Three Wheelers met at PC on a dry and bright day, though a strong westerly wind made it feel chilly. We waited an extra couple of minutes for Chris S, before setting off without him, more on him later.
With all the rain yesterday, the roads remained fairly wet with occasional small flooded sections and still plenty of leaf mulch and mud on the smaller lanes.
Our longer outward leg was mainly south east and wind assisted via Gresham, Bessingham, Aldborough, Alby Common (no sign of Brian), Colby and the Felmingham Road to Corvette Kingdom. Here we were stopped by a traffic jam as multiple vehicles were coming along the back lane to Felmingham as well as two cars and us were trying to get down the lane.
From Felmingham it was straight down to Swanton Abbott and across to Worstead, where we took the less used route of Withergate Road and Sandy Hills to Meeting Hill. At White Horse Common we were surprised and pleased to meet John S, who had come out to join us for lunch. We continued to Spa Common and the climb from Bacton Wood Mill up to the main road at Edingthorpe Green and on to Paston Green were we turned directly into the wind for Knapton and Trunch.
We had booked a table for lunch thinking it might be busy, though we were the only customers on arrival, a few more came in later on.
We had been there about ten minutes when a hot and gasping Chris S arrived. When he could finally speak, he reported that he’d had a puncture/gashed tyre about a mile from home, went back home, swapped to his gravel bike which needed air in the tyres and then set off to follow the route, going past PC 25 minutes behind the main group. Despite his best efforts he never caught us, probably because we were being blown along by the wind and maintaining a fairly high pace because of it. Anyway, Chris gets the Ride Of The Day award for his efforts.
While I enjoyed my festive giant yorkshire and Ian said his pie and mash was good, the sausage rolls that were served looked as if they had been microwaved rather than oven heated and the pastry wasn’t crisp. That didn’t put Andrew off from ordering Christmas pud and cream though, which he said was very good.
After a good leisurely lunch, by which time Chris had recovered, we said goodbye to John as he headed south for home while the rest meandered around the back lanes of Gimingham, Trimingham and Sidestrand to Northrepps.
Here Ian and Andrew decided to take the slightly shorter but head wind direct route back to Gresham and on to High Kelling while Chris and Mark went into Cromer, across to the Zoo and up to and through Felbrigg Park before reaching Gresham and back to PC.
PC to PC was 44.6 miles at an average of 13.9 mph
Riders: Ian A, Andrew B, John S, Mark M leading and Chris S – Ride Of The Day award.
Upcoming Rides –
Saturday 23rd – Purdy’s, Aylsham
Wednesday 27th – Reepham Station
Routes for rides on the website under Dates and Destinations: https://nnwheelers.co.uk/club-runs/
Visit the Clubs Runs Gallery for larger and more photos: https://nnwheelers.co.uk/club-runs/club-runs-photo-gallery/
North Norfolk Wheelers 