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Sutton Bank

As Dave has been given the task of programme coordinator now, I was told it was my turn to write a report so as long as I won't be given a higher profile job. I'll give this a try! The worries began on Thursday evening when flood waters were gushing across the county, but I was told it would be better by Saturday, as it was! Dave and I ventured off to Sutton Bank a little hesitant about my chosen route and wanting to adapt it to take in more roads. On arrival I was pleased to see no-one there with bikes. Great! But Kev keeps his bike in the boot! I tried to put them off, but instead we had a cuppa to decide on a route I was persuaded that my route wouldn't be too bad, so off we went!

I took them across a new clearer bridleway to the Cleveland Way across the top of the bank, then down towards Boltby. It was wet, muddy, even muddier, slippery, and smelly with it! We walked much of the exciting, downhill and ended up with cakes of mud instead of shoes on our feet. Here we took a wrong turning, but it was probably better anyway, and headed across fields which were so sodden we left track marks. Here we met some mad runners knee deep in mud who asked for a lift; they were on the Kilburn Canter, but we were left wondering if their horses had been left stuck in mud somewhere! We were sadly overtaken along the Gormire Lake (as we were continually slipping off) by these fellow madfolk so being on a bike was no advantage after all! Eventually we crossed the A170 after a good descent near the bottom of the bank and started to rise up on to the forest tracks which were very welcome after the mud!

We made much better time now, after taking ages to do only 4.2 miles! We entered Kilburn for lunch in the cafe where we were provided with Tesco bags for our feet; it caused much amusement. We next had to climb up the back road of Whitehorse bank It provided us with amazing views of water stricken fields below. We were glad to be back at base after only 11.2 miles, a disappointing distance, but we'd worked hard over the previous 4 hours. So much so we deserved a third cafe stop in 1 ride. Is it a record? Never again will I be persuaded to follow a route I am not happy about! But I will put it on the programme again in June as it has good potential to bean excellent route.

Liz Copsey

Last Modified: 7 May, 2003