42 miles, average 15.6 mph. Route - good mix of gradients and rolling terrain, light breeze. Climb from Eakring - surface non-existent, when will that road be relied? Cafe stop - Haybarn Cafe, tasty scone, jam and butter, good coffee. The flapjacks are enormous, should there be a new challenge - eat it all at one sitting, - Barry managed it!
Ed Ward
2 hours ago
Only 8 riders today with heavy frost and ice about. We all set off together and kept away from the small roads to stay safe. At least the sun was out! This made it a shorter ride than usual to Farnsfield where the café was very busy. This made the stop a little longer but we weren't keen to leave the warmth anyway. At least we managed to get a ride in and stay safe.
The easy part of the easy group (8 of us) went to Sconce Park, Newark. Warm enough to sit outside. Such good value, a very nice poached eggs on toast and tea for £3.80!
Coming back we through Thorpe and East Stoke, I decided to try the bridle road alongside the A46, then the back way into Kneeton. The gravel bits were fine. OK to use this, except after rain.
When we went out work was being done on Trent Lane with signs out for the flooding and vans with men working. We speculated that they were putting in some drainage to stop the water crossing the road. When we came back, they had all gone... and water was still flowing across the road.
50 miles for me.
An exact 50/50 split between the easy, easy and the not-so-easy, easy groups = 8 in each group. Having a smaller group gives more choice of cafes. We followed much of the Tour of Britain route on our way to the café, Caunton wins the prize for having the most yellow bikes on display. Has nobody told them that the leader's jersey is green?
Barry did warn us about the surface on Eakring hill on the way back but we did it anyway. It really was awful.