Looked like being a small ride as I set off to the Cricket; dense fog tends to be a deterrent! But when I arrived and looked around, we were six.
We were Me, Martin Crapper, Kevin Thomas, Tricia Kril, Michelle Greco , John Knott and Graham Warner a guest. Graham now knows that I have a terrible memory as I have almost certainly spelt his name wrongly. I should have got one of my bits of card out!
6 was a good number because it made it easy in the dense fog to keep tabs on everybody. There were though difficulties seeing vehicles coming towards us and by the time we got to Harworth it was time for a chat! The planned route included some straight busy roads but we were finding conflicts and we were not going to win.
So we stopped on the industrial estate and aired all the re-routing options which had to include ending somewhere to pay our respects just before 11. The consensus was that we miss out Worksop altogether and head straight(ish) to Retford. It wasn’t a pretty route but we couldn’t see it for the fog anyway. Calling it mist didn’t make visibility any better but we made it through Ranskill, Barnby Moor and into Retford without incident.
Crowds were already growing in the square and as fair number of medal clad ex soldiers were already in the café (10 Green Bottles). We parked up and made our way in. Kevin managed to find tables and chairs for us and we queued to order our snacks. A bit of hesitation in the lower ranks left me way ahead in the queue and I almost finished mine before the others got their sustenance.
We just made it outside in time for the 2 minutes of silence and after made our way away from the crowds, through the big arch and via the back streets onto the ring road.
The fog had lifted a bit and we hoped for, but didn’t get, sunshine. But the wind was light and you can’t have it all in November.
The rest of the ride was to be as planned so we headed off to Clarborough where there were a couple of problems. As we stopped and waited to go left in Clarborough a little car with an old lady driver came from the right at a pace which would have slowed us down even if we had been sightseeing! Big 4 wheel drive jobby behind her applied the horn which made no difference and they both eventually disappeared.
A little later an impatient driver decided to overtake us and seemed to find a traffic island in his way! And fortunately for him he stopped and then had to watch us continue on our way.
We could see a hint of blue sky away in the distance as we headed through Clayworth and Drakeholes. We turned right in Mattersey just because we could and went through Mattersey Thorpe before heading on to Ranskill. From there we followed the outward route home.
Despite the weather we had a good time, Graham seemed a bit shy and I guess the group as a whole were a bit of a baptism of fire but he held his own and I hope we see him again.
Maybe you should come too!
