More miles on the bike and a stroll around Ilam

Following Richard’s run last weekend he contracted a cold … and hence as he was out of action; I took the opportunity to get back on the bike. I managed to combine a visit to see my Grandad and a bike ride, by organising for my sister to give me a lift home…. this enabled me to choose a linear route, which as I described last week, is hugely preferable to cycling around in circles. Unfortunately the route from Tamworth to Nottingham is devoid of picturesque sights and hence no pictures were taken. Nevertheless the following interesting points were noted:

There is an “airport trail” around East Midlands airport – presumably for plane spotters.
Breedon on the Hill is very nice and has a small, interesting circular prison.
If you wish to open an account at Nationwide you have to queue up twice.
It is not at all obvious from a page of the road atlas whether one should turn left or right on the canal at Long Eaton to get to Ilkeston.
The canal towpath from Long Eaton to Ilkeston is really bumpy and is a little off-putting when motorcycles ride past.
It is really quite hard to eat a flaky sausage roll and cycle at the same time.

It was a nice ~40 miles, but the lift back with Sarah was appreciated. The cake of the evening is pictured. Whilst it was meant to be a roulade (swiss roll-like), this required hours in the fridge, which obviously wasn’t going to work and hence it ended up as a stack. It was delicious and even better on Sunday night!

The physio, who is fairly happy with my calf icing/heating/stretching/strengthening efforts, said that I should start walking up some gently inclined slopes, therefore on Sunday, Richard and I went to Derbyshire and walked from Thorpe to Stanshope and back, with a pub stop in the middle. The weather was lovely and the light dusting of snow made everywhere look very pretty.