Touring Rutland, day 4

Today will be the end of my tour of Rutland.  There was a bit of rain overnight,  but it was dry when I woke in my spartan camp site.  Unfortunately the wind has gone back to its tiresome 17-20mph force, but it's warmer with a bit of sun.

Breakfast in Oakham, and then a 20 mile meander to the north before returning to Rutland Water.  I headed out west, past Whissendine windmill, before briefly visiting Leicestershire on Cuckoo Hill.  Even further west was the vast, flat, plain of Leicestershire.  But appearances can be deceptive.   Melton Mowbray was only six miles, but in the wrong direction for elevenses.  Virtually no cars but several cyclists, one of whom was very keen to tell me about cycling in Jedburgh, where he lives.

Whissendine Mill

Milling in progress (electric powered)

As I despaired of finding a coffee stop before hitting the Water, a rare countryside bakery materialised out of nowhere.  A few miles further on, and I was on the north shore of Rutland Water,  still just as hilly but mostly tarmac this time.   A gaggle of ladies on hired e-bikes stopped me:  "You look professional.   How long will it take us to ride round the lake?"  I appreciated the flattery, and, using all my experience of estimating arrival times, told them I really couldn't say.  I wish them luck.  I'm sure they'll have an adventure. 

The north shore seemed much shorter, perhaps with a tail wind? - and soon I crossed the dam at the Eastern end, before completing the last bit of the southern shore.  I passed a small church built on the water (on a church-sized land peninsula).  Outside were three wind-blown groomsmen, and as I watched the bride and matron of honour arrived in a car.

Normanton church

After completing the circuit of the Water, I headed into southern Rutland, first visiting Rutland's second town, Uppingham  which fully justifies the "up" as it's both on a hill and rather upper-class, with a posh private school and lots of galleries and antique shops.  Nice place with an unusual figure-of-eight one-way system.

It was becoming more hilly as I travelled South.  Down the hill was beautiful Lyddington, a long thin village which didn't seem to have any purpose except to be decorative.  There were a couple of pubs, but no shops, no industry of any kind.  All the houses were built out of dark yellow-brown stone.

Lyddington

Somewhere I must have returned to Northants.  A few more miles and I was entering Corby, my destination.   First I encountered what looked like a massive stadium - much bigger than Twickenham.   Was it Silverstone?   No - apparently it used to be a speedway, but it folded after a few years.  Then I passed loads of industrial units - logistics, engineering, and the Weetabix factory.   Eventually, the actual town, with houses and so on.   It was nicely laid out, but from the look of the shops there isn't a rich area.   However, it was notable that all the people did have very well pressed trousers.

Overall, it's been interesting to see some new places.  281 miles and 3255 metres of climbing across the four days.  I've sampled five counties (Lincs and Leics only briefly).  On reflection,  I liked the towns and villages of Huntingdonshire best, but the roads were mostly B roads, long, straight and quite busy.  Some nice cycle paths though.   Northants was good cycling, about half of it along the river Nene (which incidentally flows into "feeds"(*) Rutland Water).  Quite hilly away from the Nene, but very quiet roads and nice villages.  Rutland is a bit special because of the Water, which was nice but not fantastic on a loaded bike.  It was a lot more fun when I didn't have the panniers, last night.  The roads are similar to Northants, quiet and nice, but more hilly, I think.

Next time I'll study the wind forecast as well as the rain and temperature!

* Edited after info from Dave V: the Nene does not "flow into" Rutland Water, it flows into The Wash, but Anglian Water take some of the river water and feed it into Rutland Water.

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