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My Ride To Work

Home 2008 Review Ride to Work Compost Box Domont Ride April Snow      

My ride to work is 4.25 miles, 3.3 miles is off road.  The off road starts by Shepshed's most desirable address, Number 2, Butthole Lane.  Butthole lane forms byway L17 that heads from Loughborough Road past the Dovecote football ground and across the Garendon estate.  It finishes midway between Shepshed and Loughborough.

©Stephen Dee

ID 2008-04-29-27049

 

A view looking up the Shepshed end of Butthole lane.  It was given a tarmac surface at the start of 2000.  Prior to that it was a rough surface akin to granite cobbles but with the sets laid with corner up and hence gave a rough ride.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27361

Butthole Lane by the bottom end of the allotments in Shepshed, Butthole Lane gets a lot of traffic from allotment holders who drive rather then walk to their plots.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27353

After passing the Allotments and the Playing fields for the two Shepshed Schools, the M1 is crossed.  The bridge has a restriction which is ignored by all cyclists!  Clue - it is not the weight restriction.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-11-27518

A frequent view when crossing the M1, especially in the afternoons when northbound traffic can be crawling or stationary.  About twice a year at least the M1 gets closed due to bad driving and traffic chaos results on the local roads.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27345 (L)

 

Looking down byway L17/Butthole Lane after the descent from the motorway bridge.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27334 (R)

 

About 1.1 mile from home, the landlord has placed logs across the route to prevent cars being dumped on the estate.  Butthole Lane is shown as a road on GPS mapping, and on one occasion on the way to work when the M1 was in chaos I found an idiot car driver trying to save time trying get past.  If he did he would of of come across locked gates at the Loughborough end not to mention an abrupt mismatch between what his GPS would of told him to do and the reality at the end of byway L17.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-11-27521

The yellow footpath marker marks the end of byway L17.  To the right behind the trees is footpath K68 which has been a permissive cycle route since 1978 I believe.  The gate is where Butthole Lane continues, but it is not defined through the field and is not a right of way.  The GPS systems and Google Maps shows Butthole Lane continuing, but the estate road which K68 follows as a road that ends in the middle of nowhere.  Mapping systems such as Multimap.com show the same error, look up the location SK493201.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27330

A short way down K68, there is gate that can be locked shut on many occasions.  This is not a problem and is legal as the route is a permissive cycle route along the footpath of K68.  When locked there is a gap to the left of my bike in which is possible to ride a solo but walk a triplet and trailer through.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27323

The estate road which K68 follows joins up with Hathern Drive, an estate road that starts at the south end of Hathern and leads in an almost straight line to the gateway at the end of an avenue of popular trees.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27320

The nice brick gateway as a main entrance to the estate buildings and house.  In front of the gateway there is a raised grassed bed which forms a large roundabout.  It is used by the local kids as a velodrome.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27314

After the gateway the estate road follows the walls of the estate yard.  In the winter months when they have worked on the fields the tracks can be very dirty.  Most of the dirt picked up by my bike comes from riding to work across the Garendon estate.  I punctured along this stretch at 0:30am on the way home from a boys night out!

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27316

This is the estate road at the back end of Loughborough, behind the trees on right are the newer housing estates of the Thorpe Acre area of Loughborough.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27309

The end of the ride across the Garendon estate.  The cycle route goes through the gape between the fence and the bushes, whereas the estate access is through gates into Coe Ave, a bit further to the right.  This ends a 2 mile stint of "off road".

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27302

The footpath sign post at the start of K68 at the end of Coe Avenue.  Footpath K68 forms part of the "Thorpe Acre Trial".  On the reverse side of the finger posts are the inscriptions "And did those feet in ancient Time" pointing to Shepshed and " A walk on wild side" pointing towards Loughborough.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27302 

After a short section on road, the cycle path from Burleigh College is picked up in Cothelstone Ave, which follows the boundary between a large green space and the ends of a number of short cul-de-sacs.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27288

The cycle path from Burleigh College crosses the Black Brook on the white bridge.  The brook has classic flood defence measures of high levees on either side with a central narrow channel for normal flow.  I have never seen the level raise much above  "normal" levels.  Friends who live near the Black Brook have seen the brook flood in the past.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27283

After crossing the Black Brook, I follow Blackbrook Way which runs west - east along the Black Brook, just below the levee on the north bank.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27284

Blackbrook Way crosses three roads on the level and also has a number of sharp blind bends, one of which is as it crosses the bridge above, which crosses one the of the tributary flood/drainage channels on the north side of the Black Brook.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27278

This is where Blackbrook Way crosses Braddon Road.  The view illustrates the nice green avenue that Black Brook Way follows.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27277

The view from where Blackbrook Way crosses Barsby Road.  The bridge at the end conveys the A6.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27275

As Blackbrook Way dives under the A6, the path narrows and there is a low height which is just high enough not to hit ones head.  The local council clearly had too much spare money in 2007/2008 as along parts of Blackbrook Way green fencing has appeared to prevent people accidently falling into the brook.  At the other side of the bridge the path turns 90 degrees in a blind turn.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27273

After a short section parallel and below the A6, the Blackbrook Way crosses a drain/flood channel and meets up with the road access to the back end of Derby Road Playing Fields.  Note the green new fencing - the money would of been better spent on the making the bridge wider.  I am not sure if a baby trailer could be taken across the bridge.

©2008 Stephen Dee

ID 2008-05-08-27270

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Page last modified 29 Dec 2008