Wednesday 4th March 2020
Post date: 03-Mar-2020 20:00:07
Another sunny start again saw a good turnout. No leader for the intermediates had been found and Derek was initially "volunteered" to lead a short ride with John taking the intemediate. However so many disappeared after Howard that the 9 remaining decided to join on one ride.
Short RideJohn, Lynn, Wendy, Patrick, Mick, Dom, Derek, Myles and Rosalind headed out via Cross Lane and the Shelthorpe estate to join Epinal Way at the Outwoods Surgery and then headed south and acaross the river to Barrow. Here they even caught site of the Long Ride group that it would seem had been delayed. However they soon disppeared ahead as the slow ride was held up by a traffic queue behind a refuse truck. The group then climbed Melton Road onto Paudy Lane, continuing east to Berrycott Lane which they followed into Seagrave. After a climb to Big Lane the group enjoyed a rapid descent into Sileby where it was found that the Green Place was closed until 21st March. However Cafe 19 made us very welcome and after refreshment the riders returned via Mountsorrel, arriving back in Loughborough just before noon.
Long Ride Setting off for the long ride, I looked behind and saw a long trail of riders joining the group. I got two different counts of 14 or 16 so I settled for 15. as you might guess I don't know all the names, so unfortunately I can't list them here. This was a huge surprise as the week before there was only 4 of us on the ride and as a consequence the Café I'd chosen was the nice little cosy deli at The Sands, Long Clawson. It was never going to fit us all in. This was going to be a problem.
We set off on the standard route out to Barrow and then the steady uphill along Paudy Lane to Six Hills. Here we took the B676, known also as Six Hills lane, crossing both the A6006 and A606. By this time I'd thought we might split the group with some going to the Through The Gate Café and the balance to Café at Long Clawson. It was at this point I was reminded by either Margaret or Mick, or both (these C.T.C. riders know all the cafes) that LakeView Fishery café, just off Landyke Lane was close to hand. I put Margaret on the front to lead the way.
For such a large group this was an excellent choice of venue, though a little basic, (Clyde later said it vied directly with The Waterside Cafe, at Redhill Marina on both price and choice). We were served quickly and had plenty of room for parking bicycles and sitting down outside.
After refreshments, we rejoined the planned route, along Clawson Lane followed by a terrific wizz down Waltham Road. Turning left at the bottom we continued through Long CLawson, Nether Broughton, Upper Broughton, Willoughby on the Wolds, Wymeswold, and joined the A60 at Hoton for our final descent into Loughborough and home. The weather had held off and I believe all had an enjoyable ride out.
