After the excellent turnout of the last three weeks and with reasonable weather in store, another large group assembled at Cleopatra’s in Holt. As I’ve been out of the country for months, I did not recognise a number of new faces but with so many riders, it was easy to split into two groups. Trevor also had another moderate route on his Garmin but as I was still using pen & paper, it was easy for him to save it for another day; thanks Trevor. My plan was for an easy flat sausage-shaped route out via Malpas, into the wind to Erbistock for lunch. We started with 14 but Dave Hill left us early on and the Pipe tandem soon decided on their own route, leaving Andy, two Daves, Charlie and Jane, George, Keith, Mike, Steve, Trevor and me to battle into the beginning of Storm Abigail. The photo at Malpas Cross belies this and shows how unseasonably sunny it was for mid-November.
Steve kindly provided the gpx file, but after Malpas we turned SW heading past Overton to Erbistock. My intention was to try to catch one of nature’s autumnal mysteries on the two weirs there over the R Dee. The first weir was inaccessible down a Private Drive and the 2nd was across muddy fields, clearly unsuitable for our cycle shoes. You can see what we missed on this U-tube video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzg0wg_vuZo
Photographs by Brian MacDonald
Lunch was at The Boat, Erbistock tel: 01978 780666 down on the riverside. I didn’t want to leave as it had a cosy log fire roaring away and in summer, I could see the pub being a magnet with the benches out on the riverside. An excellent lunch was had by all, but the non-beer table looked very serious except for George showing that he uses Colgate to achieve that extra sparkle.
Lunch was at The Boat, Erbistock tel: 01978 780666 down on the riverside. I didn’t want to leave as it had a cosy log fire roaring away and in summer, I could see the pub being a magnet with the benches out on the riverside. An excellent lunch was had by all, but the non-beer table looked very serious except for George showing that he uses Colgate to achieve that extra sparkle.
With the wind behind us after lunch, we soon past Bangor on Dee, to arrive back at Holt for afternoon tea at 15:15pm, giving some daylight to those who still had to ride home. Four new members paid me cash for their subs without much persuasion, bringing CER membership to 30+ for the first time. Riders’ feedback was very positive and appreciated after an easy 38-mile autumnal ride. Next week, I have an interesting lunchtime pub lined up for the first ever visit of CER.
BMacca
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