Alan Beattie ride to Lincolnshire Wolds 2nd July 2022

Alan Beattie, John Coe, Pete Tidball, Chris Otter, Mike Walker, John Cowles, John Singleton, Anne Dufton, Graham West, Mark Rodger.

Arriving at Squires it appeared quieter compared to recent weeks, suspect the changing forecasts may have deterred some riders, however this did not deter any of the T5 riders.

The briefing took place sheltering under a tree due to a shower of rain. (forecast looked like we may get more!)

The route was discussed with timings and in particular navigating the 3 roundabouts near Goole and avoid ending up on the M62 slip road as you would be on a route alone!

I think there was some concern when I briefly mentioned that I didn’t know Lincolnshire very well.

Safety for the day was discussed including that I would pull over for a re-group if required to avoid extended time marking junctions. Hazards were also discussed that we may encounter on some of the remote roads. John Coe volunteered to carry out back marker duties, when all 10 riders were ready John gave the signal, off we set to the Lincolnshire Wolds..

We turned right to Sherburn the rain had now stopped, heading to Monk Fryston towards Hilliam the Sat Nav for some reason took us to Birkin which was actually a better road. Onto Chapple Haddlesey,Hirst Courtney,Carlton,Snaith onto Rawcliffe, we all navigated the roundabouts skirting around Goole then taking the enjoyable flowing roads to Swinefleet /Eastoft then taking a left turn to Luddington heading to Keadby mindful of the changing speed limits on these roads.

Crossing the Humber we took a sharp right turn to Burringham onto the B1450 over the M181 to Messingham to the Old school cafe for our first T&P.

All refreshed and enjoying the outside seating area and sun we all set off East to the Wolds. Taking the road to Kirton in Lindsey,South Kelsey, Croxby Top, Wold Newton then travelling south to the heart of the Wolds to Kelstern,Calcethorpe heading towards Cadwell Park then heading East towards South Willingham then North to Hainton, North Willingham to Tealby taking the B1203 towards Market Rasen to Sunnyside Farm shop between Tealby & Market Rasen for lunch, via many different types of roads, scenery and small Lincolnshire villages on route.

Due to a shower of rain as we were ordering lunch we sat inside at the Sunnyside cafe, timing couldn’t have been better as this the first rain since the briefing. We all enjoyed the excellent food and the well deserved stop.

The final route would take us to Zoom Cafe at South Cave for tea/cake this would be a shorter route than the previous two. Part of this route was unknown as when I did a recce, I ended up in Immingham lost!

The rain had stopped, dry roads were the order of the day again. 9 of us set off to Zoom Cafe heading towards the Humber Bridge. John Cowles left at this point to take a more direct route home.

Heading back towards Tealby which is alleged to be the most picturesque village in Lincolnshire, we only skirted around it this time will detour through it next time, it also has an interesting River Ford which I went through on the recce, but the river bed that connects the road afterwards is not one I would like to attempt.

Taking a North route up through the Wolds back to Rothwell we enjoyed further interesting roads. On reaching Rothwell we took a left heading towards Caistor then taking a North route past Humberside Airport, turning left onto the A18, then a sharp right up to Burnham heading to Barton-upon-Humber.

Additional refreshment’s were required at Barton-upon-Humber, we pulled over at the local Jet petrol station for riders to replenish there fuel tanks to ensure they could get home.

Once fuelled we took the A15 to cross the Humber Bridge taking in the views of the Humber estuary.

Anne, Graham and John waved goodbye at this point and filtered West to head home.

The final group proceeded to Zoom Cafe taking the scenic route on the enjoyable roads via Raywell,Riplingham & South Cave arriving at Zoom Cafe just before 4pm and clocking 147 miles from Squires with no wrong turns or U turns, unlike when I did a recce!

The final order of the day was a well deserved Tea & Cake or ice cream all but one elected for the cake. The cakes started to arrive by an exemplary young waitress (six years old) she also advised on the flavour of the ice cream!

It's fair to say the cake proportions were larger than expected in most cases which was amazement to one of us. After all the large cake slices had arrived quite a discussions took place on this smaller slice of cake untouched.

This was resolved by exchanging the original slice for a larger slice by the kind staff at Zoom. (pity some of it ended up on the floor)

Finally it was time to head home after a days riding we had been extremely lucky with the weather giving us dry road conditions all day which was unexpected at the briefing. Encountering very little hazards apart from a Vauxhall parked where a junction mark would have been ideal, only two Horses, plus experiencing very quite roads enabling us to make excellent progress throughout the day.

Mark headed home, I was elected to take the lead back towards York with John/Chris/Pete turning right to Stamford Bridge off the 1079, Mike and I continued to the A64.

Many thanks to everyone who attended the ride, I hope you enjoyed the Lincolnshire Wolds, also many thanks John for carrying out back marker duties for the day.

Hope to see you all on the next ride.

Alan