Tuesday 17th June 2025

Southwell - Thorne             85kms!!   Height gained  -  not much

Well, apart from the obvious ( we are k.....nackered) we have reached Yorkshire or we think we have. We definitely passed a sign but maybe we left again.

Last evening was unusual, in that we arrived and stowed the bikes and then discovered the pub didn't do food. Directed by our landlady to the Chinese. I should have known that a meal for two would be far too much - it was. To our amusement, what we couldn't eat was devoured by other clients in the pub! Great,  no leftovers and lots of satisfied punters.  Our room was situated on a busy road junction and Al was afraid the traffic noise would keep me awake. No chance, but when the traffic finally went to sleep and had not disturbed me at all, the church clock dinged every quarter of an hour and the wee waah of a police car woke everyone at around 04.30! Hope it was important. Over breakfast, which was really good, we were regaled with our landlady's tales of woe with which we were sympathetic but needed to get on the road.

Lovely and dry again and a fairly flattish ride. Great for legs, not so good for bums. Fields of crops. Mostly green (Not good on wheaty things) but fields of blue and gold marred a little by the bashing of the side winds. I have tried to avoid commenting on road surfaces as I realise this is a bit of a sore subject, but today they have been bad to atrocious.  Probably added a few kilometers with all the weaving around really  nasty potholes and very uneven surfaces. I have to confess to a few expletives when I have been nearly thrown from the bike.

I must confess that after 70kms, I was beginning to believe that Thorne existed only in Al's imagination. Thankfully, the land was flat but without any habitation in sight. We did encounter our very first car driver who had pulled into a passing place and waited patiently for us to pass. What a nice man. Thank you, whoever you were. You compensated for the yob who had previously hurled some sort of unintelligible abuse from a passing car. Was hoping he might stop!!! The kms rolled on, the legs complained and then the wind turned and old nostril was back just when we really didn't need it.

Nonetheless, we are now fed and watered and looking forward to two days in York. Alan has never been  before and it is years since I have been ( nearly seventy) actually.  Probably changed a bit! Will let you know how we get on.