That's why they call it Riverdale Rd

Flooding on Riverdale Rd this evening.

More on cycling in Wales

My last post got a response from Barry, of Sheffield CTC. He says:

Hi Simon,

I enjoyed reading your article on the Cycle Sheffield website of your trip on the North Wales cycle route, one which I have ridden on several occasions. As you probably know, we have held a few hostel weekends in North Wales and have ridden along the coastal path from Prestatyn to Llandudno and Conwy a few times. 

On two occasions we rode to Llandudno from our hostel near Mold down NCN 5 and then circumnavigated the Great Orme on the Marine Drive. Without doubt this is the most spectacular stretch of road I have ever ridden in the UK, the views out to sea are amazing and thanks to the toll, attracts very little motor traffic (free to bikes of course) There is a cafe at the half way point called 'Rest and be Thankful' on a nice day you can drink your tea or coffee and enjoy the views over Puffin Island, Anglesey, the Menai Straits and Penmaenmawr. The Marine Drive finishes at the West Shore where you can continue down the trail to Deganwy and Conwy, a sheer delight. 

Roy Spilsbury is a bit of a local hero, as you rightly said he campaigned for years to get the promenade at Llandudno open to cyclists and his perseverance finally paid off. I have seen the result of his endeavors earlier this year when  stayed at Craig Y Don with my family  and I am pleased to see that the facility is well used by local cyclists who use the promenade in a sensible manner. 

Roy had done a lot of work collating information on winged wheels, I informed him of the winged wheel on the side of the Scarborough Arms in Tickhill and he was thrilled as he had no record of it. You can imagine his delight when we decided to clean up the stone next to the CTC Centenary tree at Blackamoor and add a winged wheel logo made of Sheffield stainless steel. 

The picture at the top is of some of the SD CTC group on the 2013 hostel weekend to Llangollen. The winged wheel is at Corwen about 10 miles west up the A5, the lady in the shop next door says she can remember Roy coming with another couple of people and taking down the rusty old sign, only to replace it a few weeks later in the pristine condition you can see in the photo.  

Finally, I agree totally with your comments about Bochum Parkway, the speed limit on the road is 40 mph which for a dual carriageway seems low, but traffic regularly speeds up to 60 and 70 mph. Raise the speed limit to 50 mph and they will speed up to 70 and 80 mph. With the width of the carriageways and the verges, there is ample room to provide a segregated footpath and cycleway on BOTH sides of the road. When I emailed my local Lib Dem councilor suggesting this, he advised that I should use a route via Norton Lane to the Water Tower and then onto Lightfoot roundabout and rejoin Bochum Parkway! I replied to him stating that Norton Lane is suburban country lane and carries vast amounts of traffic on a narrow road. I also said that I felt his response was patronising, working for Royal Mail for 34 years I've forgot more than he knew about Sheffield and it's roads and if this route was safer I would already be using it. 

What chance eh?

Keep up the good work

CTC Sheffield on a club ride in Wales

Goodbye Blackberry Way - Cycling the North Wales Coast Route

You can see bits of this route winding along the North Wales Coast if you take the train to Holyhead  and my son did it with his pals a few years back so I've wanted to give it a go for quite a while. As good luck would have me and the missus chose a great weekend to do it with fine weather and a (mostly) westerly wind pushing it along.

We got our bikes to Holyhead by  train with one change at Manchester and although choosing to travel at rush hour on a Friday on the weekend the students are all migrating perhaps wasn't the best choice we got the bikes on and found our booked seats without too much trouble. The Arriva Trains Wales train at Manchester wasn't very well signposted for the bike spaces though. It's long trip which gave us the opportunity to have a picnic and finish off a bottle of wine which livened things up a little.

Holyhead is a town which has seen better times - I suppose the decline of ferry traffic to Ireland is to blame although there are still regular ferries (SailRail is a great way to get to Dublin) but most of the traffic heads off on the North Wales Coast Expressway (of which more later) and bypasses  the town. To connect the town to the station and attract more rail passengers into the town an amazing "iconic" bridge across the harbour has been built, and we used this to get to the excellent value Travelodge. Other than a few drunken people shouting at each other there wasn't much going on although we noticed that the "no vehicles" rule on the high street was mostly observed in the breach. The station is busy with Virgin  and ATW running trains and we admired the Welsh Government train which runs a daily service to Cardiff with coaches and a proper loco. Breakfast in a nearby cafe was interesting as it seemed to double as the local "Care in the Community"centre.

