Leicestershire intelligence

Here I am in sunny Leicestershire, about to embark on the third stage of my journey - making for Oakham, and my first visit to Rutland. Yesterday, I had a lovely - if tiring - ride through rural South Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. I passed signs saying first, No to some crematorium; then No to HS2, and finally No to the Kelmarsh Windfarm. Community feeling is vociferously expressed in these parts!

Starting off within sight of the battlefield of Edgehill, I passed through Naseby, another famous Civil War battleground.

One minor disappointment was that I found several churches locked, which I’d like to have looked round - including the large church in the centre of Market Harborough. I did arrive there rather late, I suppose, having had the wind against me most of the day. The final stretch into Harborough was an easy spin along the Midshires Way, the disused railway line which starts from Northampton. The spooky bit was the long tunnel some three miles south of Harborough - no lighting, and plentiful puddles.

I’ve been staying with kind John and Mary Twedell, the walls of whose old house are newly clad with insulation, they already having inserted under-floor insulation. (Their electricity bill is £7 a month!)