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NEWARK NOTES from the Secretary

November 2004

After the Lord Mayor's Show....

The trip to Hartington could have marked the end of the summer. The following weekend was fine, though, and a good contingent enjoyed a Saturday ride down the Vale of Belvoir. Brian and myself turned out the next day, for a run to Swineshead Bridge and the flatlands to the East.

Reasonable weather, if not quite an Indian Summer, blessed the last two weekends in August, but other engagements kept me off my bike for one of them, and the first three weekends in September. The others tell me that the Saturday runs still had good attendances, while the usual one or two made it for the Sundays, with shorter rides than I would have done, hard taskmaster that I am.

By late September, Autumn was making itself felt; Colin and I rode to Blidworth Bottoms and Greaves Lane for the last weekend of the month, and I met up with John S. at Belton before a rain-curtailed ride South to start October. Rain again threatened proceedings two weeks later. The Saturday ride proved the forecast wrong, but on Sunday, three of us visited the Bubble-Car museum (yes, really) at Byards Leap, but then turned back early as persistent showers, if you see what I mean, dampened our spirits.

Are you still awake? Isn't this is getting a bit routine and boring? Some writers can make an interesting story about of anything. If I was one of them I wouldn't be working for an engineering company in Newark. John P came to my rescue here, and suggested that it would be a good idea to ride to Skegness. Done it before, yes, but not in October.

So, it was a murky Saturday morning, almost in November when the four cyclists of the apocalypse set off eastwards. Fortunately, the fog cleared to give a sunny Autumn afternoon for our run across the fens. Off-season meant we didn't have to knock on many doors before finding a B&B with room for four (no, John, we want twin rooms, not double!). After stuffing ourselves with the obligatory fish and chips, we set off in an ultimately fruitless search for a pub with both real ale and an ambient noise level less than 105 decibels. Good job chairman James wasn't with us.

John's stock answer for the question "Where shall we go to today?" has long been "Fantasy Island", On Sunday, we were only three miles away, so there was no excuse. Was it worth the effort? Three miles of caravan sites before the obligatory photographs with the roller-coaster as a backdrop, then, with some relief, back home.

Mike Graham

Page updated 01/11/04