First Ride From Swan Inn at Clare

For a while Keith had been telling us that there was this great pub in Clare, The Cock. And what a load of old cock that turned out to be. They never replied to his phone calls or emails, so one Thursday he went round to knock at the door. Sure enough, it was closed. He judged (correctly) that a key requirement for a pub acting as base for a ride is that it should be open at 1 o’clock, and also preferably at 9 o’clock. He suspected that failure in this regard was likely to come up at the ‘Christmas Do’ so more investigation was required.

He decided to go down the road to The Swan although it didn’t look like it had any parking, only to find that they did, in a field round the back. So this became the base for our Suffolk ride.

With glorious late summer weather and the prospect of a ride through quiet lanes, the turnout was large, 18 in all. When I was at school we were instructed in a skill called division, so I naively thought that the 3 groups would contain 6 people each. Still after the first 8 had left I gave up on any notion of academic rigour as applied to Windmill club. The music in the garden also reminded me of very old times but there you have it.

I set off in the last 5. The going seemed hard. There was an annoying squeak from the bike. Perhaps the mudguard had got knocked while driving over? Still mudguards are a kindness to fellow riders when riding in a group, so you have to put up with them.

I got off. The side of tire was was sticky and hot. Odd but the wheel looked buckled. Had a fiddle, but everyone was keen to get on since we were only 10 minutes into the ride.

Quite a few hills at the start of this ride and by Belchamp and I was knackered. The locals seem a bit obsessed with this place. At one point all roads seem to lead to Belchamp. Perhaps they don’t want any visitors to miss out on its attractions or maybe it is 2nd World War sign intended to confuse the invading Germans.

By the coffee stop at Willow Tree Cafe near Glemsford it was clear to me that either my bike was on its last legs or I was, or possibly both.

Time to get help from one or more of our resident engineers. Anything can be fixed, especially when fueled by coffee and cake.

This is not something you want to see 15 miles from the pub, with your brakes rubbing, tire wall blistered and legs getting a bit wobbly. Still back forks are flared and by moving the wheel back as far as it would go and loosening the back brake it was possible to position the wheel so the bike was ride-able, just.

The cafe is quite posh and the service was very good, which was just as well since we spent most of the time bike-fixing. Our groups deficiencies in arrhythmic were partly addressed by us acquiring Deborah and Neil from another group. I will pass over the mere fact that we were now 7 out of 18. Its just a detail.

It was good to be joined by Neil whose bike is not deficient in any way. In fact its a very nice bike I thought. I wish I had one.

Here I can be seen, head down, encouraged by Rod while Neil enjoys his ride.

Despite my difficulties I can honestly say that this was a very nice ride through delightful, quiet Suffolk lanes. Grass growing down the middle, that sort of lane, where you can talk to fellow riders or just enjoy the sunshine and the piece and quiet.

Absolutely perfect.

Return to the pub made possible several long, cold drinks in the warm sunshine. The food had been pre-ordered and came out quickly through the effort of several busy servers.

Everyone seemed happy to have been part of another excellent Windmill occasion. It had been an adventure. New pub, new cafe, nice route, bike nursed home with some help from other club members and beer duly drunk. All that remained was to go home and nurse my very tired legs in a hot bath. Taking a leaf our of Andrew’s book I opted for a hot bath and 40 winks before my wife returned from work. Whereupon I tell her how busy I have been, gardening, jobs around the the house, that sort of thing. She expresses indulgence rather than any great belief.

For the record riders were: Keith, Jeremy, Paul, Deborah, Jenny, Roger, Sandra, Neil, Maurice, Rod, Charles, Martin B, Howard, Nigel, Andrew, Geoffrey and myself.

Doctor’s note and lunch only for Brian who is shouldering along, back to full fitness and of course our very best wishes to ‘The Reverend’ who is making sterling progress and whom I hope will soon be back as a lunching member.