Ride report by Mark M
As the forecasts for Saturday improved from torrential rain all day to just rain all day, together with light winds, there was no reason to cancel the ride. Though Chris sent out an email which could have been interpreted as looking for an excuse to stay home and dry, though I’m sure was just checking on numbers riding to see if we needed to book a table!
Surprisingly only three Wheelers turned out, Chris and myself at PC during a rare dry spell and then Doug at Gresham Church. Within a few minutes the rain started again, fairly light but persistent for the whole out leg, at this stage the roads were not too wet and puddles could be easily avoided.
We passed Aldborough school on the way to Town Green, past Brian’s (Hi Brian), across the A149 and the lane to the railway crossing. Through North Walsham and on to Honing and past John’s (Hi John) and then to Lessingham, where we went through Hempstead and the Dunes road past the holiday shacks into Sea Palling. From there it was just a few miles to Waxham and Horsey Corner.
As we were nearly as wet inside our jackets as outside, we had a table inside, in the upstairs section that I’d not seen before. Amongst the tables were old radio sets and the ceiling was covered in old Ordnance Survey maps. Whilst we slowly steamed dry, we reminisced about our earliest electrical appliances, as they say, nostalgia is not what it used to be.
The café was busy with people escaping the weather, but we were soon digging into our mess tins of corned beef hash and enjoying copious tea and strong coffee. This visits tea cosy first appeared to be a drunken sailor as his head kept falling to the side but on closer inspection he was covered in tea stains, so naturally was part of Capt Pugwash’s crew, Seaman Staines.
After finishing all the tea, it was time to pull on wet gloves and head off into the rain again. We had barely turned the pedals when Doug went into a narrow pothole and punctured both tyres on the sidewall. As they are tubeless, he quickly stuck a plug into them, pumped them back up and set off again. On the Puncture Leaderboard, Doug is now tying first place with Graham A at 4 each!
Unfortunately the rain on the homeward leg was no longer light and the roads were now soaked, so our plan to see if more of Happisburgh’s car park had fallen into the sea was abandoned and our focus was on getting home. So after Happisburgh we headed for Riddlington, Bacton Wood, Knapton, Trunch and Southrepps. Here the route headed out towards Sidestrand and Hungry Hill to Northrepps, we chose to take the more direct route via Frogshall to Northrepps. Here we sent Doug up Northrepps hill to Cromer, while we again took the direct route to Crossdale Street. By the time we had got up the hill to Felbrigg, I was running on empty and it was a fairly slow ride through Metton, Sustead, Gresham and back to PC, with Chris giving me encouragement and making sure I got back.
PC to PC was 59.5 miles instead of the planned 61m, so we didn’t save much. At an average of 14.4 mph
Riders: Chris S, Doug H, Mark M
Upcoming Rides –
Wednesday 28th August – The Crown, Smallburgh
Saturday 31st August – West Acre – 104m Start at PC 8am – Subject to weather
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 