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Day 1 Crewe to Dimmingsdale

For the second time I started the annual cycle holiday from Crewe in Cheshire (1) . The last time I was with Calum and we found the locals to be less than friendly and the traffic frantic. This time I had planned a quick route to get out of the urban smog and it worked beautifully.

I headed south and by the time I reached Norton in Hales in Shropshire (2) I was well and truly chilled out. The weather was warm, sunny and strangely dry. Shortly after this I found myself at Loggerheads, not at loggerheads with anyone but at a place called Loggerheads, I didn't hear anyone arguing. As the afternoon wore on the roads got quieter until they got down to the 'grass growing in the middle' stage near Slindon in Staffordshire (3). Of course this could not last all the way and by tea time I was headed east through Blythe Bridge along fairly busy roads. As I approached the Youth Hostel at Dimmingsdale the surroundings became hillier with some short sharp climbs to add to the interest. All in all, a great day's cycling.
Trevor was already at the charming hostel cooking in the kitchen. Alan arrived later after leaving his car at his sister's house.

Day 2 Dimmingsdale to National Forest

In the morning it was raining as expected. There was a party of elderly walkers staying at the hostel and I enjoyed seeing their faces as they hovered at the hostel doorway. They knew they had to go out in the rain but they would have liked to avoid it. It reminded my of Serge when we were in Ireland. He couldn't believe that we'd go out cycling in the rain... and yet, what option do you have?
When our departure could be delayed no longer we headed off. As we passed Alton Towers the roads were extremely busy but at least the traffic was heading in the opposite direction to us. We discovered a large split in Alan's front tyre which looked like it was about to blow so we stopped for repairs at Marston Montgomery in Derbyshire (4). He'd only picked the bike up from Halfords the day before after a 'service'. Doh! The scenery was beautiful but I don't think they get many tourists. There were no tea rooms in the villages and when we stopped at a pub for lunch they didn't serve food. We eventually found a service station which was pretending to be an American Diner on the A38 where we could buy burgers.

Because of the tyre situation, Alan headed straight to the new hostel at Moira, the National Forest Youth Hostel. Trevor and I had a detour to Breedon-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire (5) to look at an old church. It started to rain and was very heavy as we approached the hostel but Alan had managed to avoid this. Now although this is a new Youth Hostel, they'd forgotten a couple of essential features, a member's kitchen and a drying room. Perhaps the people who designed it have never been to a hostel before?

Day 3 National Forest to Thurlby

The next morning it was dry as we headed to Ashby-de-la-Zouch and a terrific little bike shop. Alan was able to purchase a Schwalbe tandem tyre, very expensive and very robust. I confidently predict that Halfords will remove it when he next takes his bike in for a service and replace it with a cheap one again, which of course will split in the first 100 miles! We then headed over the Bradgate Park for lunch and were just settling down on a park bench in the sunshine when the heavens opened, thunder, lightning and of course very very wet. We ended up eating under a tree for shelter. As the rain eased we carried our trek east and stopped at Oakham in the County of Rutland (6).

We had a tea, a pie and some Ruttles songs courtesy of Alan. It was not far to go now and we were soon headed out across rolling farmland and made good time to the hostel at Thurlby in Lincolnshire (7).
Terrific hostel but a bit of a walk to the pub. At least the pub has top notch beer so all was well.

Day 4 Thurlby to Woody's Top

OK, so we're in to Lincolnshire now. Unlike the last time I was there we enjoyed a tailwind and sunshine. We stopped at Heckington for elevenses and made it as far as Tattershall for lunch. Riding along the top of the dykes we were making 20mph a lot of the time, it was great!

We had enough time to stop for a pint in Spilsby sitting outside the pub. We've not done much of that this year. We then headed off in to the Lincolnshire Wolds and found quite a few place names that seemed to have Lord of the Rings connections such as 'Bag Enderby'. There were a few hills to tackle before reaching Woody's Top Youth Hostel. It's an isolated hostel which did not even have running water until recently. Alan cooked and I baked blueberry muffins and served them with custard, yum.

Day 5 Woody's Top to West Bridgeford

The weather did not look too promising in the morning but we had no idea what was heading our way. After half an hour the rain started and from then on it did not stop. Imagine that you'd set your bike up in the bath, turned the shower on cold and then ridden for seven hours. That's what today was like, hammering down all day. We stopped in Bardney at a tearoom next to the old station, they showed us a video of the old trains running through. We then went to Lincoln and stopped at the cathedral for soup. When we left the area round our table looked like a flood - we had dripped so much. For the last 40 miles we just kept our heads down and pedalled. We passed through a place called Dry Doddington, talk about laugh out loud! We were probably a bit hysterical by that stage. Got to West Bridgeford in Nottinghamshire (8) at about 7 and spent the whole evening trying to dry out our stuff. Now that's what you would call a 'character building' day, at least it explains our collective eccentricity.

Day 6 West Bridgeford to Youlgreave

Today was a case of sunshine, showers and rain by turns. We headed north now, through Nottingham, Eastwood for lunch and then in to Derbyshire again (4). The going was much slower now as you seem to spend a good deal of time hauling yourself up a hill in low gear. It took some time to leave the urban sprawl but we knew knew were out of it by the time we stopped at a rural pub for a pint near Middleham Top. We stayed at Youlgreave Youth Hostel for the night.

Day 7 Youlgreave to Ilam Hall

Dry and breezy today as we headed north to Bakewell. Stopped at a café where we could sit outside in the sun, lovely. Even better, there was a high class pie shop just around the corner, perfection. Eventually we had to press on and we went through a stunning steep sided valley called Monsal Dale. It was a stiff climb out of the north end on a 1:5 but we realised too late that there's an alternative shorter route which is a 1:3. Must remember to take that route next time. We cycled over to Miller's Dale and then down to Taddington. Everything in the village has closed down except the pub which is now also the café and the local shop. Tasty soup though and we were able to sit outside. It was still quite a distance to the hostel but we had a secret up our sleeves, The Tissington Trail.

This is a disused railway line, now a cycle path. The surface is pretty good for the most part and some of the higher stretches offer scenic views overs the surrounding fields and dales. We arrived at Ilam in Staffordshire (3) in time to see the air ambulance helicopter picking someone up. Ilam has recently been refurbished but there were hardly any pans in the kitchen and no lids. Hopeless. They did sell bottled beer at the reception desk but they'd kept it in the fridge so it was too cold, hopeless again!

Day 8 Ilam Hall to Crewe

Last day today and Alan had made an early start. The rain was hammering down when I bade Trevor farewell and headed over to Leek. I stopped in a tea shop for a bacon roll and soup. Actually it was pretty cold today and I was wet through so I needed the extra warmth. Now the funny thing I've noticed about Staffordshire is that there are hardly any signposts. The main roads sign the big towns but the quieter roads which cyclists prefer have no road signs. I had planned for this with a GPS receiver and a moving map on my mobile phone. With this set up I was able to find my way through quiet lanes to Sandbach in Cheshire (1) and then down to Crewe for the train ride home.