Post by sprockit on Jul 15, 2015 0:28:02 GMT
Lying in my sleeping bag on Saturday morning's early light I had the idea of an early morning blast on my Sprint - knowing I'd use the Sport for the official ride.
I was up at 'Sparrowfart', had some breakfast and a few drinks, and departed under a cloudless sky at about 0620hrs. I knew that in this flat-ish landscape (compared to the hills of home) I could get a decent number of miles under my wheels before returning for the main ride.
Whilst others were still horizontal in their tents . . .
(although I now know that some were awake)
I rode out into the countryside, my road map being far too big to carry on the bike, with a vague idea of riding to the north of Barton under Needwood - and possibly as far as Marchington to 'assault the cliff'. I missed two turnings, and ended up riding the first 7 or 8 miles of the official DFR route!
I ended up here:-
Wychnor Lock on the Trent and Mersey Canal.
It's amazing to think that Britain's canal system was the main catalyst of the Industrial Revolution, and the 70ft by 7ft narrowboats, each carrying approximately 20 tons, which worked through these locks, were so much more efficient than the one ton carts that up until then had been the mainstay of commercial transport.
From here I rode NCN Route 54 to Alrewas, where I did several laps of the place (just like rmw, but the day before and in the opposite direction!), then along the cyclepath right beside the A34 until I spied a sign for Barton under Needwood. I knew then that I could find my way back to the site for the start of the DFR ride proper. The shared use cycle/footpath beside the A34 is very adjacent to the dual carriageway, and maybe because I was in 'trundling' mode, the traffic seemed to be travelling absurdly fast - a sentiment echoing the 1938 observation of LTC Rolt in his canal journey book 'Narrow Boat' where he describes the 'mania of hurry that has infected our unhappy civilisation' after seeing cars 'clinging terrier-like to the wildly swinging trailers of lorries', determined to maintain their sixty miles per hour, regardless of risk.
Same sentiment, precisely the same location, 77 years apart = weird!
I followed the signs to Yoxall, then to Barton under Needwood:-
Signpost at Barton under Needwood
Barton Under Needwood war memorial and church
From Barton I followed my vehicle route across the narrow bridge at Walton on Trent then back to Rosliston, and a very kind welcome from Mr & Mrs Sooper8.
An ace morning ride!
I was up at 'Sparrowfart', had some breakfast and a few drinks, and departed under a cloudless sky at about 0620hrs. I knew that in this flat-ish landscape (compared to the hills of home) I could get a decent number of miles under my wheels before returning for the main ride.
Whilst others were still horizontal in their tents . . .
(although I now know that some were awake)
I rode out into the countryside, my road map being far too big to carry on the bike, with a vague idea of riding to the north of Barton under Needwood - and possibly as far as Marchington to 'assault the cliff'. I missed two turnings, and ended up riding the first 7 or 8 miles of the official DFR route!
I ended up here:-
Wychnor Lock on the Trent and Mersey Canal.
It's amazing to think that Britain's canal system was the main catalyst of the Industrial Revolution, and the 70ft by 7ft narrowboats, each carrying approximately 20 tons, which worked through these locks, were so much more efficient than the one ton carts that up until then had been the mainstay of commercial transport.
From here I rode NCN Route 54 to Alrewas, where I did several laps of the place (just like rmw, but the day before and in the opposite direction!), then along the cyclepath right beside the A34 until I spied a sign for Barton under Needwood. I knew then that I could find my way back to the site for the start of the DFR ride proper. The shared use cycle/footpath beside the A34 is very adjacent to the dual carriageway, and maybe because I was in 'trundling' mode, the traffic seemed to be travelling absurdly fast - a sentiment echoing the 1938 observation of LTC Rolt in his canal journey book 'Narrow Boat' where he describes the 'mania of hurry that has infected our unhappy civilisation' after seeing cars 'clinging terrier-like to the wildly swinging trailers of lorries', determined to maintain their sixty miles per hour, regardless of risk.
Same sentiment, precisely the same location, 77 years apart = weird!
I followed the signs to Yoxall, then to Barton under Needwood:-
Signpost at Barton under Needwood
Barton Under Needwood war memorial and church
From Barton I followed my vehicle route across the narrow bridge at Walton on Trent then back to Rosliston, and a very kind welcome from Mr & Mrs Sooper8.
An ace morning ride!
