Option 2: Get up before them and bugger off on the bike for a few hours.
Its no contest on a warm and tranquil day and I'm out of the house by 7.00 Wake up 'Blue Vernon' and off we go with a bit of AC/DC on the MP3 player to get the blood pumping. I could take NCN route 67 (is it 67? I can't remember) but I really don't like the section between Sheaf Square and Beighton so stick to the roads via Mosborough and Killamarsh and join the NCN route at Harthill and then onwards to Worksop and Clumber.
Its a mainly beautiful morning with hardly a breath of wind. Skylarks starting to chirp over the fields. Well I would have heard them if it wasn't for Bon Scott belting out some classic tunes. No traffic and I'm loving it.
Get to Clumber and make my way to cafe to try and get some tea. I'm easily the youngest person around! Dog walkers at the moment. I've beat the rush. Not even any other cyclists. Anyway, quick pootle the roads and tracks around the park before making my way back. I'd heard that Clumber had become a bit of a mecca for 'dogging' but no evidence of that. Don't suppose there would be at 9ish on a Sunday morning though. That, of course, was NOT my reason for riding here!
Could choose a different route back but decide that I enjoyed the route here so much I'll retrace it. Lovely along the Chesterfield Canal although need to take it steady and avoid the many dogs that are being walked without a lead. Everything is great until get to White Lane and you have to contend with the tram tracks and then the ring road. Stopped in Graves Park to watch Norton Lees Juniors play a friendly match and then home.
Really enjoyed that and felt like I could have ridden all day. Just over 52 miles on the clock.
1 comment:
Suggstion for heading east out of Sheffield - not necessary at 7 on a sunday 'cos there's no traffic! - but if you head up the NCN as far as the Mosbrough Parkway (all tarmac albeit occasionally glass strewn) then continue through the woods on the footpath alongside the real Parkway, you emerge at the ASda on Handsworth Rd. This is the old A57 and is nice and wide for fast cycling and has a Very Long Downhill. Cool! You can catch up with the NCN at Wales. (Nos'ta!)
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