I went out biking round Watermead today for the first time since before Christmas. I was going to go out yesterday, but after a nice lazy morning the rain came and I wasn't feeling that committed. I should have gone out in the morning, as I ended up prowling round the house restlessly for the afternoon! Despite the rain having stopped (finally!), the wind was still howling and seemed to be coming head on no matter what direction I rode in... My legs were starting to hurt before I even got to Watermead, as I've now taken to riding the 2(ish) miles from the garage rather than faffing about with the car and bike rack. After several days of pretty heavy rain Watermead was rather soggy. Watermead comprises of several lakes (mostly old gravel pits), the River Soar and the Grand Union Canal, so there is a lot of potential for burst banks and this was the case on quite a few of the paths around the lakes. The picture to the left shows one such area of flooding on the path next to the river (above). This puddle was around 25 feet long and a good 5 or 6 inches deep in the middle... Certainly above pedal height, as I found when I ended up with rather wet feet after crossing it... As it was my first ride in a while I stuck to the top end of Watermead around King Lear's lake, meaning the total ride ended up at just under 8 miles.

Labels: biking

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Fog and Frost came visiting this week... and according to the weather forecast it is here for a good few days yet. It never fails to amaze me that we get this weather every year, and every year it takes us by surprise and stuff grinds to a halt. The timing of this foggy spell should make for an interesting Christmas getaway with hundreds of flights cancelled, and trains and roads expected to be full to bursting in the next few days... Read Full Post...