Day 4, Wednesday 19 June

Moseley to Belton-in-Rutland

Outside Hurley Post Office
Not waiting for a bus!

Lunch at the Hercules Inn, Sutton Cheney

Having had a good night’s sleep in the comfort of our own beds we assembled along with Huw for part two of our tour. From Moseley it was down hill all the way through busy suburbia to Tyseley, over the railway line and the Tyseley Locomotive Works enthusiasts’ rail restoration project, through Hay Mills, across the A45 Coventry Road, one of the arterial roads leading into the city, and finally onto the blissfully smooth and level Cole Valley Cycle Way, a real breath of fresh air towards Coleshill. A quick hop and a skip through Coleshill took us past Kingsbury Water Park where the River Cole joins the River Tame and old gravel extraction pits have been turned into a recreation area of walks, water sports and wild fowl reservations.

Ceri met us outside Hurley post office for coffee and nibbles before the first uphill section of the day that peaks at Baxterley following the North Warwickshire Cycleway before descending along the aptly named Twenty Oaks Lane to Atherstone. Then came an undulating 20 miles in the middle of which we paused for a well earned lunch in Sutton Cheney, before descending to Leicester where, for a few miles, the River Soar Navigation plays host to the Grand Union Canal. Here we joined Sustrans Route 63 to get us through Leicester. We enjoyed an afternoon snack with Ceri who met us in Evington and then, suitably refreshed, we climbed out of the Soar valley, steadily upwards by fits and starts, past Leicester Airport near somewhere called Kings Norton (there’s another one in Birmingham) to the highest point at Ilston on the Hill.

We left Route 63 to avoid the busy A47, Uppingham Road. The last mile or so was very steep so by the end we were glad this long day was over; it had taken us pretty much nine hours. Huw had found himself an idyllic room in remote Chestnuts Lodge Farm down a stony track just south of the main road. Ceri collected us from our various lodgings and drove us to our evening meal in Belton.