Monday 8th July 2019
Jim picked me up at 5.50 this morning to drive to Newark where Des and Phil were arriving by train. We took a few minutes to find our way out of town but once underway, we had three very good cycling days, with only an hour of heavy rain (and about another 2 hours of light rain/drizzle). Below is the account I wrote at the end of each day and published on Facebook.
This coming September, along with three others, I will be taking a cycling tour down the river Rhine. We fly to Switzerland to ride to the source of the Rhine in Andermatt before cycling the full length of the river to its source in the Netherlands. Since I sort-of gatecrashed this party, I didn’t know two of my future cycling companions and so it felt like a good idea to get to know each other first, hence this mini tour was planned.
Jim and I are from the Northwest but Des lives in Lincolnshire and Phil is from Essex, so we met in the middle for a three-day jaunt starting in Newark. The route was largely courtesy of Sustrans, and the first day turned out great – very flat and with little traffic. I had reservations about cycling through the centre of both Nottingham and Derby, but both cities were very straightforward. Continuing my football-stadium spotting, I unintentionally cycled past the grounds of Notts County, Nottingham Forest and Derby County, and actually beneath the stand of the Forest ground. Of much more interest, the route also took us past the National BMX track at Alvaston near Derby. Well, it should have taken us past, but we couldn’t resist having a go.
I don’t do BMX-speak (the sport only came to my consciousness in about 1984 when I was in my 20s) but chatting to a couple of local lads, it seems I have mastered the ‘berm’, still need to work on my ‘pump’ and thankfully avoided the ‘face-plant’. According to Strava, my single lap was in the top 40% of all rides on this route. I want another go – I can beat that!
The last few miles were along the Tissington Trail, an offroad route following the old 1899 railway line to Buxton. This was a great section; smooth gravel and a very steady, gradient of about 2%. The only trouble was, our B&B didn’t do food, so when we thought we’d finished, we had to ride back down the hill for four miles to the nearest pub. And back up again, obvs.
Tomorrow’s ride will be harder as we enter the Peak District and head over towards the badlands of Sheffield. Much more climbing and perhaps more football-stadium-spotting?
Tuesday 9th July 2019
Whilst only a small part of Monday’s ride was more suited to a BMX bike, the majority of Tuesday’s trip was definitely in mountain bike country. A touring bike with loaded panniers should not have been going over some of the terrain recommended by Sustrans on the National Cycle Network. Don’t misunderstand me, the route itself was great, but the surface in some cases was awful.
The route to Buxton along the Tissington Trail was largely along a disused railway on a gravel surface with gentle gradients, but afterwards, the Midshires Way showed us what hills can be like in Derbyshire. I can ride up most tarmac gradients, but not through boulder-filled gullies with 15% climbs. I realise now that these were just the foothills preparing us for the Trans Pennine Trail out of Glossop. It was raining by then which added to the adventure. To be fair, much of the track was rideable up past the reservoirs leading up Woodhead Pass, but the mud and grit under wheel was treacherous.
I’d love to have cycled through the disused Woodhead railway tunnel but it was blocked off which was a shame since it would have cut out over 120 metres of climbing over about three miles. I don’t reckon the scenery would have been much good inside, but hey, there are always compromises. At the end of the tunnel, our route followed the old railway past Penistone virtually to our digs for the night which was Wortley Hall.
This grand place was billed as the ‘Workers’ Stately Home’ which it indeed was. It was a mid 18th century pile built on the site of a much older hall and now run as a cooperative by a selection of trades unions whose ideals are to create a home of the labour movement. The Morning Star was prominent by the reception desk, and most of the pictures on the walls were old trades union advertising posters. We could have bought shares in the place (£10 each) and enjoyed a discount on the rack rate plus 10% off in the bar if we could prove trade union membership. The trouble was, we had only paid £10 more than the discounted rate and the bar didn’t sell any real ales!
Morning coffee was in the Buxton Pavilion Gardens and lunch was at a wonderful pub/boutique hotel set by a river at Rowarth, just outside New Mills. They had very friendly staff and extremely spicy soup. Chatting to the owner, I explained that we were heading towards Sheffield and he was insistent that we should follow his recommended route since ‘Sheffield’s just over that hill’. I pointed at our laden bikes and questioned whether the track he described would have been suitable. “Yes, of course”, he assured me. I checked the map later, and he was sending us over Kinder Scout! We stuck to the planned route.
Wednesday 10th July 2019
Breakfast at Wortley Hall was a highlight today. It started off well, since someone who had just been to fill the water bottles on his bike might just have left the door ajar when he went out, allowing one of the many ducks in the courtyard to sneak in the dining room. The waitress was unperturbed as she shooed out the errant mallard and then smoothly guided us to a table and a terrific breakfast to follow.
The climb away from Wortley Hall was the only real hill of the day and this was soon forgotten on the long descent into Sheffield. The route took us into the city from the North and skirted round the top of the city centre, but since we were riding alongside busy trunk routes, we were constantly aware of the traffic. We seemed to be close to built up areas for about 7 miles beyond the centre, although some stretches were through parkland. Sheffield is said to be built on seven hills: this isn’t true. I personally cycled up far more than seven, and many were quite steep.
We had a coffee break at Bedgreave Mill alongside the Rother Valley Lake which is on the Southeast edge of the Sheffield conurbation. After this, we were into the pretty Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire countryside, passing along the canal through Worksop and through Clumber Park before our lunch stop in Tuxford.
We disregarded the direct route back to Newark, choosing instead a wonderful disused railway heading towards Lincoln before veering South to Newark.
The entire trip was 210 miles and was at a very leisurely pace, mainly due to the majority of the time spent off-road on gravel or dirt tracks, or negotiating city centres. As a test of how we would cope with the longer-but-flatter Rhine trip it worked well and we now know each other which was always going to be a good idea before spending a couple of weeks together. Looking forward even more to September now.
