Tour de Leicester, day 3

I went to bed in my hilltop tent after a fiery sunset.  The night was cooler, and I was woken in the dark by what I think was a rabbit behind the tent, giving a yip-yip-yip alarm call.   In the morning I headed north east towards Melton Mowbray, 20 miles away.  I wasn't hopeful of finding breakfast, but just outside the pretty village of Wymeswold there was an industrial park with a cafe & bakery, serving a mouth-watering pain au raisin.

Sunset

11s

I was back in the "crinkly" landscape of the Leicestershire Wolds, zig-zagging in and out of the Soar valley.  The Soar is the definitive river of Leicestershire,  rising just over the border to the south west in Warwickshire,  and soaring downhill to a big exit to the north east, where it soon gets absorbed by the river Trent.

Leicestershire villages

I had nearly completed a circle around Leicester, as I saw signs to Frisby again, but instead I chose the delights of Melton Mowbray,  a big town with a nice feel - plenty of pedestrianised shopping, also Ye Olde Pie Shoppe where no doubt you can buy a souvenir pie or two.  After a two-course elevenses, I headed east and north across the rolling countryside, and the county border, to Grantham, in Lincolnshire.   On the way I passed through Woolsthorpe,  where Isaac Newton invented gravity in the plague lockdown of 1666.

Apart from a lovely entry to town - several miles downhill followed by a riverside cycle path - I found it a bit disappointing.  After a late lunch in Morrisons, I was ready to head off - but where to?

It's funny how days can differ.  Yesterday,  I was all in after 50 miles, but today after 50 miles to Grantham,  I felt I could manage the 25 miles to the next potential campsite, south east in Bourne.

After an initial climb out of town, the trend was downhill, south through little villages and more harvest scenes, combine harvesting, baling the straw, muck spreading and then ploughing.  Busy time for farmers (and the cows, I imagine).

Lincolnshire

Tea stop

The last few miles to Bourne were off-road, starting with a dodgy track and then a better forest track, which made a nice change from the empty lanes.  I saw more people in the forest (three) than I saw on the roads between Grantham and Bourne.  I may suggest this to the organisers of London-Edinburgh-London,  as it would make a nice change from all those boring roads and add a bit of spice to the route, especially at night time.

I rather dashed through Bourne as it was getting late.  There were two campsites on the other side of town, quite a long way out as it transpired, five miles on a long straight windy road.  I stopped at the first, and it was lovely.  The campsite manager, also called Simon , was very welcoming, showed me to a sheltered pitch, and even offered me a ready meal to cook for my evening meal.   I declined, but he also suggested an excellent pub just (3 miles) down the road.

84 miles in all, and 1000m of climbing, so a big day fully justifying a big evening meal and plenty of re-hydration.

Day 2 · Day 3 · Day 4