カウストンでののおすすめライド

It’s a really nice place to get to and have a café ride. It’s nice to just ride around the reservoir. 

Well worth a visit, just to see the Vulcan Bomber.

Might stop one day and have a proper look at the fort

This charming duck pond is nestled in the picturesque village of Willoughby. A nearby bench offers a perfect place to rest and recharge, and just a short stroll away is The Rose Inn, a lovely village pub.

Lights highly recommended for night rides

Decent surface & good link to the greenway

Can be muddy.

Draycote Water is an artificial reservoir (23 million m3), which was completed in 1969. In addition to its function as a water reserve, it is a leisure park u.a. for anglers, sailors, hikers. The rich bird life invites also to observations. Swimming is not allowed in the lake.

Excellent 8km cycling with great views and rest areas.

The church of ALL SAINTS consists of chancel 23 ft. by 17 ft. 6 in., with vestry on the north side, clearstoried nave 41 ft. 8 in. by 17 ft. 6 in., north aisle 9 ft. 6 in. wide, south aisle about 8 ft. wide, south porch, and west tower 11 ft. square, all these measurements being internal. The tower is surmounted by a short leadcovered spire. The width across nave and aisles is 40 ft. All the roofs are leaded and of low pitch, with overhanging eaves. The building is generally of roughly coursed rubble, but has been much restored. The vestry was added about 1860, and the restoration of the chancel took place in 1887–8, when its south wall was rebuilt. The nave was restored in 1890, the old high closed pews and a west gallery erected in 1791 being then removed. The present seating dates from 1928. The tower is said to have been taken down to its foundations and rebuilt in 1728–9, but the old materials appear to have been used again. The earliest work in the building dates from c. 1150, to which period the half-round responds of the chancel arch belong: they have moulded bases and scalloped capitals with square chamfered abaci or imposts continued along the wall on the nave side. The extent of the nave of the 12th century church was probably the same as at present, but in the first half of the 13th century a south aisle was added and the chancel rebuilt as now existing. The south arcade and chancel arch are of this period (c. 1225–30), and the south doorway is also probably contemporary, though in appearance rather earlier in style. At the beginning of the 14th century a north aisle was added to the nave, and about a century later the tower appears to have been erected, followed shortly after by the addition of the clearstory. New windows were inserted in the chancel and south aisle, the east end of the aisle refaced or rebuilt, and the porch added. All this later work apparently extended over a considerable period towards the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century. All the walls are plastered internally. The chancel has a chamfered plinth, but is without buttresses. At the east end of the north wall is the only remaining 13th-century window, a single lancet, (fn. 107) the hood of which has notch-stops. The fourcentred east window and one in the rebuilt south wall are of three cinquefoiled lights, and there is a square-headed window of two trefoiled lights west of the modern priest's doorway. A round-headed north doorway, now opening into the vestry, may belong to the 12th-century church. The unmoulded trefoiled piscina recess has a slot for a wooden shelf, but the bowl is new; below the south-east window is a rectangular aumbry. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders without hood-mould. The roof is modern, with flat-boarded ceiling. The nave arcades are of three bays, with pointed arches of two chamfered orders, those of the 13thcentury south arcade springing from cylindrical piers with circular moulded capitals and bases, and from similar half-round responds. The arches have plain hood-moulds on each side. The piers and responds of the later north arcade are octagonal, with deeper moulded capitals and the hood-moulds of the arches have head-stops. The south doorway is a good example of early 13th-century work, with semicircular arch of two orders, and hood-mould enriched on the underside with a continuous line of dog-tooth. The inner order has a keel-shaped moulding springing from plain chamfered imposts on nook-shafts with moulded bases, and simple water-leaf (west) and foliated capitals. There are traces of colour on the wall on either side the opening inside the porch, and a scratch dial at the top of the west jamb. The south aisle is lighted by two windows in the south wall, one on each side of the porch, that to the east being of three lights similar to those in the chancel, and the other a square-headed window of two trefoiled lights. There is also a single-light trefoiled window of c. 1350 in the west wall, but the east wall is blank. In the north aisle are two 14thcentury square-headed windows respectively of three and two cinquefoiled lights, and west of the blocked doorway a modern window of two lights. The end walls are blank. There are three pointed clearstory windows on each side, all of two cinquefoiled lights, with tracery and hood-moulds, and above them a hollow-moulded string. The low-pitched east gable has a modern apex cross, and stands high above the chancel roof. The tower is faced with ashlar, and is of three stages, with moulded plinth and diagonal buttresses the height of the lower stage. The pointed bellchamber windows are of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head, and the tower terminates with a plain moulded parapet behind which the tiny spire is scarcely seen. There is no vice. The two lower stages are blank on the north and south, but on the west there is a square-topped doorway with plain lintel, and above it a second lintelled opening with wooden door; over this again is a glazed pointed opening with central mullion, the whole arrangement apparently dating from the 18th-century rebuilding. There is no arch to the nave, the west wall of which is pierced by a square-headed doorway. The font is of 12th-century date, and consists of a large rectangular bowl with plain sides and shafted angles with cushion capitals and moulded bases; the capitals have a line of pellets at the angle. The modern Gothic oak pulpit was formerly in Wisbech parish church. In the floor at the east end of the south aisle are the brass effigies of Kenelme Cheseldyn of Uppingham (d. 1596) and his wife Winefred, daughter of Francis Say of Wilby, Northants, and an armorial brass plate to Edward Cheseldyn of Braunston (d. 1642). A large blue floor-slab in front of the chancel arch has the indents of a single figure and an inscription. There are considerable traces of mediæval paintings on the east and south walls of the south aisle. In the middle of the east wall is an image bracket about 6 ft. 6 in. above the floor, which probably supported a figure of our Lady of Sorrows, of which the painting formed the background. An angel with outstretched wings is depicted on either side and on a medallion at the north end are a cross and the instruments of the Passion. On the south wall are portions of a text and fragments of a painting in red and black of the Mass of St. Gregory. It depicts an altar with chalice and paten, and about the altar four candlesticks and a patriarchal cross.  There is a stone coffin in the south aisle, and in the churchyard is preserved a grotesque stone figure (fn. 116) of the type known in Ireland as 'Sheela-na-gigs,' which was found in use, face downward, as a doorstep into the church. There are four bells in the tower: the treble is by Thomas Newcombe (II) of Leicester (c. 1562–80), inscribed 'S. Thoma,' the second dated 1710, the third by Hugh Watts of Leicester (c. 1593–1615), inscribed 'Praise the Lord,' and the tenor by Thomas Norris of Stamford, 1660. The plate consists of a cup of 1570–71; a paten of 1640–41; an undated paten with makers' marks 'R-S' only, and a pewter flagon.

