SLOTHO Day 5b: cycling from Boston to York 112_miles

Gosh… that was a long one: I mean the editing, which seems to have taken longer than the ride!

I embarked on SLOTHO in order to have a good challenging winter(ish) tour and to support the YHA in its recovery from COVID. SLOTHO means SLeep Out To Help Out! My SLOTHO tour went from Swanage to Newcastle staying in Youth Hostels on order to support the YHA. They were nice places to stay!

A number of hostels have closed recently and that left some big gaps to ride. Combine that with the gales and rain storms which have battered the UK this spring (2024), and I realized I couldn’t complete the tour beyond day 4 at the first attempt. I gave up at Nottingham! Nottingham has a direct train to my home town of Boston.

In a short gap in the bad weather I fitted in a 2 day trip from Nottingham to Hartington Hostel (I really like it there) and back to Boston. It wasn’t intended to be a part of SLOTHO – just a nice ride to explore a new route. Then, on the Tuesday before Easter, I saw that the weather was ok to try again: mainly southerly winds and sunshine as well as inevitable rain bands, but on closer inspection the rain was predicted to be worst at night when I’d be in a nice warm hostel! The only problem was that it was forecast to turn unpleasant again on Sunday (which didn’t happen): that was one day too few for me – because I couldn’t set off until Wednesday. But then I realized I could save a day by not repeating the journey to Hartington. I could set off to York from Boston and use my previous Nottingham – Hartington – Boston ride to join up my tyre tracks. Thus my original stage 4 became 4a to Nottingham followed by my linking ride from there to Hartington (4b). My ride from Hartington to Boston would be 5a and I would complete the 5th stage by riding straight from Boston to York (5b). After that, stage 6 and onwards would follow the original plan.

I knew a route to York – D Day had helped me plan it at last year’s York Rally, based on his route to Gainsborough. But Komoot suggested a variation passing East of Gainsborough and crossing the Trent at Keadby. That was what I chose, for variety. It basically followed the Witham, Fossdyke, Trent (but with a diversion and the only “hills”to avoid Gainsborough), Keadby Canal, Selby Canal and then the railway path to York.

It’s nice when things surprise you. The Bascule Bridge at Keadby was my first surprise. The second was about a mile further on: the recently rebuilt sliding canal bridge. Both structures are remarkable. The sliding bridge is unique in Britain, and the Bascule Bridge was the world’s largest when built, though sadly it is now fixed and can’t lift.j

Scenery: no mountains, but actually pleasant almost all the way. The Keadby Canal felt like the emptiest place I’ve ever been and it may be so! The Thorne Wastes are a huge, empty area by UK standards!

Anyway… I hope you enjoy the video, just as I enjoyed the ride.

At the end I still had enough energy left to face the rest of the tour!

Made by FotoPlay
Music Copyright:
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Music: Stylish Relaxed Waltz Piano
Musician: MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6425-stylish-relaxed-waltz-piano