Ahead Of Schedule (July 30th) Rainworth to Nottingham

My current plan continues to see me working my way southwest towards the town of Harwich (for some reason the “w” is silent) to catch the ferry to the Netherlands. However, I’m a bit ahead of schedule as I’m booked on the ferry for the night of August 4th. As such, today was looking to be another short ride. Destination: Nottingham.

When I say “another short ride”, I really mean it. The ride to Nottingham from Rainworth is less than 40 km so there wasn’t a whole lot of urgency to get back on the road this morning. As a result, I had a very leisurely start to the day. Fortunately, much of my gear had dried out over night – okay, not completely dried out, but that’s hardly surprising considering how wet everything was when I finished yesterday’s ride. But “moderately damp” is the new “dry”.

With a destination selected, I sent out a Warm Showers request before hitting the road. I really don’t like sending out same day requests because I would prefer to give my potential hosts more advanced notice (which would likely increase the number of favourable responses). However, my plans have been changing so much lately that I have found myself sending out more than a few same day requests of late. Desperate times call fro desperate measures.

By 11:30 I was finally ready to hit the road. The absence of my very generous Warm Showers host, Tony, meant that I wouldn’t be able to get a photo with him. However, I found a way to improvise. Plus, I got a photo with Tony’s neighbour, Graham, as he was also very helpful during my stay. I’m still so appreciative to Tony for hosting as he did.

The ride to Nottingham went very well and by 1:30 I was wheeling my way towards Nottingham Castle. Sadly, even with the short ride I was a little late in arriving in time to see the castle – it would seem it was demolished back in the mid-1600s. Sigh. Timing is everything. The gatehouse and a bridge are the only remaining parts of the original castle and a museum now sits on the castle grounds.

While the castle is gone, there are still a series of tunnels that run underneath the castle grounds – and much of Nottingham too. In lieu of a castle tour I ended up signing up for a tour of some of the tunnels. As a bonus, said tour was given by none other than Robin Hood himself. Apparently he and the Sheriff of Nottingham get along much better these days. Two side notes (as pointed out by our tour guide): 1. In an ironic reversal, the Nottingham tax office currently resides in an area that used to be Sherwood Forest while Robin Hood spends his time on the castle grounds. 2. Wollaton Hall can be seen (partially) from Nottingham castle. Wollaton Hall was used as Wayne Manor in Batman Begins which, of course, means that Batman and Robin are now neighbours.

In an attempt to add a little culture to my life (I know, it wouldn’t take much), I also visited the museum gallery which, for a limited time, is currently displaying a special Leonardo da Vinci exhibit entitled, “Ten Drawings From The Royal Collection”. It would seem that the exhibit was quite a draw (no pun intended) as there were a lot of people there. Clearly, they were much more cultured than yours truly.

With my tour of the castle grounds and museum complete, it was time to play the daily game of “Where Will I Be Sleeping Tonight?” By this time I had sent out a few Warm Showers request. As I’ve mentioned before, I prefer to send out one request at a time as I don’t like the idea of potentially having to decline an offer. However, as the day was winding down my options were limited.

I spent the next hour or so in close proximity to a couple of different WiFi hotspots in the hopes that I might get a reply. While I waited I couldn’t resist the smell of pizza that was coming from a nearby vendor. While the pizza ended up being a little disappointing, it was still pizza.

As I continued to wait for a potential Warm Showers reply, I also began searching for campgrounds in the area. I figured if I didn’t get a response by 6:00 I would have to take matters into my own hands and seek shelter elsewhere.

“Elsewhere” ended up being a campground about 7 km outside of Nottingham. As I rode through the front gate it was clear that this was a very busy campground. I remained optimistic that they would still have room for a guy, a bike, and a small tent. My optimism proved to be correct but not exactly as I expected. The office was closed when I arrived so I ended up just finding a spot of grass in an area with a bunch of other tents. In hindsight, I’m not sure if the area I’m in is actually a tent site or an actual pitch that was paid for by the group that was currently residing there. Either way, they didn’t have a problem with me setting up where I did.

Whether or not I was in a legitimate spot or not remained unclear but it didn’t matter. And as per the sign on the office door, I would just have to pay in the morning. The office opens at 9:00 AM and something tells me I might be getting up a bit earlier than usual tomorrow.

Today’s totals*:
Distance travelled: 35.67 km
Ride time: 2:09:24
Average speed: 16.54 km/h
Maximum speed: 48.33 km/h

* Once again, there was a fair bit of walking my bike through town, subsequently affecting my average speed.