I took Eric out for a blat today. I love him so much and have just passed the 600 mile mark on him since buying him just before Christmas last year. That's quite good mileage for my 'winter off roader'. It being Sunday 'cake' day today we cleared off up the Marriott's Way and got a good 5 miles or so before my back tyre went all flat. There was a 'mile marker' thing in view so we walked to it, used it as a seat and got on with repairing and changing. Hubster got the tyre off pdq and handed me the old 'tube in exchange for the new one. He got on with de thorning the tyre and checking for more, putting the new tube in, while I fixed the old one, checked it and then squashed all the air out ready for folding up neatly to go back in my little saddlebag. 5 minutes, done and dusted.
On we went to Whitwell playing the 'foreign tourist' game. For the first few miles we were Spanish and greeted everyone with 'Hola buenos dias' and 'gracias' for people who moved. Our Spanish is not good enough for 'passing on the right/left' so we resorted to being French for a few yards and then reverted to Spanish.
After a while we were German, switching to French for passing people and then had a quick flirtation with Czech but have forgotten far to much so we became Italians with lots of 'Ciao's all over the place.
At Whitwell, Hubster said that he didn't want to ride the loop so we rode into Reepham for him to find a cashpoint, I grabbed the repair kit from him and headed off to Reepham Station and that side of the loop and rode the loop anti-clockwise, which is a first for me. I have never ever ridden it that way before and it was interesting as I noticed so much more as it was less familiar.
I stopped at the 16 mile marker.
Here is Eric looking at the fields, having a breather while I took photos.
The markers are all old bits of railway track and whatnot made into sculpture, there are pictures on most of them
This is where we were about to carry on along, heading back to Whitwell.
The terrain on the loop is a bit mixed, mostly narrow. I did take a pic of a badger sett but it didn't come out very well. I couldn't get high enough for a good view. There are gravelly bits, muddy beyond belief bits, sandy bits and quite quick hard and level bits. I got round 7th according to Strava. 7th of what it doesn't say but I'm thinking Women over 50 probably.
At Whitwell there was a steam fair going on, with traction engines, trains and all sorts but we were allowed up on the platform to use the cafe and loos. There were a lot of cyclists there, we found a bit of space on the 'waiting room' bench and chatted to other cyclists, while drinking coffee and stuffing carrot cake.
We met a lovely family, with 4 kids. They used to have a Dutch Cargo bike with seats in the carrier bit for the small kids but they are all a bit bigger now so have their own bikes. The lady did have a double tag-a-long for her twins at one point. She said that was quite hard work.
The 11 mile ride home was uneventful. We stopped at a bridge over the stream and played Poo Sticks, as you do. Here is Eric enjoying the view.
Eric and I chose the best and fastest stick.
Home via Costessey and finishing up with 30.19 miles on the Garmin, in 2:41:00 riding time.
I have Strava now so I can put that link up.
https://www.strava.com/activities/359510796
Please, someone friend me. I'm a bit lonely.