Category: Ride Reports

LEICESTERSHIRE RIDE SUNDAY 27 MAY

Four Moultoneers met at 10am in Syston for the Leicestershire rural ride. Two riders were mounted on TSR 27s, one on a modified Series 3 and my chosen stead was a TSR 30 tour SR. As the temperature was already about 22C there were no takers for cake, scones and toasted tea cakes but water and tea were eagerly consumed.
Before the ride Matt Dunn was presented with the Johnston-Major Cup for identifying the best original painted vintage Moulton in the known universe.

The ride was mainly on lanes and minor roads, often gated, from one Conservation village to another most of which are mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The terrain in this part of Leicestershire is surprisingly undulating and affords excellent views and, for the densely populated Midlands of England, is delightfully free from vehicular traffic.

Many of the historic buildings in these villages are made of a type of sandstone called ironstone so the area looks like the Cotswolds but without the crowds and traffic.

Starting from Syston we headed eastwards into High Leicestershire through the villages of South Croxton, Beeby and Ashby Folville. Then we took the gated road and climbed to Thorpe Satchville, turned westwards to Gaddesby and then north to Rotherby, Frisby on the Wreake and then having crossed the river Wreake to Asfordby, only stopping briefly to check out an old Sun bicycle frame perched on top of a gate and to apply a generous smearing of sun block.

We then took the lane to Ab Kettleby which involved a three mile moderate climb and then on to Wartnaby the former ancestral home of Lord King of British Airways. We then turned west and rode along the only main road on the ride, the B676, before turning off to Grimston where we watered and fed in a leisurely and kingly manner at the Black Horse pub, before proceeding on our way along gated lanes having taken on additional water supplies. The temperate had soared to 26C – much too hot for the puncture gremlins!

Heading south we passed through the villages of Saxelbye, Rotherby and Brooksby. In the chapel of what is now Brooksby Agricultural College is the memorial to Lord Beatty of Brooksby and the North Sea - I always find the juxtaposition of the village of “Brooksby with the “North Sea” rather amusing. Admiral Beattie fought in the battle of Heligoland (August 1914) and Doggerbank (June 1915) and became Admiral of the Fleet in 1919.

Next came the villages of Thrussington, Radcliffe on the Wreake, East Goscote and finally the most dangerous part of our ride, along a cycle path crossed by occasional entrance drives to houses, then through the churchyard of St. Peter and St. Paul church in Syston (the first priest of the church was appointed in 1206 and if memory serves me right one of the early vicars was called Achibald the Bald).

When we got back to base no one wanted cake, scones or toasted tea cakes but the iced water produced by my wife was gulped down vigorously.

The ride was 42.66 miles.

The uneaten cake, scones with double cream and jam were most effective in helping me rebalance my energy deficiency.

Alex Johnson

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North West Ride under Manchester on the canals May 2012

Only 3 of us for what turned out to be a day of reasonable weather and a fascinating journey of discovery.

Our bike ride under and through Manchester and the Great Manchester Run interweaved all day. We start off in South Manchester at the Chorlton Water park, already thronging with outdoor people including a gaggle of fungi hunters.
After some very quiet back streets we emerge at Old Trafford.

From this point on our fortunes and the 40,000 runners will cross as we zig zag around greater Manchester. We are below them, alongside them, and occasionally above them. The complex canal system of Manchester is at complete variance to the road system, so even if I think I have a plan of Manchester in my head Mark's route pops us up at the most unlikely places. Then we are alongside the Manchester Ship Canal and heading to Media City. ITV and BBC guns drawn across the Irwell.

Back through the middle of Manchester and a bean pole of a trannie falls off her heels requiring a swift manoeuvre on my part, just a normal day in the gay quarter of Manchester.

Gorton is a rough old part of Manchester but Mark's route gets us into the rural idyl of Vale Cottage pub for our lunch stop, and second beer break, thirsty work is Manchester.

A sweep round East Manchester on the very rural Fallowfield Loop (national cycle network 6) gets us back to Chorlton around 20 miles later. Thanks again for the excellent route planning of Mark Taylor. If you knew how good are the events he organises you would all be along in droves.

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Five Moultoneers met up on a fairly non-descript road of semi-detached houses in a suburb of Chester with the threat of heavy showers literally hanging over us. At about 10:50 a shower started, punctuated with hailstones, some of us sought shelter in the doorway of a “house to let” but as all 5 couldn’t get shelter and 11 o’clock had now come and gone, we set off into the rain.

[flickr size="medium" float="right"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/moultonbuzz/7112996723/[/flickr] After about 30 meters of road we dropped onto national route 5, a beautifully smooth track based on the old rail line from Chester to Shotton steel works. After about 5 minutes the rain stopped and that was the last time it inconvenienced us for the rest of the day. Making good progress along the track, into a slight head wind, we travelled down this straight track passing numerous cyclists, dog walkers and ramblers. The tarmac was truly smooth, not damaged by tree roots or dug up & patched by utility companies etc, a real pleasure to ride along. We crossed the pedestrian bridge over the main A55 coast road by the ever-shrinking RAF Sealand facility. We continued on the national route 5 riding over the river Dee bridge, along the platforms of Shotton railway station and down onto the Chester Road for a café stop at the Corner Kitchen, with a great bike stand outside!

[flickr size="medium" float="left"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/moultonbuzz/6966919860/[/flickr]Suitably rested, fed & watered we set off taking a slightly different route back to the Dee bridge, crossed it once again and rode along the river side path with the strengthening wind now behind us. We passed the beautiful John Summers building, the old reception & management offices for the Shotton steel works – now sadly a boarded up listed building; I have visited the reception in the past when it was a fabulously appointed building, well worth preserving and using again in some form. The miles sped by on this smooth tarmced pathway as we passed the shooting school on the left then BA and its A380 Airbus wing facility on the right.

[flickr size="medium" float="right"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/moultonbuzz/6966920774/[/flickr]Shortly after we passed the water treatment works we turned off the riverside path and up Tower Road, turning right at Telford’s Warehouse to join the Shropshire Union Canal and up a flight of locks (the biggest climb of the day!). Once on the top of the locks we followed the canal through a deep & damp sandstone cutting topped with houses, along a cobbled section (love the suspension on Moulton’s) and out into a nicely re-developed area of Chester. We passed numerous renovated warehouses with bars & cafes, moored up canal houseboats, pedestrians – a really well manicured cosmopolitan area. After we passed the old shot tower, used for the manufacture of lead shot for shooting and an area about to be re-developed, we turned off the canal and re-joined the road network again. Taking a back road route passed the site of the old Chester hospital we returned to our cars in a few minutes.

All in all a pleasant day out, good company, 17 miles of mostly flat terrain, nearly all the route was free from internal combustion engines – just a pity about the rain at the start.
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Moulton North West Ride report 23rd October 2011 – Chorlton to Daisy Nook & back

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On a pleasant morning 6 of us gathered for the ride at Chorlton Water Park, with one member in
distress as on his way to the start his front wheel shed a large percentage of it’s rim! Thanks to
his family he was back on the route with his Speed 6, we caught him up on the Fallowfield loop,
an ex-rail line, now tarmaced. Now all seven of us rode to the eastern end of the loop, by Fairfield
station. Then we dropped onto the Ashton canal towpath for a short distance, passed a mountain
of bricks that was the Robertson jam factory and into the Moravian settlement.
This is a complete group of buildings, designed and built by the original inhabitants from 1785
and included a church, school and accommodation – it’s still a vibrant community over 200 years
later. Frequently used as a period film set with its cobbled streets and quaint looks.

Back on the road and up to Daisy Nook Country Park, a short comfort break, the area was built
around an old multi-level canal interchange, we had to cycle up 3 filled in canal locks and out
onto the main road. This was a better option than dropping down about 80 feet to the river below
and back up!

We rode into Woodhouses, for lunch at the Woodhouse Gardens pub. After appropriate food &
drink we left the pub and headed down the valley towards Manchester, about an 80-foot decent.

After crossing a main road we went into Clayton Vale, riding on smooth tarmaced paths as we
followed the river down stream.
We emerged near the National Cycling Centre, passed in front of the building to pick up the
Ashton canal again (a mile or so from the previous section we were on earlier in the day), a little
more of an industrial landscape this time. Up 3 locks and then we turned off along what was the
old Stockport branch canal (now filled in and converted to a cycle/footpath) to re-joined the loop
heading west back to Chorlton. This old railway line is in a cutting so we escaped the worst of the
wind until we emerged onto the streets again on the way to the car park where we had started.

We all made it back to the start without the need for tools, pump or waterproofs, all in all a good
day out.

By Tim Evans

It was a perfect day for this gentle pootle with friends, the sky was blue and the sun was hot. Twenty of us gathered at Paul Villiers’ workshop at Pier Approach, Gillingham, Kent. In the case of my TSR Rohloff it was a return to the place of its birth. We stoked up on tea, coffee and delicious home made cakes whilst discussing Moultons and also admiring some of Paul’s handbuilt frames; I could be seduced by that curly Hetchins inspired frame with chrome fork ends and beautiful lug work but I can’t think it would ride as well as my TSR.

Unusually there were no F-frames on this ride. The closest was Arthur Smith’s AS1, which is Moulton MK3 frame with AM front forks and AM rear triangle. Pure Moulton and much admired. Ah! what might have been if, 40 years ago, Raleigh had not known the price of everything and the value of nothing. Arthur’s done Lands End to John O’Groats and many other rides on it. Then there was Grace Elliott’s Bridgestone Moulton and an SP Brompton, which owes much to the Moulton MK3.

Eventually Paul called us to order and we set off to ride along the Medway estuary path which had an amazing number of width restrictors to prevent use by unauthorised vehicles or horses. The smell of the sea was lovely. There was a bit of a reference back to Charles Dickens with hulks sitting rotting in the marshes, but no prisoners. Eventually we joined quiet country lanes and arrived at Upchurch with its beautiful 14th century church with its unusual 'candle-snuffer' steeple. Wikipedia says the distinctive shape is believed to have been chosen to serve as a navigational aid for shipping on the River Thames and that in Roman times the village was the site of a community for ex-soldiers who wanted to settle in England.

Next stop was the Three Tuns Pub in Lower Halstow, built in 1468 and with an ale licence since 1764. They’ve changed the barrels many times since then and the hand-pulled Kent ale was in perfect condition. The food was good too. After a leisurely lunch in the garden we cycled back to Villiers Velos for more cake, squash and tea. The track from George Coulouris’ GPS is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=zdlrwfflzbktckhk. It was a bit of a Garmin ride as well as a Moulton ride with 2 Garmin Edge 605s (both using Open Street Maps free maps) and 2 Edge 800s. George’s pics are here as well http://tinyurl.com/63jssqj. His advice about how to get the best from a Garmin Edge GPS is at http://www.coulouris.net/biking/Garmin605.html.