Busy Doing Nothing - Conclusion

Drove home. 

The End!

Busy Doing Nothing - Day 7

Where I do even more miles on the bike!

The Monsall Trail gave me the idea of this holiday and was the main aim, it was also further than any previous day (although easier riding than on Wednesday). The drive over to Bakewell Station was more eventful than I’d have liked due to a deer running straight out in front of me. Fortunately I wasn’t driving too fast and braked but still caught it with a loud thump; by the speed it got up and shot away though it clearly wasn’t too badly injured and there was no sign of blood on the ‘van or road so there was little I could do. 

There is a clear trick with the Monsall, go early! I was able to get parked easily enough at Bakewell Station and for the first hour or so it wasn’t too busy. It was only really from 10 o’clock onwards that it started to become like a motorway. The views from the trail are absolutely stunning, although you’re quite enclosed for most of the way. 

Cycling through the tunnels was “interesting”; they are mostly lit but walkers in dark clothing don’t show up very well! I turned the bike’s built in lights on but I’m definitely going to improve on the front lamp, it would get you out of trouble in an emergency but that’s about it.  Overall it was 18.6 miles in 1:38 riding time on the cycle computer (17.9 miles in 3:43 on the OS app with 3796ft of ascent, that’s clearly wrong, losing the satellite signal in the tunnels confused things). 

I had coffee and cake at Millers Dale station (which was the largest station on the Midland Railway at one time), cue for a song to accompany the photo:

https://youtu.be/U6OHD2uCpfU

It was a shame that they took a very long time to serve the coffee, and it wasn’t that great. Two other gentlemen had a long wait as well, then all three arrived together so I’m suspicious mine had been sitting there as it wasn’t very hot. 

A little way further on the trail effectively just stops at this gate as the quarry beyond is still operational. It's a shame they haven't found a way to continue it on to Buxton.

As I'm nearly at the end of the trip cue another song, The End of the Line but probably not the one you'll expect https://youtu.be/dSE4Fzx4yjo 

Busy Doing Nothing - Day 6

A very lazy day!

In the end I decided to just drive into Ashbourne and leave the bike firmly on the rack. It wasn’t a very pleasant morning weather wise, dull, warm and close which confirmed the decision. First job on the agenda was breakfast, which was duly procured at one of the many cafes, in fact if you don’t want a coffee or a haircut in Ashbourne there’s a very limited choice! A full English and Americano with milk went down very well before I had a wander round the town. 

Ashbourne seems to have a bit of an identity crisis, tourist oriented in some ways but trying to be local in others. The architecture is also very mixed (see the photos below). It didn’t take that long to walk round before I decided another coffee was needed* and that had to be accompanied by some coffee cake! Visits to the green grocers, deli and butchers provided the food restock I needed to last out the week. 

Back on site, while I was sitting outside eating lunch, a smallish motorhome pulled into the vacant pitch opposite. Having sorted themselves out and put their two dogs outside they disappeared inside leaving the smaller pooch constantly whining away. It only stopped when they came out and eventually I gave up and went inside (the weather was starting to look a bit iffy anyway with a likelihood of rain). A while later they decided, for some reason, to up sticks and move to another pitch, much to my relief. Unfortunately they didn’t move all that far and the dogs were barking on and off most of the afternoon. It’s not really their fault as such but if your dogs are going to cause a constant disturbance on site you should be considering whether you’re doing the right thing taking them away. 

*I’d reached the point of needing to take pain killers as my back was sore. 

For a few minutes it looked like there wouldn’t be any pictures today as the camera and app wouldn’t let me access all of them (the phone and camera connect over WiFi). It’s been a bit iffy all week so I might look at alternatives. We got there after a dozen or so attempts. 

That architecture is definitely mixed, sometimes in one building:

This caught my eye, not so much for its artistic qualities but it would be interesting to reproduce on a model railway!

Busy Doing Nothing - Day 5

Where I do quite a bit!

Over coffee on Monday I’d arranged to go for a bike ride with one of my local friends, starting from the wonderfully named Parsley Hay. We decided to compromise on the original plan in case it was too far and go with a circular route that had lots of escape options back to the cars. 

The route we took was down the Tissington Trail past the old Hartington station. We then cut across and back up minor roads to the head of the High Peak trail which we followed back down to the cafe at Parsley Hay. We just timed it right for drinks (coffee for me) and lunch (a sausage cob which was literally two large delicious sausages, whole, in a roll). 

The route was reasonably easy riding for the most part with one long uphill drag and a couple of very steep bits. One of the latter defeated my best efforts, even with 250w (just over half a Chris Froome or a Bradley Wiggins) of boost courtesy of Bosch. It was good to get a mix of trail riding and quiet roads, with most of the climbing on tarmac which is easier. Inevitably  the headwind when we were going down the trail didn’t seem to become a tailwind when we had to make the height back! 

