John's Cycle Ride

We met at the Standard pub in Northallerton and it was nice to see so many cyclists taking advantage of the lovely weather including 5 newcomers, Jane and Lenny, Jane and Duncan and Lesley, the old timers were Brian, Roly, Liz, Paul, Mick, Judith and Laura who allowed her dad to share her bike - on the strict understanding he behaved himself, obeyed the highway code at all times and didn't lead the group astray, and the very old timers Lil and myself who need 2 pairs of legs to keep 1 bike anywhere near the rest.

So 15 of us set off on the Richmond road as far as Great Langton where we turned off to Danby Wiske thankfully leaving the main road traffic behind. At Streetlam Lil said hello to Sam and Blossom, two friendly donkeys who unlike her husband never talk nonsense. When we reached Atley Hill, Paul, feeling our pace was too hot for him, left to return to Northallerton by another route, well I can dream! We were now down to 14, we continued to speed on through North Cowton and Scorton to Middleton Tyas, here we were not allowed to cycle our usual route, that's for wimps, but we managed the longer steeper hill - eventually! When we reached Hurworth there were rumblings of discontent or tums so lunch was taken. It was such a beautiful day and when we found that the local shop made lovely fresh sandwiches we all rejected Sunday lunch in the pub for a picnic on the village green.

Everything quiet once more it was on to Neasham where the choice was, turn left up Neasham bank or straight on up Neasham bank, straight on was selected but I failed to get granny gear so it was a hard pull up in middle - that didn't go down well with the granny on the back! By now the disadvantage of picnicking was noticed, fortunately we were on a very quiet road, no houses and lots of gates into fields, so all you had to do was cycle until you found a gate without a bike parked outside. It was at our stopping place that Val and Tony pedalled by, they had spent the morning getting their bikes ready for their trip to Spain and were out for an afternoon spin. After explaining that (unusually) we were the rear guard we set off in hot pursuit of the rest of the gang. It didn't take us long to catch up; all right I admit they were waiting at the next turning. Now we were 16 but that didn't last long , as Roly who had cycled down from Darlington, decided he couldn't manage the whole ride so he also turned for home! Now we were 15 again as we rode on through Appleton Wiske, Deighton and Brompton where Judith invited us all in for tea and biscuits. We sat in the garden recovering from a really lovely ride and watched Laura transform from a cyclist to a very elegant young lady as she was whisked off to a party, the stamina of these youngsters.

It was a splendid end to a good ride, thank you Mr and Mrs Hallett, we look forward to your next ride.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

John's Cycle Ride

Ray