Willoughby the destination, 53 miles the journey The first part of the journey blighted by a puncture, they were hedge cutting in Weston Lane and I picked up a substantial thorn, it had still got part of the branch attached to it, I had to remove it with pliers, and it didn't want to come out, they were still hedge cutting when I came back dinner time, thorns everywhere, though the traffic was doing a good job sweeping them to the side, this time I picked my way through without picking one up. A cold bright day, very cold first thing but quite pleasant later on, plenty of frozen puddles to catch out the unwary but not much else. My regular route out through Baginton, Wappenbury, Eathorpe, across the Fosseway through Marton, Birdingbury, Leamington Hastings and across Grandborough fields, I was going to do a loop through Long Itchington but changed to a more direct route after the puncture. Leaving the Cafe the rear tyre was holding pressure well so decided to do the loop on the way back, so once I'd ridden through Sawbridge and across Grandborough fields I turned through Broadwell and on though Long Itchington, up Huningham hill and on to the Leamington Road were I turned right through Bubbenhall, Ryton and across the A45 to ride into Coventry through Wolston and Brandon then right onto Hipswell Highway and onto home. A very enjoyable morning on the bike, cold on the way out but very pleasant on the way back, I'm still slow, 50 miles in 3 hours 40 minutes and an average just over 13mph, but I felt stronger this time so I'm getting better as time goes by.
