Blustery

Flint was formed in soft, limy mud on the floor of the chalk sea some 80 million years ago. It is made of quartz, which came from the skeletons of tiny sponges dissolved in the seawater. The bizarre shapes of flint nodules is due to flint replacing the chalk in the burrows of marine animals such as arthropods. Over millions of years the process continued and the white chalk mud, containing trillions of flint nodules, was slowly compacted to form a layer over 200 metres thick across the region. Early humans soon discovered that broken flints could be formed into extremely sharp cutting tools ………

In keeping with the rest of July, Thursday’s forecast was “mixed”. This prompted one or two ‘no shows’, including our ride organiser, Rod (some muttering about a BT man, but it sounds a bit like, “the dog ate my homework”). Nevertheless, 11 riders (assuming I’ve counted correctly) gathered at the Fox and Duck, Therfield under gloomy skies. Two groups set off southwards into the blustery breeze heading for coffee in Buntingford.

Would it rain or not ? the heavy clouds constantly threatened, but thankfully in the end only light showers materialised. Constant stops ensued to put on rain coats (too warm) or take them off again (another light shower).

Back to the pub via the oft photographed Cromer Windmill for the usual great food and beer after an enjoyable and mostly dry and mostly incident free ride.

……The fascinating geology of flint and utility to our ancestors was lost somewhat on Alan and Graham. Alan sustained not one but two flint induced punctures requiring road side fixing and Graham one slow puncture to be fixed at home. Geology, eh ?

With apologies if I lost track of starters, I think these are the final group of riders: Jeremy, Victor, Tom, Paul, Nigel, Maurice, Martin B, Graham, Charles, Alan and Andrew.