TD Ride to Redbeck Cafe - 27th July - Alan Riddington
Wet wet wet, not a reference to the 80's band (you need to look up the inspiration for the name yourselves ;-)) but to the prevailing conditions for this brave, some may say foolish, TD destination ride lead by the intrepid Alan Riddington.
For the first half of the first half of the ride I knew where we were, up to Askern in fact; after that I very much felt I was a part of the tribe whose rather rude name may have derived form the question "I say, do you have the remotest idea where we are old chap?"
Anyway we digress 4 intrepids/idiots set off from Squires just as it started to rain proper, turning left, left, left we slid into the hinterland west of Monk Fryston and on a narrow, some gravel and even a bit of grass type lane. Good start for a wet day I thought, but as many do say, me included, if you don't ride in the rain and one day you are caught in it, what you gonna do?
So back to the plot:
A wide anti clockwise sweep fed us onto the long sweeping lowlands of the small holding, salad growing areas, which is perfectly charming but the interminable 30 mph limits takes some of the interest out of the route, no criticism of the leader as it it about impossible to cross this area without doing it, pitching up onto the A1041 to Snaith just south of Carlton Towers.
As we crossed the M62 heading South it occurred to me that our leader was going to ride onto the wonderful sweepers and more into & through Sykehouse, excellent especially when its dry and you get good views across the sometimes challenging bends, but in the rain?
Well it turned out OK, the amount of rain had cleaned the roads of 'Farmer's waste' and it became a useful exercise in keeping a good pace on wet roads and good fun to boot.
Anyway we ended up in Askern at the Lakeside Cafe, a modest but fulfilling watering hole where most seem to want their lunch, not had a breakfast this morning?
After we departed Askern the author of this piece had no idea where he was, it was wet, it was wiggly, it was entertaining and it was a mystery ride, no probs with that and it does shorten the narrative somewhat, which some would say is a good thing. Suffice it to say
that recognisable places such as Campsall, Thorpe Audlin, Ackworth, Wintersett where a remarkable U-Turn was performed in and out of the large car park of a fishing lake*, Walton, Sandal and Agbrigg were all accommodated before arriving at the Redback Cafe.
One of the really good things about this Training Destination today was it was warm and dry, we dripped on their floor and ate their extensive and very agreeable fayre, drank their proper looking/tasting tea and dried our gloves etc. under a very powerful jet-stream hand dryer, oh and the staff were lovely.
BTW no Observers or Associates visible at this Destination today :-(
All in all it was a good ride considering the circumstances and all the team wended home a bit damp but I think pleased with the achievement.
Thanks to Al for a brave lead and the rest for turning up! ;-))
*It's actually an Anglers Country Park and hosts the Waterton Discovery Centre, also at the last census there were less than 100 people in Wintersett village!
Here's the route:
Tootle pip
Pete
For the first half of the first half of the ride I knew where we were, up to Askern in fact; after that I very much felt I was a part of the tribe whose rather rude name may have derived form the question "I say, do you have the remotest idea where we are old chap?"
Anyway we digress 4 intrepids/idiots set off from Squires just as it started to rain proper, turning left, left, left we slid into the hinterland west of Monk Fryston and on a narrow, some gravel and even a bit of grass type lane. Good start for a wet day I thought, but as many do say, me included, if you don't ride in the rain and one day you are caught in it, what you gonna do?
So back to the plot:
A wide anti clockwise sweep fed us onto the long sweeping lowlands of the small holding, salad growing areas, which is perfectly charming but the interminable 30 mph limits takes some of the interest out of the route, no criticism of the leader as it it about impossible to cross this area without doing it, pitching up onto the A1041 to Snaith just south of Carlton Towers.
As we crossed the M62 heading South it occurred to me that our leader was going to ride onto the wonderful sweepers and more into & through Sykehouse, excellent especially when its dry and you get good views across the sometimes challenging bends, but in the rain?
Well it turned out OK, the amount of rain had cleaned the roads of 'Farmer's waste' and it became a useful exercise in keeping a good pace on wet roads and good fun to boot.Anyway we ended up in Askern at the Lakeside Cafe, a modest but fulfilling watering hole where most seem to want their lunch, not had a breakfast this morning?
After we departed Askern the author of this piece had no idea where he was, it was wet, it was wiggly, it was entertaining and it was a mystery ride, no probs with that and it does shorten the narrative somewhat, which some would say is a good thing. Suffice it to say
that recognisable places such as Campsall, Thorpe Audlin, Ackworth, Wintersett where a remarkable U-Turn was performed in and out of the large car park of a fishing lake*, Walton, Sandal and Agbrigg were all accommodated before arriving at the Redback Cafe.
One of the really good things about this Training Destination today was it was warm and dry, we dripped on their floor and ate their extensive and very agreeable fayre, drank their proper looking/tasting tea and dried our gloves etc. under a very powerful jet-stream hand dryer, oh and the staff were lovely.
BTW no Observers or Associates visible at this Destination today :-(
All in all it was a good ride considering the circumstances and all the team wended home a bit damp but I think pleased with the achievement.
Thanks to Al for a brave lead and the rest for turning up! ;-))
*It's actually an Anglers Country Park and hosts the Waterton Discovery Centre, also at the last census there were less than 100 people in Wintersett village!
Here's the route:
Tootle pip
Pete
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