There are two signed bike routes across Anglesey - we chose 8 which is more southerly. That took us across the Telford causeway aad through the lanes, past Anglesey airfield which is mostly military I think (we were buzzed by a chopper and checked out by the military police) and across the island, past hedgerows that were brimming with the most delicious blackberries I've ever eaten .

And the odd stone circle

Then it turns north along a ridge with views of the Menai Straits before dropping down to Menai Bridge  - here the bike routes were not so good, poor quality shared use and the local cyclists seemed to be sticking to the road, unsurprisingly.

The crossing at Menai Bridge proved to be a bit of a problem - the missus suffers from vertigo and couldn't get over the spectacular suspension bridge. Attempts to flag down a bus failed so eventually she hitched a lift while I walked the bikes over.

Pic: Wikipedia. No snow when we passed!

We abandoned the official route, which takes you uphill to a quieter road - and headed along towards Port Penrhyn where a neat contraflow arrangement took us down through a salubrious area of town overlooking the bridge. A pint of Blonde refreshed us and we were ready for the next section along the pretty Cegin Valley and past Penrhyn castle (with an interesting little passageway where you emerge from a hole in the Estate wall) before running parallel to the Expressway for a while.

Then comes one of the most amazing parts of the trip. Between Llanfairfechan (where we saw traces of the handiwork of Roy Spilsbury of CTC Cymru who has mounted a campaign against inappropriately placed bollards having fallen victim to one himself and following a shocking case where a cyclist died after running into a chain stretched across a cycle route) and Penmaenmawr there is a stunning piece of infrastructure to get you across the two road tunnels  - we thought we must be in Norway for a moment.

Pic: Cycling in North Wales

Then it's a pretty clear run into Conway with it's stunning castle. At the next bridge we left the route, preferring for speed to take the main road into Llandudno. We stayed in the Winchmore hotel which was fine, although I think we were the youngest guests in the place, and ate well in the New York Diner. We did have a sea view room so we could watch people enjoying the prom, both walking and cycling.

In the morning we had the privilege of cycling along the prom ourselves recently legitimised through the efforts of Roy and CTC Cymru, and what a civilised way to leave town, Then a stiff climb along a narrow path and a downhill swoop brought us out by a co-op, handy for picking up lunch provisions. The off-road cycle path along the road brought us back to the shore and we continued along Colwyn Bay, some bits were worn out and bumpy but mostly OK and improvements seemed to be under way. This is Static Caravan Site central - not my sort of holiday but each to their own I suppose. Us metrosexuals need our coffee though and we didn't find a decent cappuccino until we came to the excellent Cycle Hub at Rhyl.

Beyond Prestatyn the route turns inland and it becomes more like the sort of cycling you expect in Wales - shortish steep climbs and dipping in and out of valleys. A few more blackberries refreshed us as we ascended to a ridge that took us behind Holywell  with views clear over to Liverpool - we could see the protestant cathedral quite clearly.   A steep track took us back down again - not the sort of exhilarating descent one might have wished for, but very pleasant none the less - and with a sting in the tail, a shortish steep climb up before the final descent to the Dee estuary. With the scenery becoming more urban we stopped at Flint Castle to enjoy the view, then had an unpleasant section along a busy road with no apparent alternative. Connah's Quay offered us a detour via Golftyn, visiting a well-tended urban park before a crafty dip under the railway and onto the railway bridge across the Dee - this was negotiated by me pushing the bikes and the missus walking across, keeping eyes dead ahead!

The last part of the ride is along a disused railway line into Chester and as we passed from Wales back into England the surface quality dropped noticeably - perhaps the Welsh Active Travel Bill is starting to bite. It was still tarmac though, not the dust surfaces that can really slow you down - every kind of person was using it, from dog walkers, families, high-speed roadies (but they slowed down for others) and of course laden tourists like ourselves. As we passed over the Shropshire Union Canal and having arrived with a couple of hours to spare we thought that might be a pleasant detour, so we took it and shortly came to Telford's Warehouse. Thomas Telford is a figure who had been following us all the way, from the Stanley Embankment that took us from Holy Island onto Anglesey itself his work on the A5 (and the modern road builders who had superseded him) and of course the Menai Bridge itself that had proved a bit of a problem so it seemed an appropriate place to stop  - is this the brst pub in Chester? Certainly a fascinating building with great beer and food and what looked like a fab music programme. We lingered slightly longer than we meant to and had a bit of a rush to the station, but got on our train no problem, and with a stopover in Manchester soon found ourselves back in Sheffield.

