23 September 2009, to Hollow Trees for Ann's Birthday. Two weeks running with free teas -when will it ever end? Wednesday-ers are perhaps getting blasé, since we are only nine free-loaders this week.
As you can see from the photo, we were Jeff, Justin, Ron (resplendent in red), Ann, Nigel (from East Harling!), Tony and Peter Gay. Out of the picture (in the visual sense) were 'TomTom' and I (who rode through the ford) plus Pete Hogg who retired early with the saddle malfunction mentioned above.
We were about half an hour into the ride when Pete called out for us to stop. He is rightly proud of his 5-speed seventies machine, and has no problem keeping up as a rule but, this time it was serious. A bolt on his seat pin had sheared, and it was one of those needlessly complex arrangements with two bolts with hex heads that threaded into two lateral pins with threaded holes. Dreadful to tighten, I remember, needing to wiggle an open ended spanner under the saddle and move the bolts about 5 degrees at a time. Out in mid-Suffolk, without a spanner, and the outlook was bleak. Pete kept with us, rolling along out of the saddle, to Monks Eleigh, where we bade him good luck at Bildeston, and Lifecycle (who's stock is all pretty recent I seem to remember, and might not include 30-year-old seat pin spares).
Just before Brent Eleigh (which, in turn, is just before Monks Eleigh) the riders at the front (I seem to remember Justin and Ron) suffered an extremely close encounter with a young deer which burst through the hedge on the right, and crashed through the hedge on the left, at a constant height of three feet and what looked like about two feet ahead of our shaken leaders. A glance to the right revealed the rest of the beasts, watching. They looked as if there had been a wager, with the Stag offering a fiver if the youngster made it. All too fast for a photo.
What I could capture in pixels, however was a very supercilious looking Alpaca. I came to the sign at the farm gate, and his evident attitude was explained "Alpaca Stud Farm".
Just before Brent Eleigh (which, in turn, is just before Monks Eleigh) the riders at the front (I seem to remember Justin and Ron) suffered an extremely close encounter with a young deer which burst through the hedge on the right, and crashed through the hedge on the left, at a constant height of three feet and what looked like about two feet ahead of our shaken leaders. A glance to the right revealed the rest of the beasts, watching. They looked as if there had been a wager, with the Stag offering a fiver if the youngster made it. All too fast for a photo.
What I could capture in pixels, however was a very supercilious looking Alpaca. I came to the sign at the farm gate, and his evident attitude was explained "Alpaca Stud Farm".T-T took us on a twiddly loop round to Hollow Trees where we sat outside in the now-usual sunshine, wishing Ann a Happy Birthday as we scoffed our free tea, and headed off into deepest T-T country round Wissett and Offton (which we visit increasingly, um, er . . . .). Near Offton we did one of TT's special little lanes, the sort that have more grass and gravel than strips of tarmac, and that are punctuated by fords.
We covered a civilised 50 miles at a sensible average speed that brought us home nice and early. We hope that Pete Hogg reached home safely and in good time - and without having to ride out of the saddle the whole way.
We covered a civilised 50 miles at a sensible average speed that brought us home nice and early. We hope that Pete Hogg reached home safely and in good time - and without having to ride out of the saddle the whole way.
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