those Tour du France riders climbed the Col de la Madelaine, Telegraphe and Galibier all in one day still amazes me. It took us three day to get over these passes. By the way Easyjet once again did not charge us from our bikes and £55 is a deal that cannot be missed for a return flight to Geneva.
Pearl’s run to Hanch Hall in July took us along the narrow road between Hanch and Kings Bromley with a super tree on the junction recorded on camera for the competition. My run the following week picked up the Sustrans trail at Mira and followed it through to the old Abbey Street station in Nuneaton. The trail was a little overgrown and lacked signs at the Abbey Street end but we eventually emerged on the road to Atherstone only to be greeted by pouring rain for the rest of the day.
The CTC Birthday Rides was organised by the ‘Welsh Festival of Cycling’ and held at Bala Rugby Club, Bala, Gwynedd. Although only a long weekend rather than a full week it was well organised and catered particularly well for cycling families with young children. Howard, Betty, Pearl and myself in our motor homes and Marcus with his tent were the only members from our section and D.A. although there were a number of members from the Nuneaton Section. The organised Sunday ride was very well supported cycling along the side of Bala Lake, up the easy side?? of Bwlch-y-Groes and down to the visitors centre at Lake Vyrnwy for lunch. The afternoon ride crossed the dam and up the north side of the lake to climb back to Bala over the Hirnant Pass.
The second week in August I tried to pick up the railway line that use to run from Baxterley colliery through to Kingsbury at Baddesley Ensor. Access onto the line proved difficult up an embankment and the line is becoming overgrown so as an alternative a tiny ‘unsuitable for motor vehicles’ was taken through to Wood End.This route is tarmac all the way through although a stream has eroded the road at a ford.
All six pitches booked were taken at the Mildenhall Rally with 11 members enjoying this well organized event on the August bank holiday weekend. Most of us cycled up to Prickwillow pumping station on the Saturday. The pumping station has a very interesting history dating back to 1634. The fenlands surrounding the area are some 20 feet lower than the rivers Ouse & Lark so some form of pumping is required to drain the land. Prickwillow is the site of one of the early pumping station where windmills driving scoop wheels were used up to 1820 with limited success after which a variety of different steam engines were used up until 1929. Unfortunately all traces of the windmills and steam engines have been lost but the magnificent Mirrlees, Bickerton and Day Diesel, which was used until the 1970's has been preserved and forms the centerpiece of the museum.
Fascinated by the drainage system of the area after the rally we followed the Ouse down to Denver Sluice. At this point channels from all over the Southern Fens meet, including the pumped water from Prickwillow and many other pumping stations, and water from them is released into the sea at low tide. Various forms of sluices have been situated here since the mid 1600’s and proved to be very interesting with a well situated but busy pub for a meal. Close by, towards Downham Market, we found a working windmill and a very nice campsite for the night.
The ‘Historic Church Rides’ attracted little interest from members but Pearl and myself visited 18 churches in pouring rain on the Saturday. A number of very interesting ones were found and pictures of a selection of those visited is displayed on our website. Note the one at Sysonby on the Asfordby side of Melton GR SK 738 189 that is well worth a visit. On the Sunday we visited the Rutland Railway museum between Ashwell and Cottesmore, full of rusting steam engines desperately requiring renovation and a useful café for a coffee stop. We also explored the remains of a canal that appears to have run between Oakham and Melton but can find little about the history of this waterway.
The Severn Bore camping weekend attracted 3 motor homes to a very well kept site at Bulley west of Gloucester. The Severn Bore is really worth seeing. The river slowly flowing at half a mile per hour along with various bits of rubbish towards the sea is suddenly transformed by a four-foot wave into a 10 mile per hour torrent flowing inland. The best place to see the bore we found was on Telford’s Bridge in Gloucester. The bridge itself has been bypassed and goes nowhere so is an ideal place to wait for the bore. Pictures taken from the bridge of the bore are on our website. The docks at Gloucester and Bristol that have been redeveloped for tourism and very attractive were also visited during the long weekend.
The Challenge rides followed with most of the easyriders choosing to ride round the local area having a break for lunch at Ravenstone. The section AGM retained the previous committee almost unchanged so the section will continue to run as it has over the last few years. Runs during early October fell short of there original destinations and other activities of easyriders left Mary, Alex and ourselves taking a camping weekend in mid October over at Hallaton. An interesting cycle path was discovered from Welham into Market Harborough.
Although some of our regular riders gave the DA AGM a miss our section was well represented at the meeting. Some of the topics discussed were useful for club cycling in the county although AOB dragged on as usual. Personally I prefer AGM’s to be on a weekday evening but it was not so bad this year as it turned out to be the filthiest Sunday we had before Christmas. Even my wife and I turned up in a cars as did most others there.
The following week I led a run to explore a dead end road beyond Kings Bromley called Saddlesall to get some photos of the lakes I seem to remember from the dim and distant past, only to find that a number of very smart houses had been built between the very attractive thatched cottages and access to the lakes was restricted. The quiet farm road from the south of Yoxall round to Woodhouses was used to make our way back to Barton Turns to meet the less enthusiastic who had taken a shorter route from the Beehive.
Flooded cycle paths around Lockington gave Betty a bit of a headache on the next Sunday and after a few detours ended up at Aston to meet yet another new landlord.
The last week in November I recall as being extremely cold making the stops at Market Bosworth Water Park and The Hatters at Warton, that were both warm and cozy, very welcome. Large mugs of coffee at The Hatters as well took the chill from our bones.
Pauline had a first attempt at leading a run the following week that reminds me I must sign her up as an official runs leader. The run split into two rides with a number choosing to go to the Beehive rather than the Arboretum only to be disappointed to find that for once Mrs Chapman was closed. However we all met up at Cauldwell along with Loughborough A section, who must learn the current spelling of the village even though the name may have originated from theirs. By the way it is pronounced locally as ‘cod-dull’ so it is a little confusing. (see Martin’s photo about Alex and under age drinking on our website under ‘my pictures’).
What a super day weather-wise for the Carol Service and I am sure our thanks must go to Jean and Keith for a well-organized event. My good old racing mate from the 60’s, now the Rev. John and my local vicar, gave an appropriate sermon in spite of it being a little out of sinc. with an over-enthusiastic organ player.
The weather looked equally promising when we set out for the annual Mince Pie and Christmas card swapping run, excuse the pun but I find the Christmas card thing rather amusing. A very appropriately timed event when cyclists can meet up and chat about times gone past and wish each other seasonal greetings. Food is getting a little expensive though, but possibly overhead costs are rising.
In spite of moving the hot grub run to a Wednesday because of the way Christmas and New Year fell together with icy roads, the section had a reasonable turnout. We managed to find ice-free roads for most of our ride between 11’s and lunch except for one small section that I really expected to be clear. However careful riding by all avoided any falling off and on our return enjoyed a good meal at The Queens Head Heather. We returned there the following Thursday for our annual diner and prize presentation. Although a much smaller affair than the Charnwood Social’s used to be, everyone seemed to enjoy the night out.