Ah, what a ride it was. It made me think that there is something ‘particular’ (polite way of saying it) about cyclists. Melton, if you look at it on paper, should be booked under ‘that didn’t work out as planned’. Disaster area. I mean… it poured. And I don’t mean a bit, I mean torrential. It was cold. It was windy. Our plan of having buns and coffee under a tarp of the van were scarpered by us just wanting to get going – although we did enjoy buns and coffee, but not quite in the leisurely way we had planned.

And yet… it was an epic ride. Something about adverse weather conditions, getting lost, needing to be rescued in a van and getting banned from a pub just makes for an epic day out 😂 If you are a cyclist.

We set off into a strong headwind. It was hilly, right from the start. We took what felt like forever to do 11kms – not really sure how that happened – and then I had a puncture. Saved my Matt (THANK YOU!!) because i could not get the tyre off my wheel, not even with the clever monkey tool. By the time I was back on the bike, the rain had really picked up.

We had sent the others ahead, Cat, Matt and Simon had stayed behind to help – but Sarah, who is really not built for this weather, was turning blue… so I decided to accompany her back to the car.  Unfortunately it would seem Sarah’s sense of direction is about as good as mine, so of course we got lost. Garmin did not help sending us up and down the same road, and then I asked it to get us back the quickest way. I think Garmin thinks that means ‘the scenic route’ – 20km laters we were back at the cars.

We locked the bikes to the car, and found a pub (where we did not amuse the landlord by not ordering enough alcohol, and only crisps and rolls and then soaking the seats (needless to say we are not welcome back at ‘the Boat’ – oops. We are really sorry though! )

Even the fast group only did the short route. Norman lost count of his punctures and had to be rescued by Justin in the van.

Cold and soggy we enjoyed some amazing Melton Pie (they are good!) and made our way back.