Verdict:This is a ride well worth doing and if you have a couple of spare days why not cycle all the way back to Sheffield? Cheshire has some great bike routes.  Go in Autumn and enjoy the blackberries!

(Simon and Patrice travelled with Trans Pennine Express and Arriva Trains Wales, booking with their bikes online at the East Coast Trains website. Accommodation and travel cost with a "Two Together" railcard £212.90)

Broomhall

So I was reading this blog post which got me thinking...

And wandering along through Broomhall I noticed this...

...at the bottom of Collegiate crescent and I thought does that signpost have to be in the cycle path? Couldn't there be one sign, on the kerb line with the no entry and the cycle symbol on? Sooner or later someone's going to run into that signpost. (It's a contraflow allowing cyclists to access Brunswick St. )

On the plus side the ramps on Holberry Gardens have finally been done (at the expense of a massive one parking space) allowing better permeability through the area but do we really need all these bollards? Again, it's an collision waiting to happen.

The things I do for you lot

So while you lot were no doubt at home watching telly I popped down to Sainsburys Archer Road to do the shopping and went for a ride. The council had asked me to tale a look at some of the new work that has been done by Streets Ahead so I took the opporunity.

Leaving Sainsburys at about 9, headed up past Hutcliffe Wood to Greenhill and Bocking Lane negotiating all the pinch points with impatient motorists, up to Meadowhead where I had been asked to check out the new cycle lanes down to Bowshaw and back. These are OK on the way down except that the kerb line where you go on to the pavement to avoid going round the roundabout are not level. As you are likely to be coming at them at a fair speed and an oblique angle there is a risk of coming off. Noted the fair going on but decided not to visit and headed back up. 

There is no cycle lane for the first 100 metres or so and this is where you feel the most exposed - people are coming off the Dronfield bypass at 70 and starting to decelerate as they realise they are back in the urban zone, it's not where you want to be as a cyclist. There is a footpath that could be converted to shared use, this should be a priority. Pedestrian numbers are low here. 

Once you get on the cycle lane it feels safer although you are a bit exposed as the Low Edges turning comes in. When you get to the toucan crossing again the kerb line needs to be lowered to reduce the risk of slipping.

I went over to the shared use route to Norton College and then to the service road along Norton Lane  - I could use this as far as Mossbrook and then it was onto  the Bochum Parkway where no mercy is given to cyclists.. whatever happened to the plan for a cycle route along here? I guess it went the same way as the plan to raise the speed limit, and the same way as the Head of Transport Planning who supported that. 

I didn't see anything in the way of a cycle lane again until I got beyond Manor Top. Here there was a short section of 1.5 metre advisory, and directly after that I came across a shovel in the road, which luckily I missed (see picture attached). This appeared to have been left behind by the workmen in the area & I hope they will be disciplined. 

Beyond the Parkway roundabout and on to Greenland Rd. Nothing has been done here apart from the junction with Main Rd. Further down there was some advisory 1.5. I bumped back into town via Attercliffe Common and up the Sheaf Valley route. What a pity to see the Matilda pub standing derelict, with the Matilda building itself all done up but apparently empty. Maybe the hippies who took the Matilda should have occupied the pub. 

The only other item to note was a car blocking the cvcle gate on Glover Rd. 

Map of the route I took here

I liked this quote from Brian Deegan,

I remember saying to Dutch engineers: "Well cyclists don't stop at the lights." And they said: "Well what's the matter with your design?" They meant what was I doing in the way of designing road infrastructure that is making cyclists feel it's better to break the rules. Or "is the signal timing  too long?" — if you come up to a signal and you are waiting 120 seconds to cross you are more likely to jump it, not like in Holland or Denmark where the most you wait is 40 seconds. So now I ask myself 'what am I designing that's making people go wrong?'

