Happy Birthday, Suzanne

Can it really be two years since our last visit to Therfield? It was good to be back, as the Windmillers, some arriving on two wheels, others on four, gathered in the car park of The Fox & Duck on a fine September morning. And it was another good turnout, some seventeen riders in all, namely: Alan, Brian, Charles, Chris, Deborah, Graham, Howard, Jeremy, Ken, Lawrence, Martin, Maurice, Nigel, Ric, Rod, Simon and Victor.

We made our usual Keystone Cops-like attempt at forming three teams of similar size, the teams riding five minutes apart so as to (a) avoid unduly impacting the flow of traffic around Hertfordshire, and (b) avoid descending, locust like, on any tea room unfortunate enough to attract our attention.

Did it work? Well, kinda. While we did indeed avoid overwhelming any one hospitality venue by cleverly distributing ourselves between two of them, Church Farm, Ardeley, and the Westmill Tea Room, by the time we had arrived back in Therfield for lunch, two of the teams had merged into a disorderly rabble strung out over half a mile or so of minor road.

That said, we all enjoyed a splendid morning’s ride, working up an appetite for an equally splendid lunch. Arriving at the pub, we were delighted to be joined by Suzanne, all the more so as – this being her birthday – she was very generously buying the beers.

Thanks are due to Maurice for planning the route – and we wish Suzanne a very happy and hearty birthday.

Brian