Wednesday 5th June 2019
Post date: 04-Jun-2019 08:02:46
Short Ride
In the absence of so many riders having headed off down wind to Skeggy there was only a short ride available for those who gathered at 9-30 at Outwoods Drive roundabout - Rob, David, Marcus, Ray, Rob, Anne, Patrick, John and Lyn. It was decided to head for Stonehurst Farm in Mountsorrel as it had not been visited for a long time, but by a circuitous route. The group headed out past Mucklin Wood, then on to the track to take them over Swithland Reservoir dam. They then headed south to Rothlye station before turning back to Mountsorrel and refreshments. After Ray had changed batteries the group then returned to Loughborough.
Readers may also be interested in reading of the exploits of our our "Famous Five" when they invaded Scotland, which can be found at https://sites.google.com/view/freewheelincranks/day-zero .
Long Ride (Report by Howard.)
Today the longer ride would takes us to Skeggy. Meeting up at Outwoods Drive roundabout were myself (Howard), Brian, Alan, and Phil. We set off on time to our next pickup point Farley Way crossroads at Quorn. Here we met, Tricia, Pat, Derek, Jeff, Terry, then Chris, Peter and John arrived followed by Clyde and Jermit, (Apologies to Jermit as I don’t know the correct Irish spelling). Again leaving here at the scheduled time, we set of for the last pickup at Fossil Island in Barrow on Soar where Vic and Eric were waiting for us.
We set off at a fairly brisk pace, as the wind was behind us and would be for the rest of the day. It wasn’t long therefore before we reached our first official stop of the day at Buckminster Convenience Store. This currently little known coffee stop only opened a couple of weeks earlier and had been happened upon by Terry and myself whilst on a recce mission. If you like bacon and or cocktail sausages on a bun this the place, which is great if you’re carnivorous but otherwise less so. Here Vic and I swapped the tyres over on Derek’s bike. This was not some exercise or some sort of game show task, but a way to solve the issue of Derek’s slightly bulging rear tyre rubbing if not on the seat stays, on the chain stays. The tyre was still bulging when put on the front but didn’t rub as it had only the forks to clear. This was meant only to be a coffee stop top up, prior to the main stop of the day only a further 13Km down the road. Given however certain members of the group penchant for meat and because of the tyre swap we stayed a little longer than was planned for. Eric had not planned on travelling further and cycled back to Silbey from Buckminster covering over fifty miles altogether.
With the tail wind we made good time to Corby Glen and my favourite stop of the route The March Hare tearooms. If you are ever in the area make a point of stopping. Here we were given the exclusive use of the garden seating area and still overflowed with the three from the tennis club, Chris, Peter, and John sat outside at the front. Anne met us here again, as she had Buckminster and would be meeting up with us again at Boston and Skeggy. Preferring to drive between stops whilst still enjoying the day as much as we all were.
Leaving Corby Glen, it was in the main downhill and then flat across the fens to Boston. We were sometimes strung out across the fens upwards off a mile or more on the long straight roads running alongside the dykes. In some respects this was useful as it allowed cars to get past more easily, but when the distance became too great, Jermit or Terry would usually let me know and we would stop to regroup. On the outskirts of Boston we rode a little slower and in single file to make sure we kept together crossing busy junctions en route to the Market Place for our final stop of the day at the Seventh Heaven cafe.
The Seventh Heaven cafe, was very accommodating, offering to refill our water bottles and allowing us to make full use of their facilities and to partake in their excellent choice of cakes, whilst having a coffee or pot of tea.
We left Boston, taking a wrong turn as Garmin misspelt Spain Lane as Spayne Lane, but a minimal short detour allowed us to be quickly back on track. Crossing the River Witham we left Boston behind as we cycled along more fen roads. With the wind to our backs we were hardly pedalling as we sailed along on a direct run to Skeggy the Clock Tower soon came in to view.
Derek had arranged for us to eat at the largest fish and chip shop I’ve ever seen, but prior to eating bikes were loaded on the trailer and I arranged my overnight stay, (coming back the following day by bike). The transport for their return journey had been organised by Derek with the assistance of Graham Cameron, the local Woodhouse Eaves Scout group and a driver whose name I didn’t catch. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal and some had time to fit in much needed rehydration in the form of a couple of pints. They had very little time at Skeggy but were assured by Anne that the sea could be seen as the tide was in even though most of us did not have the opportunity to look.
It soon came time to wave goodbye to all, Terry and Anne in their car, everyone else in the mini-bus with bikes securely locked in place on the trailer. I stayed behind with my bike secure in the snooker room back at the B&B or JJ’s Hotel as they preferred to call themselves. Later in The Churchill I reflected on another successful long ride to Skeggy and thought about next year. Derek has it in mind that we go to Hunstanton. Now that might be a little different with perhaps a less favourable breeze than could be anticipated for Skeggy, ...we’ll see.
