Route 6, squirrels and punctures

View across lake from Newstead Abbey

Spent most of yesterday pootling from Derby along route NCN route 6 to Worksop and very nice it was too. Most of the route is very flat and on well surfaced tracks and minor roads away from busy traffic. Well at least it is when you don't get lost as we did in Long Eaton, Nottingham (twice) and then near Blidworth. In these instances we resorted to main roads to get ourselves back on track including a stretch on the very busy A614 which wasn't that pleasant. All of these detours added quite a bit to the mileage so in the end we'd done 65 miles instead of 54. Generally though, the route is well signposted. It was just us being crap.

From Derby the well surfaced track follows the River Derwent to Borrowash where you then join minor roads and tarmaced tracks through to Beeston and Nottingham. My only criticism of the section between Long Eaton and Nottingham is that the route seems to go 'round the houses' (literally in some instances) with lots of road crossings and so on. Can't comment on the route through Nottingham as we ended up in the city centre and took a main road North to rejoin route 6 near New Basford.

The route then crosses the railway line where you have to drag your bike up and down some steep steps. There are some helpful 'wheel tracks' so you can push your bike up rather than carry it. Never come across these before. I can imagine that these are useless though if you are trying to get a loaded/heavy bike down them as as soon as you touch the brakes the wheel skids. Got lost again shortly afterwards and ended up going in a big circle near some park in North Nottingham.

After this it was back to quiet routes and the picturesque route through Newstead Abbey shortly followed by beer and food at a pub near Ravenshead (Little John Inn I think). After a long lunch we proceeded to get lost again taking quite a long detour on a busy road before rejoining the route in Sherwood Forest where the tracks became much rougher and my 28mm tyres were only just coping. It was here that a squirrel decided to have an argument with my bike! This particular little critter couldn't make up his mind which side of the track he wanted to go for as I bore down upon him. He just made it under my front wheel and was soundly clonked about his body by my left foot and pedal. Although it probably hurt it a lot it did keep us (very) amused for ages afterwards. No more than a mile or so later I had another close encounter with one of the little tree rats. Its possible that the squirrel population of Sherwood Forest has a particularly low IQ.

However, karma was soon balanced as I suffered a front and rear p*nct*re at the same time (one of which was actually over another patch!). We could see the squirrels laughing at the side of the track. Only one spare tube (bugger) so had to fix one. Didn't do a good job though as this later started to very slowly deflate (double bugger). It was now starting to get a bit dark and so on went the lights.

The rapidly failing light combined with leaves and small branches covering a very rough track and a slow puncture inside a 28mm tyre made for an interesting ride through the rest of the forest. In hindsight we rode this with a bit too much of a gung ho attitude as we wanted to get a particular train in Worksop. One big branch or big pothole and we would have been toast.

We did make our train (with a minute to spare) but not before a big van tried to wipe us out in Worksop city centre. Pete's loud slap on the side of it probably made them think they'd got one of us.

Overall a great day on a very nice route but definitely one for taking your time on and I'm grateful to those who advised against 23mm tyres!