Eight ‘Happy Campers’ cycled to Brook Meadow campsite at Sibbertoft (near Market Harborough) on Saturday 20 May: Ian Richardson, Julian Tatam, Phil Gee, Jon Lyall, Chris Farrow, Alistair Northend, Ian Todd, joined by Malc Jacklin later in the evening after he had ridden a nearby audax event.

We followed a hilly 54-mile route out via Barrowden and Stoke Dry with a coffee stop at Sweet Hedges farm café near Stockerston, then on via Goadby and the Langtons for another stop by the Grand Union canal at Foxton Locks, after a brief ride along the canal towpath.

Great countryside in this area with a couple of highlights when we were stopped by a herd of cows and then had to wait whilst the over was finished at Gumley Cricket Club, because the pitch spills out over the hillside and over the road! A case of ‘Cricket stopped Cycling’ rather than ‘Rain stopped Play’!

We had a good meal at the Red Lion pub in Sibbertoft and had breakfast at the local Gliding Club café about a mile along from the campsite, before setting off on our 53-mile return route which joined the club run (Ian Waddilove and Charlie Joseland) at the Rockingham Village Stores café.

Needless to say, there were a few more hills on the way back, notably the drag up to Gretton and a short ‘steepie’ out of Deenethorpe.

Look out for the next camping or youth hostelling trip later in the year!

Ian Todd – Leisure Rides Secretary