Group Ride to Rutland Water

John Chivers, Friday, 4 July 2025

Sunday 29th June saw a group of ten of us head over to Rutland Water - the UK's largest man-made body of water in the smallest county of the UK.

In the run-up to the ride, I thought someone must have read something or not liked the look of the other attendees, as there were four cancellations in fairly quick succession a few days before. I will definitely try a different anti-perspirant! The more probable explanation is that I'd opened up bookings a long time ago and these attendees had booked on quite early, but inevitably life gets in the way of biking sometimes. Though it shouldn't!

We departed on the outbound leg at 10:00 from the McDonald's on the A5 at Hinckley and out via Stoney Stanton and Countesthorpe, then on through Wistow and Kibworth. Once clear of Kibworth, we were clear of the built-up areas and took a cross-country route, past Shangton Holt and Nosely Hall, before meeting up with the A47 in East Norton.

Just before we got to the A47, I (and others in the group), managed to locate an apparently invisible dip in the road which, well, let's just say 'tested our anatomical suspension'. I'm just about right now and my voice has returned to normal pitch.

From there, it was a sprint along the A47 to Uppingham, where headed north towards Oakham, then turned off to follow the road around the south bank of Rutland Water.Approaching our destination, we passed through the village of Whitwell (population of around 100 people). This small village proudly displays its claim to be twinned with Paris. Yes, THAT Paris, the capital of France.

The story goes that the village wrote to the then mayor of Paris (later fifth President of the Fifth Republic), Jacques Chirac, and requested that the village be twinned with the city. In making this request, the village stated that if it didn't receive a response from the city, it would assume that consent was granted, and so, after a lack of response, the village deemed itself duly twinned with the capital of France!

Our destination of the Harbour Café was reached at around 11:30, which was timed deliberately because it gave us a little spare time before the optional trip on the Rutland Belle - the boat which does a 45 minute round trip across the reservoir to the south bank and back, with an accompanying commentary by the boat operator/captain/skipper.

As it happens, only Karl Whatmore and I decided to take a trip on the Rutland Belle, while the rest of the party opted to stay on the shore at the Harbour Café.

So, recalling our captain's words, Rutland Water was conceived in the late 1960s, when it was perceived that there would be a shortage of water in the coming years in what is now the Anglian Water region (Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Suffolk). The site was chosen because a short dam was required for a relatively large amount of water and the clay ground meant the water could more easily be retained. Construction was completed in 1975 (just in time for 1976's roasting of the nation), but it transpired in the first few years that the expected demand was not met. This has all changed again in recent years, and now with the increasing population levels, it is now in demand. At the time of our visit, and considering the long, recent dry spells, the reservoir is apparently at its lowest level in nine years.

We moored briefly at the south bank, next to the picturesque and deconsecrated St Matthew's Church, Normanton, to allow passengers wishing to do so to disembark or come on board and then the boat made its way around and back to the start point. At some point towards the end, Karl (who is very much an experienced boater and indeed a Sea Cadets petty officer, sailing boat and powerboat instructor) made his way to the wheelhouse and got his turn at the helm. And then, before you could say "splice the mainbrace" (though we lacked one to splice), we arrived back at the shore and rejoined the rest of the gang.

We were on the return leg at around 13:00, which took us out through Oakham and then via the Oakham Road, out to Tilton on the Hill, and thence south west, crossing the A47 and back to Kibworth, Bruntingthorpe, and then, via Lutterworth back to our starting point of the day at the Hinckley A5 McDonald's.

A very pleasant run-out in good company, with a very pleasant destination activity, and one we'll surely repeat next year.