Blissfully short 23-mile ride today, and such a joy to have the sunshine back!

After checking out of the swish Novotel (wonderful to have a junior suite for two nights) I popped over to the Active City venue to hand back my badge and lanyard for recycling but there nobody there so I left without saying goodbye to the organisers and the loads of people I knew. (The conference attracted the great and good of cycling, and yesterday I joked with some attendees that if a bomb hit the venue, cycling would suffer for years afterwards.)

Heading north out of the city, zigzagging between some of the Richard III sites, I was tickled to find myself on Gravel Street but — drat! — there was no low level sign to pose the gravel bike against.

I was heading for Melton Road’s 1930s cycle tracks which are currently being renovated. My research was used in Leicester’s successful bid to the Department for Transport for £1 million in refurbishement funding. There’s some resurfacing taking place, and it’ll be good to revisit in September when the works have been completed. There are perhaps 20 or so period cycle tracks around the country that could be similarly upgraded, and my talk was a means of maybe kickstarting some of those conversations with local authorities.

Just past Beeby I met John. He rode past as I was sitting by the side of the road and he shouted, “How far are you going?” When I replied, “4,500 miles,” he doubled back for a chat.

We rode for a while. He was on a 50 mile ride from Loughborough and was happy to follow my Garmin-loaded route until he turned for home. We talked about cycling, naturally, and photography, and Guide Dogs. He asked about any charity I was riding for so I told him about the great work of World Bicycle Relief.

When he part he took out a crisp tenner and asked me to donate that, which I will do digitally, adding some cash of my own.

Not long after leaving John I rolled into Oakham on market day, and had a wander around Oakham Castle’s amazing great hall, dating from the 1100s.

The decorative horseshoes are donated by passing nobles, with the oldest dating to the 1400s.

After spending a night in a Novotel junior suite I’ll be wild camping tonight. My task now is to find a good spot for bivvying. With luck I’ll get a good sunset in a scenic location and perhaps also a sunrise shot at 5.30am.