--

Simon

New tracks at Longshaw

Back in the 1980's some guys in Marin Country invented the Mountain Bike. It wasn't long before this phenomenon crossed the Atlantic (promoted by the Crane brothers who went up Mount Kilimanjaro on these newfangled beasties - Nick Crane of course now appears on TC programmes like Coast) To many of us who switched from road bikes it seemed we could go anywhere on these machines and put that philosophy into practice - I confess to having been one of those. Unfortunately this led to blanket bans on cycling in may of the most popular and scenic areas of the UK.

It's taken thirty or so years to reverse this situation. Mountain Biking has matured and most practitioners are responsible and don't go off the bridleways and byways they are permitted to use - and have done great work creating superb singletrack trails in less frequented places such as Wharncliffe Woods. The growth of motorised off-roading has proved to be far more of a threat to the countryside.

So it's great news that some of the areas that have been off-limits to cyclists for many years are now being opened up again. Longshaw has opened up two new trails  - From the House to the Grouse (that's going to stick as a name I feel) and from the House to Wooden Pole. House to Grouse entails walking along the very busy path from the cafe and visitor area before various footpaths branch off  - most visitors head to the lake  - and once you're passed through a couple of new gates you're off (previously the paths had kissing gates that were deliberately hard to get bikes through - the trail is wide enough to get a land rover along so there is no problem passing walkers although courtesy & consideration is required as ever. At the end of the trail a gate leads out to the main road and the Grouse is just about 50 yards down although it would be great to have a protected path so families could cycle safely down to the pub and back.

(Pictures taken late on a summer's evening)

The other trail branches off to the left from the main drive and climbs quite steeply before leveling off and is a steady climb to Wooden Pole, the junction of a couple of main roads. One criticism of these paths has to be that they are great but where are the connections with other off-road paths in the area? Hopefully these will come.   I'd like to highlight Grindleford Station to the A6187 above Kettle wood whihch would be a very useful route. There are other suggestions on the Getting to the Peak page, some of which have now been implemented. 

But this is a good start from the National Trust at Longshaw. The Eastern Moors partnership has put in a Mountain Bike Trail, the Hope Valley now has an off-road route alongside the main road as well as cycle lanes on the main road, NCN6 stretches as far as Castleton, taking the high roads across Bamford. Get out there and enjoy!  

A found poem

Call john mallows fly tipping between manor drive home beaumont avenue where the time is broken glass at cocker bottoms allotment entrance pollard still missing section are at prince shopping trolley 50 yards from richmond road junction simon banda lies the richmond junction shopping trolley in belden house leeds woods near the bench sign pointer the wrong way oliver snout literotica access point from hi hazel spark into rome airport taxi nothing much good sign in link my rossi watch later on the news shopper tote like for tonight in mark slater underneath broughton lane bridgewater canal sign in meadowhall travelodge news damage mercedes parts heavily overgrown is vegetation litter

From my voice notes on a Sustrans inspection ride 

Bike-Rail at Dore & Bamford

Being on strike yesterday as I was and not being one for the picket line, took the opportunity for a bit of bike-rail. 

The new Park and Ride site at Dore is full and people are starting to park on verges and local side roads, but the bike racks aren't quite (yet) So, time to encourage a bit of walking, cycling and use of PT to get to the site?

Here are some things that could be done to make it easier to get there sustainably.

There's a bridleway up to Cavendish Rd in Dore that could be upgraded and signed linking into a bike route. A footpath continues up to the village centre - too narrow for cyling but could be better signed as a walking route, with a bike route around the quiet residential streets.

The bridleways through Ecclesall Woods, my favourite route to Dore station from Greystones, could be signed as a route to Dore Station and some sensitive improvements made to make cycling a bit easier.

The no. 70 bus to Dore should be extended down to the station, at least at peak times - maybe the 505, that goes as far as Millhouses as well?

Cycling along Abbeydale Road along this busy stretch is horrible and an off-road alternative is badly needed.

 Car parked on expensively laid grass verges at Dore P+R. How about fining these vandals?

 Still some space in the bike racks.

I fell foul of the gap in the Hope Valley train schedule, arriving for the non-existent 11:14, so pedalled out to Bamford for my next stop. There have been some improvements here: A "Harrington Hump" has been installed, which makes it easier for disabled people to get and off the train (Not cyclists sadly, as the cycle space is at the other end of the train usually)

A ramp has been installed for access to the westbound platform, making it easier for both cyclists and disabled people to use the trains. I'm not sure when this was done but it has weathered in superbly, making it look as though it was part of the original Victorian construction. 

