It was Friday 23rd June 2023. I’d booked the afternoon off work, the sun was shining, and I was ready to pedal to Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun!
Pedal to Woodthorpe
I’d booked AirBnB accommodation for the night in Woodthorpe, just south of Loughborough. I set off from my home in Beeston starting with the very familiar ride along the Nottingham & Beeston Canal.
I cycled over the busy Clifton bridge, which thankfully has a segregated cycle lane, and then all the way through Clifton past Nottingham Trent University. The hill past the campus was bigger than I remember – I’m not sure I’ve ever cycled up there with panniers before.
I headed out of Clifton towards Gotham along a big 60mph road that I’ve driven along many times but which isn’t the most fun to cycle on.
Gotham is a small village in south Nottinghamshire, which has some interesting associated folklore and, you guessed it, Batman! I stopped to have a look at the sculpture depicting the “village of legends”.
The interpretation board told me that the Tales of Gotham date back to the time of King John in the 12th century. Legend has it that King John intended to pass through Gotham on his travels. This would have meant that the route would have become a “King’s Highway” and would have become subject to maintenance by the local populace. The people of Gotham didn’t want this burden or a huge retinue passing through their village taking their food, fodder, and women. They therefore feigned madness (which was considered to be infectious) to discourage the vanguard from passing through. This proved to be an effective deterrent! Upon observing their antics, King John’s scouts were convinced that Gotham was a village of fools. The village maintains that they were in fact wise men, since they were clever enough to evade paying the taxes. The tales spread and “The Wise Men of Gotham” were immortalised in stories.
In the early 19th century Washington Irving, the author of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, undertook a tour of Europe and heard of the story. In 1807 he wrote a piece for a New York periodical in which he referred to the avarice and rush for wealth of the New Yorkers as being “mad like Gothamites”. The name stuck and central New York became referred to as “Gotham City”. Bob Kane, the comic book artist and writer for DC Comics created his Batman character in 1939 and based him in Gotham City. Worth noting though, that the correct pronunciation of the village’s name is Goat-ham, not Goth-am!
I cycled on towards the village of East Leake, pausing on the way to have a look at the twee station of Rushcliffe Halt on the Nottingham Heritage Railway.
In the centre of East Leake I stopped to have a look at the blue plaque commemorating the house of John Bley – “Distiller and Benefactor of London and East Leake”. Nottinghamshire History tells how John Bley grew up poor in East Leake and had to go to school in a nearby village, vowing that if he ever became a rich man, he would build a school in his native village. He went to London and made his fortune as a distiller. He returned and built a school in 1724, endowing it with enough money to enable all the poor children of the parish to be taught. On his death he left £10 to every farmer, and £10 to the poor of every village surrounding East Leake. He died aged 56 and was buried in the village church yard.
I carried on cycling along more busy roads, passing the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Stamford Hall. The re-location of the centre from Surrey to the East Midlands is the reason I became involved with the amazing YesTribe, although that’s a story for another day.
As I turned onto my first quiet country lane of the trip, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was short-lived however, as almost immediately a white van came bombing towards me going at least 70mph in the middle of the road.
I gathered myself and pressed on through more countryside and the pretty village of Barrow-upon-Soar, where I have launched my paddleboard many times in the past. Soon afterwards, I reached the outskirts of Loughborough. I was very pleased to find a nice wide cycle path alongside the busy road.
My AirBnB accommodation was in Woodthorpe, on the outskirts of town. It was very strange to turn directly off the busy highway and onto a tiny lane into a beautiful one-street village. I’d cycled almost 20 miles since I left home and almost entirely due south.
My AirBnB host was arriving home from work as I pulled up, so she let me in and showed me where I could put my bike in the garage. It was fabulous accommodation, and I’d definitely recommend it if you’re touristing at Beacon Hill.
I’d noticed a small retail park where I’d left the main road, so after a quick shower I headed out to see what I could find for dinner and breakfast. I picked up a Subway sandwich for now, and some goodies from Aldi for the following morning.
Then I settled down with a cup of tea and some biscuits and read some more of Anna McNuff’s brilliantly inspiring Barefoot Britain.
Pedal to Beacon Hill Country Park
The ride to Beacon Hill was only 4 miles but it was all uphill. To put that into perspective, I’d gained 758ft in yesterday’s 20-mile ride, and 358ft just this morning. I was pretty exhausted when I got to the start!
Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun
There is a bike rack in sight of the briefing/finish area, next to the café. It’s the slightly annoying type where you can only lock your wheel in if you only have a D-lock, but definitely better than nothing.
The first timer’s briefing was really good with a massive map of the park as a prop. We were told all about the hills (all uphill at the beginning, all downhill at the end) and warned about the flies! There was a sculpture trail in the park, so we were told we’d probably see some on the way round.
After a short walk to the start line, we were off!
The uphill start was pretty brutal – particularly after the uphill cycle. It was in some lovely shady woodland though, which was a blessing. We emerged at the top to do a loop before heading back down. There were some wonderful views!
The surface was mainly smooth with woodland and gravel tracks all the way round.
I finished in an official time of 30m19s which is about 3m slower than my usual flat-course pace at the moment.
After I’d recovered I headed to the café to grab a vegan sausage roll and a cup of tea to fuel me for the ride ahead. I sat with a lovely local couple who were just visiting the park for a walk. The lady enjoyed running but had never done a parkrun, so I did my best sales pitch. I did, however, suggest that perhaps she do her first one somewhere less…vertical.
I got changed into my cycling gear in the toilets and hit the road again.
The pedal home
I took a completely different and much longer route home, as the plan was to call in to watch some of my husband’s cricket game in Kinoulton on the way. However, the cricket wouldn’t start until 1pm and even with all my post-parkrun faff it was only 10.40am when I set off from Beacon Hill. I knew there was more procrastinating to be done…
It was a pleasant and sunny ride back through Barrow-upon-soar with lots of stopping to lean my bike against things and take photos. The Moorings Pub in Barrow hadn’t opened when I passed but I asked the man tidying the car park if it was alright to just sit at one of their picnic benches by the river for a while.
It wasn’t long before I stopped again for juice and a cookie at Mille’s Café & Farm Shop.
I decided it was time to actually get on with my bike ride after that, and after about 20 miles, mostly on quiet country lanes, I made it to Kinoulton. I stopped to watch the cricket for about an hour and dropped my panniers off in Ian’s van. My stepdaughter, Ellie, then joined me for the second part of the ride.
We cycled up through Owthorpe, down through Cotgrave, and into West Bridgford. We stopped on the Victoria Embankment and treated ourselves to an ice cream before heading the last few miles home.
The ride back was 32.4 miles, taking the total for the trip to 56.3 miles.
Final thoughts
This was a very jolly adventure, helped a lot by lovely weather and very comfortable accommodation. It was lovely to combine my hobby with some family time on the Saturday afternoon too.
The roads on day 1 were not particularly pleasant to ride on, making me reflect on how amazing the cycling in The Netherlands was last summer and sad about how unwelcoming our UK infrastructure remains for cyclists.