11 + 14 March. Happy Birthday to Maurice – 80 years young!

It was quite a week of celebrations for Maurice’s 80th birthday. Firstly, a ride and lunch at The Pheasant in Great Chishill on his actual birthday of 11th March and then a repeat on the 14th from The Pig and Abbot in Abington Pigotts, surrounded by his Windmill Club friends on both occasions.

Joining Maurice on the 14th were Andrew, Roger, Keith, Paul, David, Howard, Gareth, Ric, Rod, Graham, Deborah, Victor, Geoff, Charles, Martin B and Martin W. After coffee and tasty bacon pastries provided by Pat, three groups set off on Maurice’s anti-clockwise route via Bassingbourn, Barrington, Haslingfield and the Eversdens to Bourn for coffee and then back via Longstowe, Hatley St George, Croydon and Shingay – a lovely 33 mile circuit and a mild dry day to go with it.

Charles came to the rescue of Martin W before setting off with a pair of spare gloves, Martin having forgotten his, only to discover that Charles had also forgotten to charge his battery, resulting in a range issue and his decision to take a shorter route to avoid the risk of having to pedal his heavy beast without power. Such are the potential woes of an e-biker.

Keith also had an issue with his rear gears refusing to work but luckily that only became apparent towards the end of the ride with a strong breeze head on to make matters worse. Deborah’s bike, however, behaved itself admirably after having given her grief on the 11th when her chain jammed well and truly for the second time. And who came to her rescue again? Gallant Graham of course. Bike repair shops in the vicinity will be having a field day.

Brian recommended an excellent new coffee stop in Bourn, The Stove, which all agreed was excellent and that we should pay another visit.

The route back was uneventful with some good speeds recorded whilst descending Croydon Hill, Howard in particular seen riding almost Tour de France style – was he actually sitting on the crossbar?

Back at The Pig and Abbot, where it was good to be joined by Simon in civvies, Pat did us proud once again with her fabulous choice of pies and puddings along with other excellent fare. The highlight of course was the celebration once again of the 80th birthday of our remarkable leader Maurice with a hearty rendering of Happy Birthday. That makes three 80+ Windmillers still pedalling strongly, albeit on e-bikes most of the time, (but there has to be a bonus for reaching such a milestone, surely?), and another to follow in a few months time.

Finally, fresh from the ski slopes with the Windmill ski team Andrew reminded everyone of his love of French petit pois, a large tin of which was consumed one evening apres ski. Missing his peas, Simon very kindly donated one to keep him happy:

Thanks go to Maurice for planning the route and buying a large round of drinks and the coffees, Rod for preparing and distributing the GPX file and photographers including Charles, Simon and Gareth. This is where we went:

Martin W