Sunday was a damp, foggy start, but despite the weather, 11 bikes and 1 pillion arrived at Haddon Services for the briefing by Tim Helstrip.
The route and destination were ones that Tim had inherited from Craig McClean and both were new to Tim, the destination was The Vale View Café, Belvoir Castle and would be a route of around one and a half hours.
The briefing covered that we would be using the second man drop off system, (https://pecam.org.uk/second-man-drop-off-system) to keep the riders all going the same direction, and that we would follow the PECAM rides policy (https://pecam.org.uk/ride-policy/) and riding to the IAM Roadsmart Advanced level of riding.
Gary Reynolds volunteered to be Tail End Charlie for today’s ride.
Following the briefing and before heading off, we held a minutes silence to remember Queen Elizabeth II and her sad passing.
We then headed off onto the parkway, before heading off to Marholm and then on through many villages and taking in the Bitchfield Bends before finding our destination.
Belvoir Castle came into view on the landscape, as the weather had cleared it was bathed in sunlight and looked rather imposing, the Vale View Café was small with outside seating, it had a limited menu, but everyone found some food and beverages to sustain them for the route home.
The ride home was, once again a route through Rutland villages, ending at The Country Lounge, Wansford, a favourite destination.
A great Sunday ride out was enjoyed by everyone, with the weather turning out to be much better than we had anticipated.
Thank you to Tim Helstrip and Gary Reynolds and for all the PECAM members who joined the ride.