SLOTHO Day 4a: cycling from Stratford-upon-Avon to Nottingham

SLOTHO was intended to be an 8 day tour from Swanage to Newcastle staying in YHA youth hostels on the way. SLOTHO means SLeep Out To Help Out – helping out the YHA which has been facing tough times since COVID and has been forced it to sell off many smaller hostels.

When I planned SLOTHO there had been some hopes that a “blocking high” would give respite from the endless series of meteorological depressions that have brought seemingly constant high winds and rain to the UK this spring. But it was not to be, and another severe depression brought forecasts of up to 40mph, headwinds and heavy rain on day 5 and continuing for the rest of the tour. I was still unfit after illness and decided to abandon on day 4 (“today” in this video) and divert to Nottingham station instead of Hartington hostel to catch a train home. The YHA refunds 80% of fees for bookings cancelled by noon the day before, and I booked a cheap advance ticket on the 19:46 train. I was sure I’d make the 19:46, after all I had finished every other day earlier than that! But I didn’t want to be very early as I had been miserably cold (and subsequently ill) waiting for a train at Nottingham on a previous occasion.

First stop was Charlecote Park, but it was early and didn’t appear to be open, although the deer were near enough the fence to be watched for a few minutes, and I really do like deer! The next few miles were nice sunny lanes and I encountered quite a few fast cyclists cramming in their weekend ride before the weather deteriorated. My legs felt like lead! When I saw a cafe at Warwick I couldn’t resist – and when I saw “bikers bar” in the window I knew it was meant to be! The caffeine and carbs did the trick!

I have never seen Kenilworth before and was amazed by the size and grandeur that the ruins hinted at. The museum in the gatehouse had an interesting display about Queen Elizabeth 1st’s Royal progresses to see and be seen around her realm and gave an insight into the background of the ruins and the times.

The route into Coventry was off-road but right beside it, so not very nice. In contrast the route out of Coventry was canal towpath – nice but slow in places where the path was much muddier and more broken than any I filmed as I needed both hands on the bars to stay out of the canal!

By mid afternoon the sky was grey and the wind was definitely heading me. I realized I had used up too much of my spare time and so I pressed on steadily, but still took the opportunity to enjoy the off-road sections even though there were road diversions which would have been quite a lot quicker. Nevertheless I thought I was still keeping enough time in hand

I planned the day’s route very late the previous evening and placed too much reliance on Komoot’s automatic route planning; I assumed it would have used the same excellent route from East Midlands Airport to Nottingham which it had used on a reverse course last year (it knows far more cycle paths than I can find on a map). It was only when it told me to ride on a multi- laned A-road with fast traffic that I realized something was wrong, but it took me somewhat longer to realize that when I set “Nottingham Station” as the destination the app had chosen to route me to Beeston Station in the suburbs and Nottingham station was a few miles further on – too far to reach in the time remaining and apparently invisible to Komoot’s search capabilities!

I was about 10 minutes too late for my train so I had to buy a full-price ticket for the last train. When I got to platform 4 all was quiet and dark and the sign said that the train waiting there was a much later train for Matlock. I checked and saw my train was now platform 2. I walked 185 meters (according to the sign) back to the lift, crossed the bridge and saw that my train was now back on platform 4, flashing. I asked the man on the gate, he checked and said the flashing meant a platform change and it was leaving platform 4 in 3 minutes. Back to the lifts, another 185 meters… On the way I met a crowd of running people who were all heading from platform 2 for the still dark train on platform 4. The train staff seemed as confused as us and hurriedly redirected passengers for stations with short platforms into the front of the train which left plenty of room for me and my bike in the back, and time at last to eat my well-travelled sandwiches on the way home. At least I hadn’t got cold standing waiting on a platform!

There are more videos coming! When there was an opportunity in the weather I returned to Nottingham to visit Hartington at last and so, in effect, I completed day 4 of SLOTHO in 2 stages. That ride will be the subject of the next short video. Then there are more to come but the plan changed a bit!

I hope you enjoyed this video!

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Music Copyright:
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Music: Stylish Background Classical Waltz Piano
Musician: MusicLFiles
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6330-stylish-background-classical-waltz-piano