On a rather overcast & windy morning 18 members of the club set off for Castle Ashby via Stoke Bruerne, Ashton, Horton & Denton. The return journey was via Yardley Hastings, Olney, Weston Underwood, Hanslope, Ashton & Stoke Bruerne.
‘I think it’s going to be one of those days’ chuckled Craig as we set off & sure enough it was. Before we’d even left Towcester we had one altercation with a young male driver & Roger’s tyre blew with a crack like a rifle. Thankfully not too much damage was done & it was repaired at the road side. When we got to Denton, the fast riders went ahead, supposedly heading for the tearoom in the Castle Ashby courtyard. They were not seen again for another hour, having found an alternative tearoom in the grounds of the stately home that none of the rest of us were aware of. We met up again later. Meanwhile, the main group were welcomed at their tearoom with jugs of iced water & had free top ups for their coffee – a very welcoming tearoom that we should visit again!

On the return journey, the group got rather too spread out with Craig being left well behind while repairing a puncture for Rhona. Thank fully, the front group eventually came to a stop as our second tyre of the day blew when Alasdair’s inner went through the sidewall of his tyre. Help was on hand with Pete etc. & some masking tape from Mick. In the panic that ensued once it was realised that Rhona was missing, the ride leader managed to come off his bike while trying to phone her & ride at the same time (a lesson was learnt there). Thankfully Rhona & Craig were soon found.
At this point the ride leader returned home to have his grazes tended to! He assumes that the rest returned to Towcester without further incident!