This little cycling tour with four guys – Andy, Andy, Andy and Mike – began on the day of the queen’s funeral. With reduced train services it meant another challenging day to reach our starting point before our Lincolnshire Lost Lanes Day 1 cycling could begin.

Eventually … we managed to arrive at Retford Rail station.

On a cool September afternoon, we were then soon on our way to Newark-upon-Trent.

We began by heading out of town towards White Houses.

Our first little climb of the day took us over the hill at Headon.

We then continued on through Stokeham and East Drayton.

While cycling through the fields we followed the path of the River Trent.

Our route took us through Normanton-on-Trent.

Followed by Sutton-on-Trent and Carlton-on-Trent.

And South Maskham and North Maskham.

After 28 miles of cycling, we arrived in Newark-on-Trent.

Here, at Trent Bridge, we turned off the main road into Riverside Park.

This took us past Newark Castle. The castle was founded in the mid-twelfth century by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, originally as a wooden castle. Then rebuilt as a stone castle at the end of the century. The castle was partly destroyed in 1646 at the end of the English Civil War.

The final section of the ride followed the River Trent.

Finally, we crossed the river onto Mill Gate.

It took us a little while to find the front door of Millgate House since, although it is on a corner, the entrance is on a side street and wasn’t very well signposted. However, we eventually found it.

In the evening we went for a fine meal at Asha Tandoori.

We cycled nearly 29 miles on our Lincolnshire Lost Lanes Day 1 route today. This had been a relaxing (for the most part) and enjoyable start to our tour. Tomorrow, we are off to Lincoln.

You can view our Lincolnshire Lost Lanes Day 1 route from Retford to Newark-on-Trent below: