Club run reports - 12th November

Category 3 ride led by Graham Knight

Four of us gathered at Allenbury’s to have another go at the route to the Paradise Café in Dunmow, that had been dropped a while back in favour of a ride to Baldock in a doomed attempt to avoid heavy rain. Having passed through the slough of despond which descended upon us when the drizzle began as soon as we set foot to pedal, we proceeded on a conventional route to Hadham then an unconventional one to Stortford via Bury Green and Cradle End. We then negotiated pre-remembrance ceremony preparations in Stanstead and made it to Dunmow via Broxted and Little Easton.

There we found something that shook us to the core for, verily, the gates of Paradise were closed against us. Had we committed some terrible sins along the way; failing to take our turns at the front, inappropriate use of hand signals? But no - and our more senior members may wish to take note of this - Paradise was full! We can but hope that this was a temporary phenomenon but it left us with an immediate problem to solve. The other cafés in Dunmow were equally chocker, so we decided to head to Thremhall Park, said by one of us to be just 4 miles distant. Having negotiated the 6.6 miles to the park, we found the café to be populated by some very dubious-looking characters who, probably wisely, had not even tried to get into Paradise. These turned out to be Wheelers' Cat 2 and 6 riders who were occupying two large tables. This large influx of lycra seemed to have stressed the management to the extent that they did their best to make us feel unwelcome. It was no cooked food and coffee in paper cups - though Ian, in a fine display of chippy Northernness, managed to negotiate a proper ceramic one. Still, any port in a storm, and by the time we left the drizzle had stopped.

We set off on the shortest route back via Great Hallingbury but found the road ahead barred by the Cat 6 riders. Naturally, having seen quite enough of them in the café, we diverted through Thorley en route to Green Tye and home.