 

There was a well-provisioned information board as well. 
 

I got the train to Marple, forced my way up the hill to the canal (it's steep!)  and pedalled along to Romiley where I got on Route 55, making my way via the Connect2 bridge over the Goyt back to Marple. The intention was to check out an alignment for NCN6 through the town - a link to the Middlewood Way at Rose Hill seems the most viable.Made my way back along the Peak Forest canal, through Bugsworth Basin, and the train home from Chinley where there is no assistance for you to get your bike across the bridge to the platform. Not that strenuous a day but I was knackered when I got home!

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so" - Mark Twain

Pickles is Revolting

This is in response to Eric Pickles latest drive to destroy our towns and cities.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24291467

I find Eric Pickles revolting in every sense - to look at, and I think his opinions and actions are revolting as well. I'm not exactly Mr. Thin either but at least I try to balance out the beer & pies with a bit of physical activity. I can't think of a former "Communities Minister" who was so intent on destroying communities (& the environment - see http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jul/12/ancient-woodland-kent-quarry-site-hermitage - if it goes to appeal I'm sure he will allow Smithy Wood to be turned into a motorway service as well.) Mind you we knew what was coming - he made his name destroying Bradford as a civic entity when he was council leader there, which it has taken the city at least ten years to recover from.

He's obviously not stupid though  -he is playing a crafty political game of starving councils of funds, particularly Labour ones, and criticising them when they raise funds through other means to gain and electoral advantage. His systematic destruction of local authority systems also means that other governments departments can offer local authorities funds for initiatives that they are simple incapable of taking up because they do not have the resources to manage the projects and leave them to be publicly humiliated.

Working with local authorities can be very frustrating and there is no doubt that they are in need of reform, but this is not the way to do it. 

The tour, OK - but what is North Yorkshire really doing to promote cycling?

Much is being made of the Tour coming to Yorkshire next year - but campaigners have been saying that N. Yorks isn't doing enough to promote cycling for some time. Well you might say, the county is basically a huge field, criss-crossed with country lanes and a few picturesque towns, does anything really need doing?

Here are a couple of things that could be done reasonable cheaply:

The old Wensleydale railway alignment  runs from Hawes to Garsdale on a level gradient - why not convert this into a cycle track? The Wensleydale Railway may have ambitions to run to Garsdale but this is going to take a long time and there should be room for both.

The current alternative involves dropping down into the Dale on a busy road and climbing up again - hardly conducive to leisure cycling. Most of the cyclists you will see in the Dales National park are of the lycra-clad variety, either roadies or MTB'ers - there isn't anywhere for cycling softies. Hawes meanwhile is clogged with traffic on a summer's day.

Then, there's Wharfedale - a stunning river valley running from above Hawes down to Ilkley and beyond. There is a network of quiet roads you can use for a ride up or down the Dale - but the sting in the tail is, when you get to the back of Bolton Abbey there's a very stiff climb that drops you off on a fast trunk road. A footpath with a stern "no cycling sign" takes a more level route. Meanwhile the main road on the other side of the valley carries the visitors to Bolton Abbey and is not at all cycle-friendly.

How about a a family cycling route along the Wharfe? This could even start at Ilkley, making use of the alignment of the former Ilkley - Skipton railway, partly used by the Embsay steam railway, but severed by the main road - another of lack of concern about saving roads for more sustainable modes of transport.

Notably neither N. Yorks nor the Dales applied for the recent Government funding round, suggesting that despite the buzz around the TdeF cycling isn't really on their radar.  

A Summer of cycling in pix

Just a few pix from the summer of cycling - no particular point to them! 

Signing the interim NCN6 route across Burbage and into the Hope Valley. Funding has now been announced to make this a permanent route 

 The new-ish cycle parking at Sheffield Station

 A spectacular display on Burbage Moor

 Setting off for Wentworth on the re-opened Cobweb Bridge...

 ..and further along the Five Weirs Walk...

 ...and having made it there!

 A tram-train at Nantes. Tram-trains are coming to Sheffield soon - but not carrying bikes. (This one didn't either, as far as I could see)

 Sables D'Olonne. The corniche has been made one-way, with half the carriageway given over to bikes. 

 Enthusiasm for bikes in the French countryside

 A Greenway in Limousin - former railway. Greenways have sprung up all over France  - proper ones with hard surfaces. 

