Barton to Roots Cafe - West Rounton.
After a heavy overnight frost the day dawned bright but cold with a decision being taken at 8am that the ride would go ahead.
Six riders set off, under bright blue skies, towards Middleton Lodge where the ride came to an abrupt halt due to due to a puncture. Luckily the rider concerned had been gifted a spare tube only twenty minutes beforehand and we had "Richard the puncture specialist” on hand to quickly sort out the problem.
Though having to take care on slushy and sometimes very wet roads, we carried on to North Cowton where we were joined by our seventh and last rider. With temperatures rising to a balmy four degrees we rode on to a very busy Roots Cafe and lunch without further incident. Here we met Pauline who had come to meet us and hand our brand new and excellent SOC Cycling Section Buffs to Richard and I. Peter then being persuaded to part with some hard cash to buy one "while they last". Following an excellent lunch we returned via Hornby; Low Dinsdale; Hurworth and Croft to Barton, enjoying long distance views over to the snow capped North York Moors and Pennine Hills.
All agreed that it had been worth getting up and coming out on a cold morning for what had been a very enjoyable ride with the sun shining down on us from start to finish. We haven't been able to say that many times so far this Winter!
TT