Good Friday: Ampleforth

Alas, I don't seem to be able to upload the photographic evidence, but I arrived here at teatime yesterday at the end of my cycle pilgrimage. I biked something over 200 miles, having cheated by catching the train from Oakham to Lincoln.

I was exhausted after the first two days on the road, so did a mere 15 miles from the kind Twedells to Oakham: Leicestershire is more hilly than I imagined, so this was quite enough as it turned out. And the train enabled me to reach Lincoln in time for choral evensong in the Cathedral, definitely a highlight of my journey, particularly the Tallis Lamentations. Indeed, Lincoln as a whole I found incredibly impressive: worth a longer visit.

Altogether, it's been the most wonderful weather for the trip, which has made it as much a pleasure as a penance to choose the two-wheeled route. And now I have the privilege of a Benedictine Easter Triduum to join in - and a luxurious en suite room in one of the new school houses (a far cry from my days here).

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!)