Nottingham Meet
Simon: "My first ALC Meet of the spring and first longish ride with my Surly Disc Trucker. Home to Nottingham was about 95 miles (including detours around HS2). I had done a few 60 mile trips and thought muscle memory would carry me over the line."
"Well I think my muscles have clearly got amnesia. The hills have grown in the 20+ years since I last rode to the Nottingham site. Though no complaints about the bike. Fortunately though Rita was at the site ready with tea and cake - normal service resumed and a lovely cake it was too.
Saturday morning I took the bus to Nottingham. What a fantastic service every 20 minutes each way until late at night. Though the castle itself is long gone and replaced with a Georgian house. This was the last weekend of an art exhibition bringing together work from a US gallery and Nottinghamshire collections, including a number of impressionist pieces.
Afterwards to the oldest pub in England ‘ye olde trip to Jerusalem’ dating back to 1189 and carved into the rock beneath the castle walls. Prices though are definitely more modern.."
"Sunday took me back home avoiding Leicester as crossing cities by bike is not always the most pleasant experience. The route took me past the now defunct last coal power station at Ratcliffe, which closed in 2024 and is in the process of being demolished. A pity that the towers could not be retained as a reminder of 20th century industry. Growing up in West Yorkshire my horizons were marked by three such behemoths: Drax, Ferrybridge and Eggborough and seeing them a reminder that I was nearly home. So Kingsbury awaits and only 50+ miles so the Surly is ready and waiting.
Rich: Talking with one of our other Section councillors Stuart (as we do regularly at night while driving up and down the motorways) it was decided we needed to get out for a couple of days camping. As neither of us had managed to get to the two Nottingham club site Meets the section have had there, and it being about the same distance from both of us, we called HQ and booked in for a couple of days midweek.
A late finish at work meant an early afternoon departure from home for the ride up by motorcycle. Stuart had had the whole week off, so was all set up when I got there. We decided to head into Nottingham the next day, it's easy by bus as the Shepherds Stonehouse pub across from the site is a park and ride location with buses every 20 minutes.
We spent a few hours walking round the city centre, visiting the city caves and a couple of the city's finest hostelries and deli's, before heading back to the site."
"There is a lot to do in Nottingham, the few hours there wasn't long enough. I hope to get back to the site again, hopefully at a Meet my shifts allow me to get to.
Sarah: “Nottingham was close enough to home for me to travel to the meet by bicycle. It turned out to be a perfect site for lightweight camping with its spacious grassed area, a cafe on site, books to borrow, a pub a few minutes walk away and being local to the city park and ride service too. Full marks for the wonderful shower cubicles that are more like bathrooms with sinks, plenty of room for all your things and heavenly underfloor heating. Just what I needed after the cycle over.”
Rita: “Whilst in Nottingham, I walked along the canal path which is by the railway station. There are cafes, pubs and restaurants nearby as it's in the city. There was also a wildlife garden which is looked after by volunteers, and a model of a heron made from old bicycles and shopping trolleys removed from the canal.
As you can see from the wrapping, Cropwell Bishops Creamery was established in 1847. It was a couple of miles from the campsite and I visited the tea shop, had tea and egg custard tart and bought some blue Stilton made using non animal product. The photo shows the beautiful design of the waxed paper used to wrap this version of the Stilton cheese. Long live Wallace and Gromit."