No honestly, I'm not complaining again. It was extremely windy on Friday. The sort of day when if you stopped pedalling you would be going backwards down the road, but it suited me just fine. It had been a frustrating week and the battling wind matched my mood perfectly - 'bring it on - do your worst' - my legs felt strong and ready to go. I was probably in the minority but then I hadn't done a 40 mile ride the day before and neither was I anticipating a houseful of 11 year olds sleeping over that night. It was oh so simple, I just wanted to keep cycling until I was satisfyingly tired.
The route was familiar to start with. We headed out of Stokesley, through Busby, Carlton and Faceby before skirting Potto and Hutton Rudby and then detouring from our usual roads to cross the A19 to East Rounton and a most agreeable pot of tea and scones at Roots Farm Shop. One of the pluses of cycling with new people is that you discover new routes and also new places to stop for refreshments - this cafe was definitely one to be revisited.
At this point the group split in two with Ruth and Caroline returning the way we had come while Fee and I pressed on, continuing our struggle against the wind to East Harsley and eventually back across the A19 to Osmotherley. Somewhere along the way the wind dropped and the Fee conquered the climb through Osmotherley with relative ease; as with so much in life, the obstacle proving to be much harder to contemplate than to actually do. We felt like we were on the home straight as we pedalled past Cod Beck Reservoir and Scarth Wood Moor before blasting down into Swainby and then retracing our wheels through Faceby and those other villages on the way back to Stokesley. One cycle ride nearer to the real thing Fee!
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