Let’s go cycling

15th May
Ely to Wisbech
53km, 166m elevation, 13 degrees, cloudy and a thoroughly brutal headwind!

A good night’s sleep at this quirky little place, then to negotiate the accommodation rate with the resident Mr Fawlty. Somehow overnight it had increased by £10 so a bit of negotiating, or reminding, was required. Along with an earbashing about the cost of running such a prestigious (??) establishment and how difficult it is to compete with booking.com…etc etc. We managed to refrain from suggesting that they could replace the bed mattresses with something that didn’t have the springs poking out the sides…

Neil has found a fancy new mapping app- ordinance survey, which shows every single road and footpath you could imagine. So we set off with this wonderful newfound resource and discovered it really does have all the trails…it just doesn’t account for the grumpy farmers who lock the gates to keep out annoying tourists. So a bit of backtracking, but all good fun!

Today was cold. Windy. Cloudy. A stiff N/Easterly straight off the North Sea. Many layers needed…and we made it to Wisbech Wetherspoons (UK cheap Pub chain) just after 12 …fractionally too late for their endless coffee cup Brekky deal, so we had to settle for an all day brunch + pint deal. Very nice! Except we hadn’t finished riding for the day so the beer might not have been the best idea…

Another 10k or so and we arrived at our prebooked campsite. Frigid. No shelter from the relentless wind- 30-50kmh we reckon. Otherwise lovely!! Nice setup, kitchen to use and variably hot showers.

16th May
Wisbech to Folkingham
50km, 17deg and a bit less wind, thankfully 🙂

A very cold start to the day and no sunshine in sight as we left our campsite, but the morning improved the further we headed inland.

Breeze started to become a little less piercing, although still a solid headwind for the first part of today’s ride.

Found a Wetherspoons at Spalding, around the 20km mark, and treated ourselves to warmth,  coffee and a breakfast muffin for £2.79 while we figured out the plan for the night.

For those familiar with the UK you’ll know of Wetherspoons- there are hundreds of these branded hotels across the country, all offering ridiculously cheap meal options.  Nothing at all glamorous about them but very handy for a food and comfort stop that won’t destroy the budget.

Outwards and onwards, we set our target on the little village of Folkingham and paid the most we have so far to pitch our little tent- £29 for a patch of grass for the night! Seemed a tad over the top…  But a lovely little village with a bustling pub and a convenience store.

Neil’s fancy map came into its own, with a fun little stroll through the “public” footpaths which literally cross a freshly planted field.  Gotta feel a bit for those farmers, must be frustrating to have hordes of people wandering over your land.

A good hearty pub meal to end the day (and eliminate any risk of losing a couple of pounds 🤣 )

May 17th
Folkingham to Southwell or nearabouts
71km,  537m elevation and a mostly sunny 20 deg,

Wel, today was just one out of the box.  A big day, with fabulous scenery, and a very varied mix of trail surfaces.

Komoot (my preferred app if you haven’t guessed) loves to get us off the main roads, and its first attempt this morning was a doozy.  About 3km of very rough terrain, grass and dried mud- good thing we haven’t seen any rain!

After yet another Wetherspoons refuel we followed the canal tow path out of Grantham- a really picturesque trail.

Then onto another river trail, very populated but oh so pretty.  Not quite warm enough for us to consider swimming but plenty of other souls were more hardy!

The last leg was a bit of a drag, more traffic, and a lot more hills than we’ve had so far! So after 71ish km we were pleased to arrive at the camp-site “New Hall Farm”.  And boy oh boy was it worth the effort. Half the price of last night’s camp at just £15 and it’s by far the best camp-site yet.  Lovely views, friendly people and immaculate amenities.  All boxes ticked…

You’d think 71km would be enough for most people but Neil valiantly nipped back out for supplies…another 9km of hills which I managed to avoid.  The local Co-ops don’t have a lot to offer at the moment as a few supermarket chains country wide have been hit by a nasty cyber attack.  But he found enough to scrape a meal together…and the grog section was apparently unaffected 😅

May 18th
Southwell to Chesterfield
57km, 567m elevation, 17degrees and partly cloudy

We didn’t get to Nottingham, but I did really want to see Sherwood Forest for some obscure reason, probably relating to a childhood growing up with the stories of Robin Hood. It didn’t disappoint- we loved our little walk through the forest. Big efforts to preserve the magnificent and ancient oak trees and to encourage the continuation of the forest into the future.

Another 40km or so towards Chesterfield- too many busy roads on this stretch so Neil convinced me to add a few km to the day and take the route suggested by his fancy app. Or was it Google…I don’t know. It was much quieter, lovely little tracks, leading towards a small bridge.

Except that the bridge wasn’t there… sigh…

Bit more backtracking… and a few more km, but the last stretch into Chesterfield was lovely, a nice wide Canal tow path and very scenic 🙂

Spoiling ourselves with a real bed tonight, plenty of cheap pub accommodation in this town- not the prettiest of towns but we’re happy… Off to the Peake District tomorrow.