E.G.s
At Low Bridge assembly, today’s riders were met by a beaming pedestrian; Dave Peatfield, who had a bad crash with us last year, now appearing healthy and younger which Dave ascribed to the great care given to him by his wife. Once all the medical tests are completed he hopes to rejoin us, which from our viewpoint can’t be early enough.
Only four riders out today, a little under our average. Our route was to go direct to the ‘Naughty Ladies Cafe’ at Askam Richard, then take a gamble on crossing York Knaresmire on the first day of the Ebor Festival horse race meeting. Our outward ride to the cafe was ‘brisk’, circa 16 to 19mph with minimum effort required of the riders as the tail wind was putting in more effort than us. As usual, the cafe ladies were great and food quality was very high.
Dave W, decided he would meander back to Knaresborough as his return route. The three remainers had no problems negotiating York Knaresmire whilst benefiting from seeing the 5th helicopter of the day making a landing. Multiple tourist boats on the ‘Ouse’ seemed to be ‘jockeying’ for position when turning their big boats around whilst our cycleway was relatively quiet.
Thanks goodness for full grown high edges on the return journey as the wind was now distinctly unfavourable. Our intended second cafe stop was Beningborough Hall – ‘busy busy’, so we gambled again on Tollerton Garden Cafe or Alne Cafe being open. The former came first and was open with two special ‘welcomers’, Willow and Charlie, two beautiful five month old owl’s, accessible and strokable; couldn’t help thinking of their ‘wise owl’ reputation allowing them to hang onto every word we said. More likely, they were just catching up on their sleep after a nighttime hunting spree.
Arriving in Great Ouseburn, we split up toward our respective homes, i.e. Boroughbridge, Knaresborough and Harrogate. Yet again, a good day out.
Short Ride
Six chaps, two Dave’s, two Paul’s, Marc and Tim lined up for the short ride today following Route 84 to Boroughbridge and environs. At Farnham one Dave returned home due to a mechanical problem and the other decided not to pause at the Hideaway cafe at Boroughbridge where the remainder enjoyed good food and conversation. By the time we emerged a short spell of light rain had stopped and clear views over the expansive landscape were at their best. On the way to Marton cum Grafton we encountered Nicola who had missed joining us at Farnham and we all rode on together to the top of Knaresborough Hill, before taking our own routes home. A good ride in good company and special thanks to Marc for back marking. 30 miles at 11 mph average and 1,903ft of climbing for me. Tim2
Wanderers Ride
We were concerned to hear that Denis had a bit of an accident on his way to the show ground today, and returned home nursing some bruises. Liz popped round on her way home and gave Denis our best wishes. We send our love and wish you a speedy recovery Denis, and hope to see you back very soon.
There were fifteen takers for the Wanderers ride today, including Mick and Jed from the North East, friends of Howard. We split into groups and made our way to Knox, over the bridge by the ford and down in to Hampsthwaite. The route took us up Clint Bank, through Shaw Mills and up the dreaded hill, to Bishop Thornton and on to Fountains Abbey where three did a good turn by helping a young hedgehog get off the road. We rode down the deer park and on to Tates where we moved tables together and enjoyed hot drinks, tasty treats and lots of chatter.
The brilliant knitted tank at Tates provided a great photo opportunity and some high jinks!
The group split at this point with some needing to be back sooner than others. On through Ripon, to Bishop Monkton, where choices were made to return via Knaresborough or Ripley. Thank you everyone for a lovely day. Corinne and Liz F.
Away Day – Group 2
It was a fine day for an Away Day from Thirsk and we formed a group of ten, to follow the first, slightly faster ones. A slight nip in the air reminded us that Autumn was just around the corner and everyone has sneaked on an extra vest. Our group, lead by Doug, comprised, Malcolm, Gia, Paul T, Sally, Collette, James, Sarah R, Me and Nick The Dentist who reassured us that he was fully up to date with resuscitation and life saving techniques which is always good to know.
It gradually dawned on us that whoever had written the ride instructions and described it as “a pleasant pootle” was in fact using the word “pootle” ironically. It is in reality a pretty challenging, undulating ride with SOME BIG HILLS!
The sun was shining and the wind behind us as we made swift progress on our Abbeys Pilgrimage to our first coffee stop at Ampleforth. Doug had reserved tables for us in the excellent tea room – and not just any old tables, these were Mouseman Tables so we had a short game of Spot the Mouse before being distracted by scones and coffee. A couple or riders did go for the full cream and jam combo. My lips are sealed but, you know who you are – and it wasn’t me! At this point Malcolm, Gia and Paul opted for the shorter route which left seven of us to continue the pilgrimage.
We continued through Oswaldkirk, Nunnington and Harome, admiring the lovely thatched cottages, descending into Helmsley, which was busy. It is quite a pull out of Helmsley on the Stokesley Road before the left turn to Rievaulx and, another coffee stop! Rievaulx is a very fine Abbey with a very nice tea room for hungry pilgrims, although we weren’t that hungry after scoffing scones not that long ago. We gave it a go though, always mindful of the fact that there was another long pull up to Old Byland. It is worth noting that Abbeys are always in steep sided valleys! There followed another long pull up to the top of Boltby Bank. We had enjoyed magnificent views on all these ascents, taking in heather clad moors, endless green vistas, woods and rivers which just make all the effort worthwhile.
After a bit of descending (!) the road undulated all the way to Upsall. The cloud had thickened up a bit and a suspicious wind had begun to swirl and the first drop of rain fairly quickly became sluicing rain all the way back to Thirsk. I quite like heavy summer rain – it can be ennervating but I was equally glad to get back in the car and turn the heated seat on to dry out!
Another great Away Day, skilfully arranged by Doug and enjoyed by everybody. I recorded 45 miles. For all those of you who completed the pilgrimage, you have halved your time in Purgatory! Helen T
