It was a cool, but thankfully pleasant morning when twenty-two Stockport Community Cycling Club riders set off on the Leicester Long ride from Leicester University’s John Foster Halls of Residence. I was back-leading this ride, while Sarah was leading the Leicester Short ride.

Similar to the Leicester Short ride we set off by cycling through Stoughton where we picked up NCN Route 63.

And then past Leicester Airport.

The first few miles of the route were quite hilly.

Continuing on, we cycled through Kings Norton and Gaulby.

We climbed up to Illston on the Hill.

There were some great views out over Leicestershire.

The stiffest climbs of the day were around Goadby.

Here, we picked up NCN Route 64.

Our route gave us some respite and now flattened out a little as we headed for Market Harborough.

We skirted the edge of Market Harborough.

And joined NCN Route 6 when we dropped on to the Market Harborough arm of the Grand Union Canal.

We followed this to Foxton Locks, home of the longest set of staircase locks in the UK.

Here we stopped for lunch. We decided to split up and eat the various cafe’s, including the Foxton Locks Inn. We would meet up again in an hour.

Unfortunately, a couple of the riders missed that ‘meet up in an hour’ bit and when we arrived at the top of the locks they weren’t there!

A phone call later and they were on the way up … walking up … as we had also had to do by over-zealous canal volunteers.

Leaving the canal we made our way towards Gumley.

And on past Saddington Reservoir.

We continued to follow NCN Route 6 through little villages such as Arnesby, Peatling Magna and Willowby Waterleys.

And then the larger town of Countesthorpe.

Upon reaching Blaby we entering the outskirts of Leicester.

We turned onto the Great Central Way, previously a railway track of the former Great Central Railway.

This took us into the centre of Leicester.

We passed through de Montfort University.

And by Leicester Prison. Graham was suspiciously quiet around here.

Finally, we cycled through Victoria Park.

When we arrived back at the Halls of Residence we had completed 44 miles. This had given us an excellent taste of Leicestershire countryside. It is a great place to cycle.

You can view our Leicester Long route below: