Nottingham Easter Meet - A Lovely Cycle Ride

At the Easter meet we had a 46 mile for 75 km circular cycle Saturday ride starting at Nottingham Camping and Caravan Club site.

Chris had done a fantastic job on planning and checking out the route beforehand, he even arranged for it not to rain! You can see the start and finish point on the right hand side of the map picture.

Our first stop was at the surprisingly interesting Wollaton Park housing estate, built around 1920 within Wollaton Park, which had been bought by the council. We had our picture taken under a spectacular flowering cherry tree, thanks to a local who was commandeered as a stand in for David Bailey!

Mostly riding along quiet roads we reached the next point of interest, Bennerley Viaduct, built in 1877 for the Great Northern Railway across the Erewash River. It was once over 400 metres long and has an interesting history. We enjoyed the “hairpin bends” going up and down from the bridge!

Lunch was at the Nutbrook Coffee Shop and we could sit in the garden eating an excellent and well deserved meal!

Our last point of interest was the decommissioned Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, the last coal fired UK power station until its closure in September 2024. The site is set to become a waste incinerator…

On the way back a pile up was narrowly averted when Nigel decided to make an emergency stop to have a chat with a pedestrian who had shouted good wishes for our cycle ride. It turned out she was a very keen cyclist herself and had previously worked for Sustrans.

The last point of interest was the National Watersports Centre where we took a look at the white water section - a guy was showing remarkable balance standing on a paddle board there!

We just made it back to the campsite coffee shop in time for a hot drink and a cake. Thank you so much to Chris for arranging a very enjoyable and interesting trip!