The morning dawned, grey but not raining.Tim with his lightweight cooker fixed us hot drinks and Ready Brek, which got us into a fit state to hit the road. Leicestershire country roads rarely disappoint, and we got in a good few miles before finding a cafe for a spot more breakfast. Back on the road, we were soon reaching the outskirts of Northampton, on the main road which was getting a bit hairy. Tim wanted to head in and find a bike shop to replace his stock of inner tubes, whilst Matt & myself preferred a more leisurely route in on NCN6, so Tim sped off and we headed for the trail that takes you along an disused line that is being brought back to life as a steam railway. Where the disused railway joins the live one there was a subway that had turned into one enormous puddle, and then there was a bumpy track for a bit. We got a bit confused coming into Northampton but that was really our fault for not trusting the signs which were fine, and stocked up on sandwiches & juices in the town centre, chatting to a busker who had moved from Sheffield (he played "it's all over now baby blue" one of my favourite Dylan tunes).
Leaving town, again a certain amount of confusion ensued (sustrans routes do often seem to lose direction in town centres) , but once we had got to the river and pointed in the right direction we were fine. By this time the sun had come out & we came across some brave souls practicing river rescues:
...and there was certainly plenty of water in the Nene to go at. We pressed on, got a bit lost in the industrial estate at Hardingstone (first the signs had slipped down the pole and got overgrown, then there was an access barrier that was nor clearly signed - had to rein in Tim a bit who had developed a tendency to power off past junctions where we needed to check the route - apparently he has a tremedous sense of direction ) but soon we were off on the country lanes again. following the blue signs. Tim & I swapped again so I had the pleasure of his lightweight bike for the next few hours.
We called in at Salcey Forest which has a visitor centre, picnic tables & cafe, next to the M1 but still very pleasant, and worth hanging on for if you're doing this ride. It was at this point I thought it best to check whether we had a campsite for the night in the Lea Valley, and the conversation went like this:
"hello, just checking whether you've got room for three cyclists tonight".
"We're totally rammed out mate. Have you booked?"
"Well I did email you a few months back and you said it would be no problem"
"Oh well, I suppose we might be able to fit you into a corner. What time can you get here?"
"About seven?"(I said optimistically)
"Can you get here before that? only we close the shop at 7:30"
"Well it's a bit tricky because we're cycling, but we can always get the train I suppose"
"Alright mate, see you later"
So the time pressure was on. This was also where Tim, aka the Duracell bunny, for some reason decided he should take Matt's panniers instead of mine. Since Mat had been involved in an accident where one of his panners had come off in the path of a cycling companion who ended up in hospital, and we all know how we make adjustments to ensure that our own stuff all workd together wit the bike, he was a bit nervous about all this, & I don't blame him.
Things went well until we reached Castlethorpe where the route took us down a seriously overgrown path, got well nettled, then the next section had recently been flooded and ws covered with gravel - Matt & Tim found my attempts to control Tim's bike on this surface somewhat amusing, Vernon and Matt's converted MTB negotiated the surface with rather less fuss.
(Matt & Tim alongide the Nene)
Matt
Matt & Tim
...past the hairy bits, we were on the riverside heading for Milton Keynes. I have long wanted to visit MK and check out the controversial "redways", so this was my chance. The routes are certainly fine but there didn't seem ot be much utility cycling going on, while there was plenty of traffic on the roads nearby. We made made a slightly wrong route choice by blindly following Route 6, while Route 5 looks to be a better choice on the map - however we did power along an old railway line, stoping briefly to remove a fallen tree (Tim & self putting our Sustrans rangers hats on for a moment) and then followed the route alongside the Grand Union, pleasantly scenic if a little bumpy, and it did bring us out on the right side of MK, at Bow Brickhill, following the redways for the last part of the urban transit. From here we climbed up at 1:8 (what is that in percentages again?) into beech woods on the edge of the Chilterns, aligning ourselves with Woburn.
A fortuitious wrong turn saw us correctly placed for the spin past Woburn, and having got ompletely disoriented when we came out at the wrong place, I handed over the navigation to Tim (after all he already had my bike and I've got it set up so I can read the map as I go along on my own bike - see my comments above). With a strong following wind (We'd had a lot of that, the pay-off for the rough time we'd had on Thursday) we zoomed along towards Luton, aware of the need to get to the campsite in good time. Having discussed the options, it was clear that one of would have to get the train in to London, and Matt volunteered - I suspect he was ready for a break, the pace having been pretty hard over the day. As we approached Luton & crossed the M1, traffic got heavy, & some joker threw water at me from a van - I'm sure he though it was funny, but I didn't. We passed Leagrave station and this looked like a good spot to send Matt off on the train.
to be continued...
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