The deserted car park.
Emails and a few phone calls resulted in four bikes and five people to setting off from Rods house in Barton Seagrave.
The ride in bright but cool conditions covered about ninety five miles mostly on the outward leg to a car boot sale in Melton Mowbray.
By the time we got to Melton the sale was beginning to wind up as was confirmed when we found the indoor cafe deserted and had to go to the outdoor catering van. Sadly he announced that he only had one bread bun left. This caused a minor panic among us as Derrick claimed it for himself, Linn said that she was going to the other burger van whilst the rest of us decided to go with the bacon wraps tea and coffee on offer.
This turned out to be something of a fine dining experience with generous amounts of good bacon and optional fried onion or cheese in a warmed excellent quality flat bread. The more cosmopolitan members of our group took it in their stride but for Matt a wrap of any description was a brand new experience. By the time we finished this culinary delight the market had packed up and largely disappeared. The once crowded car park was near to being deserted when we returned to the bikes.
The second leg of the trip was back to Rods by a very indirect route to Oakham and Uppingham before getting back to Northamptonshire.
Following Derricks little Honda I was quite impressed by its turn of speed especially through the very narrow and loose surfaced gated roads. The only time it noticeably struggled was uphill into the gathering headwinds we were beginning to encounter.
Once back at Rods we consumed hot drinks and homemade Jam sponge cake in the shelter of Rods nice warm conservatory. Lovely.
No bikes broke down on this trip unlike our last venture.
John
The ride in bright but cool conditions covered about ninety five miles mostly on the outward leg to a car boot sale in Melton Mowbray.
By the time we got to Melton the sale was beginning to wind up as was confirmed when we found the indoor cafe deserted and had to go to the outdoor catering van. Sadly he announced that he only had one bread bun left. This caused a minor panic among us as Derrick claimed it for himself, Linn said that she was going to the other burger van whilst the rest of us decided to go with the bacon wraps tea and coffee on offer.
This turned out to be something of a fine dining experience with generous amounts of good bacon and optional fried onion or cheese in a warmed excellent quality flat bread. The more cosmopolitan members of our group took it in their stride but for Matt a wrap of any description was a brand new experience. By the time we finished this culinary delight the market had packed up and largely disappeared. The once crowded car park was near to being deserted when we returned to the bikes.
The second leg of the trip was back to Rods by a very indirect route to Oakham and Uppingham before getting back to Northamptonshire.
Following Derricks little Honda I was quite impressed by its turn of speed especially through the very narrow and loose surfaced gated roads. The only time it noticeably struggled was uphill into the gathering headwinds we were beginning to encounter.
Once back at Rods we consumed hot drinks and homemade Jam sponge cake in the shelter of Rods nice warm conservatory. Lovely.
No bikes broke down on this trip unlike our last venture.
John
