Recycled Market Weighton Circular 13th October

Present: Bob, Chris, Dave B, Helen, Ian, Jill, John, Martin, Sheila, Steve

Distance c 35 miles

June temperatures, October winds, was the forecast. Friday 13th was lucky for the ten of us who set out today into some strong gusts but with great visibility, no showers and sun by the afternoon.

I’d taken up Alan’s suggestion of a circular ride to Market Weighton taking in Money Hill, and from there to Middleton on the Wolds, the Warter Road and Londesborough. It was a bit different to our usual route and I’d planned it on the OS map so knew there’d be some hills. Alan seems to have done a dastardly defection to our rivals, the Beverley Knights, so was probably just testing our mettle. And, of course, we must live up to the Big Wheel’s mantra about not liking it too easy. Or as Chris kept saying to me as he passed me puffing up the hills, “But it’s great fun, lass!” I got christened the “Little Wheel” as I was leader today, although I think that title should go to Chris: a big man on tiny mountain-bike wheels, always cheerful and tuneful in his brown brogues, denims and jumper. Long may he be a Lycra Luddite. I’m surprised Dave got him in a helmet.

Picking up Martin on the road from Etton, we turned off towards Kiplingcotes, then crossed up to the tops. The group elected to complete the Money Hill challenge rather than take the shorter route to

Middleton. “They’re snorting in the air and they’re steaming, as they climb two hundred feet to Money Hill.” Yes, we were, but those are lyrics of a song by Hull folk band Beggars’ Bridge, about the Kiplingcotes Derby. Run since 1519, it’s England’s oldest horse race. Tradition says that if it fails to run one year it will never be run again. So, in 1947 in a terrible winter, and again in 2001 during the foot and mouth epidemic, a solitary horse was led along the track to keep the tradition alive.

The road from Middleton to Warter was another slog, a steady uphill on a dodgy surface but worth it for the great vistas, and passing very close to the site of Hockney’s famous “Bigger Trees near Warter”. Getting hungry, we declined a loop to Warter, and headed south into the wind towards Londesborough. Stunning views to the left here of the wooded estate on the scarp and ahead to the Vale of York.

A great downhill ride next, passing “Cleaving Coombe, the best sledging in East Yorkshire,” according to Martin. We’d forgotten about Londesborough Hill, another slog, before the final swoop down to Market Weighton and the welcoming strains of Buddy Holly from Café 34.

Here, Steve entertained us with a graphic description of his accident on the cycle path to the Humber Bridge, using spoons and sugar bags as visual aids. It sounded horrific: a head-on crash with a rider called Dougie from the CTC (Jill has ridden with him), hidden from view by another cyclist who’d not seen Steve until the last moment. Steve damaged three tendons around his shoulder and is still getting physio with limited movement. In true Superman Watts fashion, Steve had ridden home after the crash, but he was lucky. He’d been thrown into the road (traffic blithely carrying on around him). But poor Dougie came off much worse, breaking his pubic bone, several ribs and cutting his head open. And he’s nearly 80. This led to a gruesome conversation about cycling accidents, dodgy cycling tracks, and council responsibilities going unmet.

We borrowed Bob’s OS maps which he’d thoughtfully brought along (my Sustrans map frustratingly covering all the important bits with maps of towns). John thought today’s ride was one of our hardest. There was a discussion as to which of the hills we’d done was steepest, and John told us we should try Nunburnholme Hill next time as it was tougher than Trundlegate. No thanks.

We were alarmed to hear that Café 34 is changing ownership but we were chatted up by the new owner-to-be, Rachel, who said it was going to become ‘Miss B’s Pantry’. The menu will include a daily special and baked potatoes. My eyes lit up at the thought of shepherd’s pie as Sheila groaned. Rachel specialises in baking so yes, we’ll be back. We told her to keep the music. Ian told us about a

great find in Elloughton, the Half Moon, pensioner’s special of fish and chips and apple crumble for less than a fiver. That’s a cert for a winter ride soon.

“It was looking a bit black over Bill’s mother’s, but it’s better now,” muttered John, bafflingly. Only Bob had heard this wonderful expression. I had to look it up, and it turns out it’s an East Midlands phrase (John hails from Nottingham), meaning stormy weather coming from the west. As for Bill’s mother, there are two interpretations. One that it’s Shakespeare’s birthplace in the West Midlands, where the bad weather’s coming from, and the other, more far-fetched, that it refers to Kaiser Bill and his changeable and blustery temperament. Who knows.

It was indeed lovely as we rode back along the Kiplingcotes valley, my favourite cycling road. I was well behind when I saw Chris

and others carry on to South Dalton, but I turned right and met John looking for us all on the Etton T junction where we waited for them to catch up. In Etton I stopped off to buy chrysanthemums by the roadside which I stashed on my bike. On the way uphill from Etton my chain came off, which slowed me down further, but at the bridge near Cherry Burton John and Steve were both waiting for me to make sure I was OK. All for one.

“From behind it looks like you’re rocket-propelled with those flowers on your back end,” said Steve. If only.

HK

Photos from John and Dave B