Proper report.
Me being Captain, the ride started from château Arabella so Els and Emma duly arrived Thurday evening having navigated across Ipswich without my directions as my normal route was blocked with Ipswich footy fans preventing Norwich footy fans reaching the trains ... (Ipswich lost by 5 goals or something).
8am Friday saw us speeding across the lanesy bit as I treated us to some nice'n'small roads. Alas the potholes had grown since Feb and as I bounced over on my front light fell off. I stuffed it in the panier to deal with later.
Jobsworth #1 at Saffron W Tescos who said we were blocking people passing* and there were bike racks over there**. I said we'd be only 15 mins as had nearly done by then (subtext: we aren't going to move them).
*untrue unless they wanted to squeeze behind pillars as well
** on the way out and not signposted
We continued to make good time for the rest of the ride, I think my fasted 200 so far. My direction-fu only let us down once when I failed to count to 2 and made it 1 instead. Quick look at the map put us back on track. A few slight somethings in the directions but nothing I didn't remember about from writing/riding the same bit at some other point.
It got dark roundabout Lincoln. My route through the pedestrian area seemed OK by the bobbies we passed - perhaps we were better behaved and more sober than local yoof. I was starting to feel yawny by Gainsborough but a cofee at the garage there put me right and cured the waht must have been caffeine-lack headache. Plus a bit of salt to make up for the loss. Most I've drunk too, full refill at every option and 2 cans of something at lunchtime. I left some lime cordial at Sleaford though as it was fizzy (sniff, as wall as asking for no ice I have to start asking for no fizz it seems).
The remaining excitements aere all north of the Humber. Our only visit, complete with pingfuckit which fortunately turned up at the edge of the road and had leapt over the grass. I put some lovely new batteries in my temperamental light and dropt it onto said grass so it would turn on. So far so good, and on we went, though rather chilly so we fancied a stop-n-warm-up, except the garages, even 24 hour ones, were empty ...
so it was we paid a visit to the Ramada Jarvis at Willerby.
Approach 1, Arabella: "Can we sit here for 30 mins and warm up, please?" Manager "10 mins".
Approach 2, Els, resulted in tea and crisps for 3, on the house, and to stay as long as we wished. Must find out which charm school I should visit ...
Come Beverley it was noticed my light had died again so I removed to repeat the 'gentle drop' approach. Drop, bounce, bounce, roll and trickle between two bits of a drain cover
. Bye bye light. Emma lent her equally temperamental spare which I patted to enlightenment instead. It went off to eventually but as it was getting light by then not a problem.
Dawn chorus was lovely and A19 suitably empty.
And so it was we met the gerneal massive at the Punchbowl.
Apologies to all those who were subjected to my ranting about jobsworth #2 as I returned from a failed visit to catch the cancelled 10:07.
