Saturday 14th October 2017

Let's have an A-ride report. Yours truly, Michael Birchall and Eric Hall headed off on rarely-travelled flat lands in the direction of Blackpool for a meandering windy trundle before snagging a healthy tailwind back from Lytham St Anne's, stopping only for PW to pay off a substantial toll bridge debt. Eric peeled off for home at the A6, leaving MB on his own to put up with PW complaining about being hungry. Scurrilous gossip about Justin Lindsey-Noble's breakfast habits proved too much for an empty tum to bear, so Beacon Fell was dodged and Littletown Dairy set upon. PW panicked a bit when asked for his order, choosing the same beans and poached egg option as MB, but independence of thought was restored via white toast instead of brown and resisting the allure of optional sausage. This proved a good move, as PW gave it a shove up Jeffrey Hill while MB digested, Waddington Fell was avoided because the Autumnal conditions had proved a little more sapping than we had expected (there is always Sunday), and the direct route to the Trough was taken, bobbing the easy way up top of Hall Hill. We were met with a stunning view of verdant fields and steel sky which ought hardly be the reward of the coward's way out, but no matter. Lacking the necessary junction on the top of the hill we didn't bother with a photograph, and on the way down PW probably didn't bother enough with brakes either, only rescued from embarrassment and agony by the Whitewell run off at the bottom. A quick potter over the Trough, PW giving it one final effort to spend the last of his beans and MB still wrestling that stubborn porcine tube, a tired chug into a stiff wind over Catshaw, and job done for the day. A healthy 26.4kmh for a tricky but very pleasant Autumn day in the saddle.