 Sustrans Ranger ride in July

 A new crossing of Blonk St taking shape. 

 David Bocking tackles the Heart-Burster, Bingham Park

New signage at Rother Valley - part of the Connect2 scheme. 

Pix from the Grand Prix

 A lone rider heads for the start line

The men's race kicks off

In Praise of Late Trains

View Langley Mill to Ingleby Wild Swimming Spot in a larger map

Well if it hadn't been for the tardiness of certain trains yesterday my day out would have been a lot less convenient. Having left the house a little too late for the 11:03 Nottingham train, and hurtled down the hill at quite possibly my fastest time ever, notwithstanding a road closure on Psalter Lane, I was relieved to find on getting to the station footbridge that the train was not even waiting on the platform, not to mention just setting off towards the station throat in that annoying way they have. So I had time to catch my breath and gulp some water before it ambled in.

My destination was Langley Mill - now why on earth would you go there, I hear you say? Well, Northern services to Nottingham will be terminating there over the summer, while the Lace City's station is rebuilt and remodelled, so I thought I would check out the cycling options. Many years ago I enjoyed a ride up the Erewash Canal, so I thought I would see how it has fared since then.

Disembarking at Langley Mill, the first thing to note is that there are some pretty steep step to get out of the station, so you need to be able to carry your bike down. There is a ramp on the Northbound side, although the National Rail site says there isn't.

The road below the station is pretty busy, but just about cyclable, and the canal basin is a few hundred yards to the east past a giant ASDA. There is this rather nice houseboat in the basin which is for sale.





The Erewash canal is a truncated section of the Cromford canal, which you can pick up again at Ambergate to go up to Cromford - a slightly more scenic section of the cut. I don't know whether the filled-in section is negotiable by cycle but I suspect not easily.

To head south from the basin bump down the steps under the road bridge and away you go. The first part is not in particularly good condition but it improves as you head south - it's part of the Erewash valley trail and NCN67 comes in north of Sandiacre at which point it gets really good (I haven't tried that bit of 67 which goes up to Shipley Country Park, but plan to some day - 67 of course passes through Sheffield on it's way to Chesterfield, but there's a missing link south of the Twisted Spire)




Further south the path takes to the flood wall for a section.






At Sandiacre there's a handsome mill that has been converted into apartments



At Long Eaton NCN67 leaves the canal to commune with NCN6, but it's worthwhile continuing down to the canal to Trent Junction, a remarkable place where the Trent, the Derwent and a couple of canals converge while the railway passes over. There is a pub and cafe here and you can take river cruises.



I retraced my pedals and came off at Long Eaton, crossing the canal and taking NCN6 towards Derby.
This passes through a large park, which the first time I went through was looking rather derelict and forlorn, but now looks very well kept up and well used. I reflected that a bit of civic pride can go a long way towards restoring the morale of a population - sadly the current government sets no store by such things and we can expect another decline in the urban landscape as civic budgets are cut.

I followed the route of 6, passing a fund-raiser for the restoration of the disused canal along which the bike route passes, before negotiating the "tricky section" around Borrowash and getting onto the banks of the  Derwent  for the run into Derby. Bypassing the centre I turned south for the route  towards Leicester, using this for the trip to Ingleby I had planned. I can't praise the bike routes in Derby enough - nice wide paths, good surfaces, well maintained and no barriers to speak of. There is evidence of past misdemeanours but these have been well cleaned up.

My destination was a wild swimming place that was mentioned in the Observer recently. I didn't go in but it is certainly a bucolic spot




& the caves, which have religious connotations, are interesting:-




Leaving this tarnished paradise at 4, I gave myself 2 1/2 hours to get back to Langley Mill. Things didn't quite go as planned - I made good time through Derby but got slightly lost on the way past Breadsall Priory - I wanted Heanor & Langley Mill, but every sign I passed said Ripley, and despite my best efforts that's where I ended up! There are three valleys between Derby and the Erewash if you go the direct route so I was starting to flag. When I ended up on Street Lane I knew at least where I was, on the good old Icknield Way, so I bowed to the inevitable headed into Ripley and hence to Alfreton. The last bit turned into a mad dash to get to the station, but my luck was in again and the train was that vital few minutes lates, so there was no need for an hour's overlay at Alfreton, a prospect I wasn't relishing. So let's hear it for late trains!

Route map:
http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_3161246.html