The day started well, after arriving at the Square I raced across the road to use the conveniences. I walked through the old door ready to do the natural thing, only to find about 15 people sipping cappuccinos and staring up at me– this could have ended very ugly indeed – I thought this was either a new form of entertainment or someone has gone mad and replaced the old public loos with a café! When did that happen? The next door along said it was 40p for a p - I couldn’t see the sense in that when I could have 40 p’s for free on the way out through the Wolds, so I returned to the Square unrelieved.
Huge thanks to Jon G for suggesting Filey as a destination, it was a sensational day to head to the beach. A dozen Inters rode out of the Square, - sorry I knew most of the names but not everyone’s. Highlight was John C looking a million dollars in his new Clifton cycling jersey! This was the best ride I’d had with the Inters for ages, a nice tight group travelling at a comfortable even pace, all contributing equally – magnificent! Special mention to Dr Joe who I noticed has gone up a level with his climbing – proves that persistence pays. Of course the superb sunny day helped – Kevin N remarked that a great weather day like this is why you put up with all the other cold and wet days…I agreed with him, but thought he could have added “on the other 51 weekends of the year” at the end of his sentence.
The route was straight out to Filey and straight back – nothing fancy. Dave B opted out just after the half way mark as he rediscovers his cycling legs. We benefited from a tailwind on the way out and so I was a bit apprehensive about the potential slog back into the breeze, but with the group riding so well, I needn’t have worried. There were a few mad motorists along the way who had obviously gone a bit ‘troppo’ in the heat but generally we had a clean trip.
John C led us into Filey to the Vinery café - a new one for me. He then told the café lady to be gentle with me given that I was an Aussie. She enquired whether she could mention the C word. Ha, ha. I said, “do you mean Cappuccino?, if so, I’ll have one thanks”. She then went over to the coffee machine and yelled back, “do you want ashes sprinkled on that?”…excellent
On the way out of Filey we popped down to the beachfront to get a group photo – it was a traditional British scene – 90 million beach-goers on the sand and one 3 year old kid in the water!…he had probably been in it for 9 hours too! When taking the group shot, Dr Joe took what we thought was a massive risk in handing his smartphone to a young lad in tracksuit pants on the other side of the road so that he could take our photo – we were all convinced he would scarper, but it all ended well as he returned the phone to Dr Joe (…maybe Dr J could publish that photo below?)
We brought the ton up on the clock towards the end, - something certain other Aussies had not done for a while. Thanks to everyone in the group for an outstanding day, really enjoyed the ride …and thanks for taking pity on me and not mentioned the C word too often…it’s never pretty to see a grown man cry
D.