Our total mileage, according to the bike computer, was 16.59 miles in 1:38 actual riding time (16.14 miles, 1:37 according to the phone SatNav, with 1640ft of climbing). That’s about as far as I’ve ridden for a long time! I’m grateful to Doug, my riding partner for the day, as it’s probably not a route I would have picked myself. It was just about the right distance for a morning ride for me, although I could have done a bit more after lunch I was happy. The bike battery was still over 50% charged at the end indicating an effective range in those conditions of around 35 miles. I was running in level 2 (Tour mode) mode most of the time with a couple of forays up to Level 4 (Turbo) on steeper bits. 

Plans for tomorrow have changed slightly, and are still fluid. The original plan had been to cycle into Ashbourne from the caravan site but there’s no easy way to avoid a long stretch of busy road so I’ve rejected that. That leaves two alternatives, I can either drive into Ashbourne and park there or I could park at Tissington and ride the bottom end of the trail into town. That’s only about 4 miles each way, If I’m feeling particularly fit (unlikely) I could start higher up the trail but that’ll probably do me. 

Hartington box with the trail running in front:

Time for a breather after a steep road section! Lovely spot though. 

Busy Doing Nothing - Day 4

First a brief follow up to yesterday’s post. I’d just opened a beer after doing the washing up when the neighbours to one side asked if I’d like to join them; we had a pleasant chat for a while until it started to get chilly and time to move back inside our respective vans. 

Today turned out to be harder cycling than I expected. Usually reservoir paths are fairly flat as they follow the edges of the water but the one round Carsington Water has some steep hills as it goes over various headlands. I’ll confess to struggling a bit and ending up pushing up a couple of them. It didn’t help that there were sharp bends at the start of these which meant I had no momentum. By further round I got better at juggling gears and assistance levels* so found this easier. We’ll have to see how we go tomorrow! I stopped at the visitor centre for a coffee, had I been a bit later I’d have had lunch as the menu looked quite appetising, overall 8.9 miles in 1:04 according to the cycle computer, a bit slow but that includes the walking up hills. 

I think I’ve got the bike setup about right now. The phone holder works well, I just need to remember that if I’m going to track a route on the OS app I have to press Start! The new bar top bag for the camera does slip a bit (a bit of non-slip mat may sort that) but works in that I can take photos without ever getting out of the saddle. The rack bag is a bit big for general use but it does mean there’s some room for shopping if I ever need it. 

One thing that is annoying is I’ve got the intermittent front brake squeal back again. This happened last year at Grafham Water so maybe it’s only occurring at reservoirs? If it was a car I’d reckon to slip the pads out and smear a bit of copper slip on the backs but I’m not sure of the process on bike disc brakes! 

After that it’s just been another afternoon of relaxing and reading which ultimately was the primary aim this trip. No pressure, no rushing around. 

*The power assistance has four levels, Eco, Tour, Sport and Turbo. 1-4 would have been just as easy. 

A typical length of the trail, mostly standard gravel track (and a lot smoother than yesterday’s tarmac!)

There were a few wooden sculptures around the trail related to the partnership between Severn Trent and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Education Partnership:

Finally a shot from the dam back towards the visitor centre with the bike in the foreground just to prove it really exists and I’m not making this all up!

Busy Doing Nothing - Day 3

OK so today I did something! 

I’d arranged to meet up with friends for coffee at the head of the Manifold Way, which was the Leek and Manifold Light Railway until 1934. Interestingly it became a footpath back in 1937, making it one of the very earliest such uses of disused railways. We actually met at Hulme End where the old station buildings form a visitor centre and the engine shed is a great tea room.

It would have been silly to go there and not get the bike out so I arrived early and did about 2/3 of the route before turning back. I didn’t have the most comfortable of rides as the screw on the saddle rails came loose after a few miles; of course because I was only going for a potter I hadn’t put the back bag on which had the bike multi-tool in it. I’ll do a little bit of rearranging to avoid that in the future. I survived, and the repair has been done now I’m back on site. Coffee and a long chat ensued once my friends arrived and we made plans for a joint ride later in the week.

The way itself is tarmac, but done many years ago so it’s a bit rough in places. It’s easy going though and unlike most trails in the area it’s quite low level and flat, following the rivers Manifold and Hamps (information from Wikipedia) in the valley bottom. I met quite a few cyclists, walkers and horse riders, all pleasant and responsive to a good morning or a “how do”. I was quite a bit faster than one other cyclist but he was probably older than me, was laden for touring and I have a 250w Bosch motor for assistance! 😊

After coffee, and once I’d loaded the bike back on the ‘van, I realised it was about lunchtime so returned to the tearoom for a delicious hot pork and stuffing bap. I needed a quick shopping trip so I popped in to the CoOp in Ashbourne (I’m planning a longer visit to the town later in the week). My brother will remember the car park, we once deposited a large lump of mud on it! We were at Hartington steam fair with the Green Lane Association* and had been out in the Range Rover on some of the local lanes. They were mostly hard surfaces but there’d been one really muddy bit. Losing the mud off the inside of a wheel made a huge difference to the handling!

People watching on site:

A newly arrived couple took well over an hour to put up their porch awning, well I say couple, actually he did all the work! He even had a bit of string round a pulley that enables him to pull the awning through the track while feeding it in, while she stood watching. Having finally got it fed on it took another 20 minutes to blow up the air beams (no poles these days on posh awnings) and about 30 to bang in the pegs. 20 minutes later there was another session with the electric pump to put a bit more air in. 

