Sunday 6 November Vale of Belvior dawn raid

Ratcliffe Power Station at sunrise

Got out early yesterday and was treated to a beautiful sunny autumnal morning.  A cold start which didn't really warm up until well into the morning, even the bright sun couldn't warm things up.

I love the sound of the leaves crinkling under your tyres at this time of the year and yesterdays ride gave me plenty of that.  The route starts out on familiar roads out through Sawley and Long Lane to Kegworth, then on towards Cotgrave via Bunny, it's all country lanes bar a mile or so through Bunny on the A60, early on a Sunday morning there's barely any cars around.

Once through Cotgrave and over the A46 it gets even quieter as you head into the Vale of Belvior, the only 'traffic' I encountered in 45 minutes was some cows being escorted back to their field after milking.  This route is as flat as a pancake until you reach Terrace Hill, not the hardest of hills by a long stretch, but worth a mention as it appears in Simon Warrens 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs due to the fact that it the only climb of note in the Vale of Belvior.  Once up the hill I was treated to a lovely circuit around the perimeter of Belvior Castle's grounds, some lovely villages with equally lovely views of the Castle and surrounding countryside.

Long Lane at sunrise

The ride back from Belvior is not quite as spectacular but still a very nice route across country and along the Trent to Radcliffe on Trent and then through Holme Pierpont estate with a little stretch of strade bianche for those Italian classics lovers.  Then the ball ache bit of crossing from East to West Nottingham, my favoured route is through West Bridgeford and over the toll bridge before taking the cycle network to Dunkirk and then a heads down blast for home along University Boulevard and Queens Road.

A very enjoyable jaunt was had and I felt well rewarded for getting up early on a day off, the sunrise was a cracker, as was this ride, looking forward to actually keeping this bike riding up through the autumn and winter for a change.




Distance = 115.5 km
Time = 4 hrs 24 mins
Ave Speed = 26.1 kph
Ascent = 915 m  (m/km =8.2)

2011
Road Bike = 3868.4 km
Single Speed = 102.2 km
Fixed = 26 km
Indoor = 175.2 km
Total = 4171.8 km