Sunday, 10 June 2018
David S writes: Eleven of us gathered at Brookside for a 2pm departure. John F took a photo, I phoned the pub, and we set off almost on time. The sun came out and the rest of the afternoon was perfect! Along the way we picked up Lalli and Mark and somewhere further on, Phil.
To have a leader who had not done the ride before - and who had not even been to West Wratting - was asking for trouble, but there were no non-members or new members to be traumatised by a bad experience. Moreover most of the group knew the route by heart and so "leading" was a purely nominal task!
At the start
At Bartlow we were five minutes behind schedule for a 4pm arrival at West Wratting and our rendezvous with the all-day ride. So we stopped to decide whether arriving five minutes late at the Chestnut Tree would damage the club's reputation irreparably. Those committee members present decided we should stick to the original route (supplied by Ray). Until then we had kept up a steady 12mph average, but, fearful that if we were late for tea, the all-day riders would eat all the cake, Phil distracted me with talk of granite worktops and we pulled away from the others, arriving at the pub at 4.04pm.
Six minutes later the whole group was present and we enjoyed a delicious tea of sandwiches and cake, unlimited tea and coffee, for a bargain price of £4.50 (less than the price of a cup of coffee and a scone at many of our tea stops!). The food and weather, and the knowledge of a short, downhill ride home, meant that we could relax for 45 minutes before setting off via Six Mile Bottom and Fulbourn, arriving back in Cambridge around 6pm having covered a gentle
38 miles.
David Secher
Download
GPS track (GPX).