Sunday 27th was the second of August Rideouts, with the weather looking to be a bit unpredictable, it was great to see 13 bikes and one pillion turn out at Haddon Services, for Philip Wadlow’s planned ride to Willoughby Café.
This was a new destination for a PECAM Sunday Ride, Willoughby Café was situated between Rugby and Daventry a ride of around 60miles, on roads new to many of the group.
Following on from the usual briefing and a reminder of how the second man drop off system works and with myself donning the TEC pink vest, we headed off on our adventure.
A great mixture of roads, with many of the usual Sunday Village hazards, pushbikes, runners and horses, to practice our advanced training skills on, we even encountered Postman Pat and his black and white cat on the way!
On the way we passed a couple of places of interest, one being Ashby Manor House, the home of the Gun Powder Plot!
The Café was not much to look at from the outside and the welcome could have been better, but we certainly could not fault the service or the food, the prices were very reasonable and there was no complaints about the food on offer, the bacon baguette I had was delicious.
The second leg of the journey was a similar distance, Phil had factored in a fuel stop for those of us who have smaller tanks. A couple of the group left at this point to make their own way home, whilst the rest of us set off for our second destination of the day, The Queens Head at Nassington.
There were some cracking roads on this part of the route, and whilst we did get a few spots of rain, we managed to dodge most of the down pours, in fact the day turned into a very sunny one.
The Queens Head was the final destination, with most of the group heading off from here, five of us enjoyed the hospitality of the country Pub, with Bill treating us to puddings and coffee, which went down very well!
All in all, a most enjoyable day, the ride and roads were excellent, the two destinations did not fail to deliver and the weather did its best for us.
Thank you to Philip Wadlow for looking after us today, a great route in a new area for us.
I really enjoyed being TEC, the only incident was a dodgy zip on a jacket, easily resolved!
Being TEC gives you the opportunity to enjoy the group riding, watching the group, displaying the skills that we develop during our training is a joy to see.
Thank you to everyone for their Company today, looking forward to the next ride out!