*Shortly afterwards we decided green laning wasn’t sustainable due to a combination of irresponsible idiots and council rights of way budgets being pared to the bone so we gave it up. It was a good way to enjoy the countryside but not at the risk of creating permanent damage. 

A typical view of the Manifold Way:

Hulme End Station:

Busy Doing Nothing - Day 2

Where I do even less! 

The plan for the day was to get the bike out and go round the reservoir near the site, Carsington Water. Unfortunately when I finally woke at around 8am (which is late for me) it was raining and, whilst never very heavy, it persisted through to early afternoon. I had a leisurely breakfast, caught up on social media, read quite a bit and had a leisurely lunch. There were a couple of frustrations on the way, including the fact the Aeropress coffee maker fits inside the mug I use and managed to get jammed in! I did eventually free it up and enjoyed a nice mug of fresh filter coffee. 

I was in two minds when the rain did clear about going out but as Saints were on telly (well mobile phone at least) I decided the rugby would take precedence. I was really glad I’d decided to watch it as it was a cracking game against Exeter. We just came up short at the end but we had played 65 minutes with only 14 men (despite what some supporters are saying it was a definite red card). 

The Covid precautions on site seem to be working ok and everyone is being sensible. The facilities are limited to 6 people at any one time, it’s managed by having 6 rubber wrist bands in a small bucket of Milton and 6 hooks. As you go in you move a band from bucket to hook then drop one back in the bucket as you leave. It works provided people remember to put them back afterwards! In truth I think the precautions are now a bit excessive (such as closing every other cubicle) but it’s allowed them to open the facilities so that’s a positive. 

The weather forecast for the next couple of days is a lot better so I’ll definitely be out and about. I will need a little bit of shopping (bread rolls mainly) so will drive up to Bakewell one day, I want to do the Monsall Trail (probably the most famous of the trails along old railway lines) so will combine that with some shops.  

Busy Doing Nothing - Day 1

Nearly half way through the year and I’ve finally managed to get away to Derbyshire. 

If anyone is reading this in the distant future the restrictions on movements due to the Covid-19 virus finally started to ease again in May 2021, albeit with some limitations still in place. 😊

Since the last update I’ve made a few improvements to the ‘van. A new water tap and some rearranging means I can now get the water and waste carriers in and out easily. I’ve also added a 115w solar panel and a sun canopy, both mounted on a roof rack. The solar setup is intended to keep the coolbox running when I’m off grid or the ‘van is parked up, for example when I split holidays between camping and hotels. It’s a bit oversize for just that purpose but in the future (probably on the next camper) I may fit a larger battery and inverter so I can recharge the bike battery. 

This trip is a bit different to normal in that I haven’t planned everything in exact detail (there’s still a spreadsheet though!) A lot of places aren’t open or need pre-booking so I’m not bothering too much about visits, the main aim is to just relax and get out and about a bit on the bike, hence the title. I had one disaster before setting off, the pint bottle of milk out of the freezer was “off” when I defrosted it but Waitrose at Leicester Forest services supplied a fresh replacement (and SubWay provided breakfast). 

Of course I couldn’t come away without railways being involved. 😀 I was looking for somewhere to break the journey on the way up and while following the route on Google Maps (the high tech equivalent of Brown Sign Bingo*) I came across the Famous Trains Model Railway in Markeaton Park in the edge of Derby. As there’s also a craft village (which was mostly closed) with cafe it seemed to fit the bill. As I was a bit early for the models, and after I’d finally persuaded the app to let me pay for the car park, I went for a coffee, very good it was too.

Unfortunately the Famous Trains didn’t open on time at 11:00 due to a lack of volunteers but I only sat in the car for 15 minutes or so before they found enough bodies. It’s a slightly odd place but the main layout modelling is to a decent standard and some of the smaller scenes were interesting. It was certainly worth the £2.50 entrance fee and having been starved of exhibitions for so long it was great to see what others have done. 

I was still a bit early to get onto the caravan site so popped in to the car park adjacent to the site at Carsington Water and had an ice cream before joining the arrivals queue. It’s always a difficult one, yes I had to queue but being reasonably early I’ve got a pleasant corner pitch with some shade from the trees (which somewhat negates the solar panel and sun shade!)  After getting sorted I carried out a minor bit of bike fixing, changing the toe clips for shorter ones (I only have small feet) but otherwise it’s just relaxing and reading. 

 

The intention  tomorrow is to get the bike out when I can be bothered and cycle round the reservoir. On the way I’ll suss out the facilities including the bar for possible future visiting. Later in the week I’m hoping to explore some of the old railway lines that are now cycling and walking trails, the aim being to minimise use of the ‘van. 

*I’ve used the Brown Sign Bingo term a few times in my blog. It’s basically seeing a brown sign for a tourist attraction and following it. I’ve found some great places that way but also been caught out by a railway museum that had clearly closed a few years before. 

Shade, Tanglefoot and Kindle, life doesn’t get much better!