With only 4 other people answering the club run clarion call, and one of them being my son, and he planning the route, it was going to be a hard day in the saddle!

 

And so it was that Steve, Danny, Josh, Tony and myself said our goodbyes to the “Gerries” who had taken up temporary residence on “their” bench at Skidby Mill and set off.

 

It was misty but reasonably warm and with little wind it promised to be a nice autumn day.

 

We headed off via Little Weighton to Walkington were we witnessed a car seemingly doing a hand-brake turn at the crossroads in front of us, narrowly missing the sign post at the junction.

 

We did the usual route via Cherry Burton, Etton, Bracken Farm, Kirkburn, Garton, Sledmere, Duggleby and North Grimston.

 

We then climbed out of North Grimston up the single track unsurfaced road over Grimston Brow.

 

Here we rode through the fog and dropped into Birdsall before climbing out up to the ridge road where we should have had a great view of the Vale of York.

 

Unfortunately we were above the low cloud and our view was restricted to say the least.

 

Josh then announced that, as he’d never done it before, he would like to go down Garrowby Hill and so we duly obliged. The trouble was it was thick fog on the descent.

 

I nearly went down the emergency run off and Josh missed the left hand turn to Bishop Wilton. We were soon back on course and headed for lunch at Costa in Pocklington.

 

After coffee and paninis and Steve’s Costa card gaining a few extra points we headed for the flat lands through Allerthorpe, Everingham, Beechwood and South Cave.

 

Up the climb my legs finally fell off and I had to relinquish the first shower to Steve.

 

It had been a great day out. We had done 80 miles with 4150 feet of climbing. If I can do it so can anyone else who regularly goes out on their bike.

I appreciate that several people were riding the sportive in Holderness today but others weren’t.

Your club run needs you.

We will tailor the route to suit who ever turns up and according to the weather.

Remember it’s the Free Wheeling Race on Saturday 18 October so if you’ve yet to win a trophy this year there’s still time!

Hope to see you soon.

Richard Guymer