Cyclists Touring Club
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NEWARK NOTES from the Secretary

July 2004 - Scarborough Fair and other old favourites

My diary records that we (Is this the Royal We? - ed)) hardly went anywhere in early May, other distractions such as gardening and decorating being part of the reason. It wasn't until the third week that I got a longer run, to Stamford, and that was on my own. The following weekend I found myself alone again (perhaps I should change my soap…) so I went to a swapmeet on the Lincolnshire Showground.

Having got that far north, it seemed appropriate, purely in the interests of research of course, to investigate the situation at Brandy Wharf. (For those not familiar with it, a cider house near Brigg) I found that the new owners had indeed made some changes. Not only do they now sell beer, of all things, but also the dreaded Carling Black Label. I don't know if it's related, but the clientele seems to have changed too. You used to be able to rely on there being several bikes in the garden, of which at least one would have had more than the normal allocation of wheels, seats, or both, or possibly been a recumbent. This time, my bike was on its own in a car park full of, well, cars. A return trip east of Lincoln via Five Mile Bridge confirmed my suspicion that this way was considerably longer than my usual route via Saxilby. For future reference.

Two weekends later I was at Five Mile Lane again, when I rode with the Easy Riders to check out the recently extended cycle path from Washingborough. Like our new extension from Newark to Cotham, it's surfaced with a form of bonded gravel, which is better than an unsurfaced path but falls far short in comfort and rolling resistance to tarmac. (Speaking to the engineers at Newark I was told that this is preferred to tarmac for rural sections 'for aesthetic reasons' and that it actually costs more! So much for the notion that the National Cycle Network should be good for cycling on.) With a stop at the Barn Tea Rooms to provide much needed refreshment, this made a highly enjoyable ride.

It was the same direction the next day, when Peter and I rode to the legendary Minting. Unlike Brigadoon, Minting exists permanently, but its position, according to the road signs at least, is variable. Whether this is due to continental drift, a confluence of Ley lines, or ineptitude in the local Highways department remains open to speculation, but, true to form, the second sign we passed for the place, about a mile from the first, indicated it was now further away.

The village pub, the "Sebastopol Inn", once a favourite venue for summer rides, had closed some years ago. Whilst working in the area, Pete had seen a sign for it, so it looked like a good idea to see if it had re-opened. Fortunately for us, it had, and a pint of 'Old Rosie' (at 7.3% only one pint, mind you!) was my reward.

A grand total of eleven of us enjoyed a Hostel weekend at Scarborough the next weekend. Having driven up on Saturday morning, we rode to Flamborough Head in the afternoon, actually covering more miles than we did the next day. A head too far, perhaps.

On Sunday, we checked out the disused railway line to Whitby (it's quite steep for a railway line, and the surface in places is abysmal - definitely mountain bike territory in anything but dry weather - but far better than the roads) Few of us need much of an excuse to visit Whitby, and we had a great day with good weather, nice scenery, and fish and chips too.

Returning to Scarborough, the final stretch is downhill on an ash-surfaced section of path. Those of us with sun lotion on our legs found them black with dust when we got back. (Hope we didn't block the drains of the hostel showers..oh, and what did it do to our chains?) Even the defeat of our footie team by France in the evening didn't spoil our enjoyment.

Monday morning and some of us, led by Colin, went out and found some proper Yorkshire hills to ride up before we went home. All in all, an excellent weekend.

Still in June, and Stuart led our first Rural Ride of the season, to Mrs Smith's Cottage at Navenby. Although we'd all had many a tea stop at the café next to it, few of us had ever ventured in, so it was an opportunity to visit this little bit of social history on our doorstep. As usual for a Rural Ride, the familiar faces were joined by newcomers; hopefully some will be seen again later in the season.

As I'm writing this, I'm looking forward to meeting up with some of you at Woody's Top. If it's half as good a weekend as Scarborough, it'll be terrific.

Mike Graham

Page updated 05/07/04