ACME 'Lanterne Rouge' group left at 00:50. Tom J made an early break but the remaining 4 of us managed to stay together to the end. A little mechanical for Ruby Holdsworth near Hawkedon - broken front mech cable (new-fangled technology eh
), but fairly easily fixed. Thanks Grey Sheep for waiting and shining a light while I fiddled with spooling up the excess cable. It took a very long time for my fingers to warm up after only about 10 minutes stopped.
Regrouped with Mr & Mrs Josser at Barton Mills for a cold and freezy/foggy/damp run up to Swaffham in the pre-dawn twilight. Saw A.N. Other audaxer here (not on this event) who had apparently come off on a patch of ice. Glad we were on main roads during the coldest part of the night! BFC and the Vans of Delight at Deepdale were a very welcome sight (enormous duck and hoisin wrap!). We hung about chatting to tail enders here for quite a while, but the sun was up and the northerly was strengthening, so were feeling good. Uneventful run home, but there seemed to be more traffic than ever on the busy bits - bank holiday syndrome or just us being later than usual?
Waitrose picnic in Wymondham and icecream from the charming corner shop (Eltons) in Needham Market to fuel us to the finish. The Bentley bluebells were as good as ever, always a treat after schlepping through the scrappy backside of Ipswich on the old main road.
Thanks Huggy for organising, and our little peloton for the towing, company and cheery banter. We even managed properly co-ordinated team hedge stops, very slick - sorry Mrs J, they were unisex hedges, but at least we took turns to visit.