A report from a member of our Transport Action Group
Now that February is here and we have had a few sunny days with clear open skies, I think we all start to venture outside a bit more and going a bit further. Our thoughts turn towards cycling and walking and getting the limbs moving again. Throughout February the Transport Action Group will posting blogs on different aspects of Getting Around Harborough District and beyond to make you think about how you too can get out a bit more in a sustainable and healthy way.
EVERARDS MEADOWS is in Leicester near Fosse Park where the Everards Brewery relocated to. Here they have opened up access to the meadows by the river Soar, the canal and the other end of our Sustrans Route 6. A great coffee house, beer hall , and the ability to hire bikes at Rutland Cycling makes it a great place to visit.
The two of us travelled over from Harborough to have a look around the Meadows and we also decided to hire e-bikes for a few hours, to try them out for the first time. It didn’t take long to collect the bike and be shown the basic controls and we were off. The main paths in the Meadows are well made, so are buggy, bike and people friendly! We were soon off down Route 6 and following paths through Aylestone Meadows that take you all the way off road into the centre of Leicester. Amazing !
The e-bikes are simple and great to ride, all the normal gears, brakes and you can choose settings on how much assistance from the electric battery you would like. When my wife shot off down the path I too went into max power to try and catch her up.
The battery range on the model we hired was about 50 miles, so probably equivalent to a good day out cycling on a circular route. We know they are expensive to own, so unless you a regular user for work or good local cycle paths to use near your home, you are probably thinking mainly of hiring one. Rutland Cycling and other hire companies are based at a number of places near us in Harborough, and of course there is the Santander Cycles e-bike scheme in Leicester itself.
We came back with lots of big ideas, travel broadens the mind indeed, and It would be nice to see some of these e-bikes, good off road cycling routes and well made buggy friendly paths coming to our area soon.