A Saturday Pootle over to Colwick Lakes

Women in Tandem are leading a group cycle from Nottingham Railway Station to Colwick Lakes on Saturday 31 October, a leisurely ride that's open to women of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. It's a women-only session, and the organisers keep it simple: they ride at the pace of the slowest rider, with breaks whenever the group wants them. If you're not used to riding in a group or you're worried about keeping up, that's exactly the kind of thing they've built this around.

The route is mostly flat and covers about nine miles out to Colwick Lakes Country Park, crossing the new Waterside Bridge and sticking to off-road sections, cycle paths and quiet back roads rather than fighting traffic. It's a good way to see a bit of the city's edges without having to worry about the busier bits. The whole thing is funded by The National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund, and the organisers have suggested the route might be extended to take in some of the Halloween Rooftop Monsters once those locations are published, so it could end up being a bit more of a Halloween trail than a straight out-and-back.

Women in Tandem is a Nottingham Community Interest Company that aims to support and empower women to get on bikes, and this ride is one of the sessions they run as part of that. It's free to join, so there's nothing to pay to get involved. The meeting point is outside the mini Tesco opposite Nottingham Railway Station on Carrington Street, NG2 3AQ. Meet at 5:45pm, ready to ride at 6pm, and allow about three hours for the whole trip.