Very open flat fast lane through stunning farm fields to really give the legs a burst.

Beautiful spot to sit and enjoy though beware of the flies!

The Lunt Roman Fort is the archaeological site of a Roman fort, of unknown name, in the Roman province of Britannia. It is open to the public and located in the village of Baginton on the south eastern outskirts of Coventry. The fort has now been fully excavated and partially reconstructed; the wooden gateway rebuild was led by archaeologist Margaret Rylatt, using the same tools and techniques that the military engineers of the Roman Army would have used. In 2001, Anglo Saxon artefacts dating to Sub-Roman Britain were discovered on the site. Four periods of occupation of the fort during periods of unrest in Roman Britain have been identified by excavation. The fort was built around AD 60 to act as a supply depot and headquarters for an unknown legion during the final campaign against Boudica. From AD 64 it was used, in the second phase, by a cohort which reduced the size of the fort, but from which the principia, praetorium, two granaries and six barrack blocks have been excavated. A number of buildings were demolished to construct a gyrus.[citation needed] Many horse fittings, possible stabling, an extensive metalworking area, granary and storage space suggests a cavalry unit was present at this time. This second phase lasted until AD 77/8. The third period of AD 77/78-79 included construction of a double ditch system, a twin-portalled gateway on the south and occupation outside the defences until the fort was decommissioned. After AD 260, perhaps during the rebel Gallic Empire, it was recommissioned as a temporary fort with ditches on a similar alignment but slightly larger than that of Period 2. Gyrus The north, south and west sides followed the usual pattern for a Roman camp of straight ditches and ramparts. However, on the eastern side the defences bulge out around a circular structure with a diameter of 32 m (105 ft). The sand and gravel subsoil had been dug out to a depth of 600 to 900 mm (24 to 35 in) and the area surrounded with a timber stockade. This ring, the only known "gyrus" in the Roman Empire, may have been used for training horses. The gyrus was added to the fort during its second period of occupation and its construction caused significant disruption to the fort. Having the gyrus within the fort affects not just the wall which curves to accommodate the structure deviating from the Roman playing card shape pattern but also the layout of the fort which is significantly different from the standard layout. This makes the fort unique not just in Britain but also in the Roman Empire.

Few people now with this weather...

a nice canal side pub

Canadian geese feeding on the waters edge...

Stop in mid ride for a look at the latest bikes, clothing, equipment and accessories or pick up a bargain from the baskets near the door. You never know when you're going to need a spare inner tube or replacement whatsit for your thingamijig. And best of all you can grab a coffee and cake (or something healthier) at the in store cafe.

Interesting place for kids to visit.

You can get coffee here as well asa look around the museum

Good ride around Draycote, the countryside is good with great views...