We are just in from our ride. We'd planned this ride earlier in the week and Hubster was totally up for it.
We rode from ours, all the way along the
Marriott's Way but missed out the Themelthorpe Loop as it's narrow, muddy and full of dog walkers on a Sunday. We cut across Reepham instead and followed the disused railway line all the way to Aylsham, where we stopped for a butty at Tesco.
At Freeland's Corner - the highest point of the Marriotts, I got a puncture. It was the tinyest thorn ever in that tyre. A nice chap from Norwich Velo Club came along and gave us a self sticking patch for our tube. We'd put a new tube in the tyre and de-thorned it (not in that order) and then couldn't find my leeches anywhere. We still cannot find them. I got them out of the saddlebag but they've vanished. We never did find them so first thing tomorrow is new self sticking patches. It also became apparent that, after I had got out the spare p******e repair kit ready for Hubster's new saddlebag, he'd not put it in the bag
From there we followed the
Bure Valley path to Wroxham railway station and got on a train home. It became apparent that Hubster thought that the Bure Valley line ran trains all the time. It doesn't . Next Train is 16th February, the start of Half Term.
He was not best chuffed to be riding another 9 miles and crept along it averaging about 5mph, going up to about 7 or 8 mph and then stopping every half a mile for a 2 or 3 minute rest. His legs were tired. I tried to jolly him along by saying 'we are over 1/3 along this bit or 1/2 way along this bit. Then he decided to walk and nearly got up to 2mph with 4 miles to go. I might have got a bit cross at this point and told him to pull himself together. If we walk at this pace we won't get to the train station for over 2 hours. I told him to MTFU and get on his bike. I was getting properly cold at this point and my hip was yelling loudly at me and my right knee was yelling even louder. Walking really really was not helping. Yes, I know that I'm a cow so you don't need to mention it. I made sure that the ate the rest of the malt bread here too. I was OK.
Finally the railway station came in to view and we got on to the platform with 4 minutes to spare for the 16:24 train. That 28 miles took 3 hours and we averaged 9.1 miles. Our total time was some 90 minutes longer which was fixing the tyre time of about 15 mins and tesco time, another 15 minutes. The rest of the time was me stopping and waiting every half a mile or so from just past Reepham onwards.
Once off the train at Thorpe Station, Norwich. We rode down Riverside Road and went left at the roundabout and on to Barrack Street. I generally go on the cyclepaths instead of riding on these 2 roads but the cyclepath gates are locked at dusk. It was pitch black by then so we had to go on the roads. I waited (and waited) at just after the roundabout at Barrack Street for Hubster to come in to view and then followed him to the roundabout at the other end. From there we hopped on the cyclepaths to the City end of the Marriotts and home. I took the house keys half way along and went back at a more sensible pace.
That bit of the ride was 4 miles averaging 12.1mph, which took into consideration Marlpit Lane, which I crept up at around 7.5mph.
32 miles all in all. I'm 15 miles up on my yearly target so very happy. I'm trying to get a bit ahead as I know that I'll not be riding in the heavy rain, snow and high winds that are forecast.
.
twas also my choice of steed for the day 
