Edge of the Yorkshire Wolds

"You're going to have to make you're own way home."

Yep, Riwaka7, you guessed it!

The call was from a bogged down, exhausted Rich who was hoping for a quiet day after a work trip to London the day before, but he'd had had anything but.  Still working two hours after he was supposed to set off, driving the two hours over and cycling back was not an option for him (and wouldn't have made for the most entertaining evening for any of us to be honest!)

So Rich finally put his feet up late in the evening at home, whilst I made a Plan A and a Plan B, borrowing various items of clothing for the evening, suncream and money.  Luckily, I'd plotted a variant of my route for Rich's way home (another flat one), going via York, and had put it on my mapping device.  Finding a charger that fitted it, I was all set for a train home from York or an extra 30 miles if my legs were OK.  

After a lovely evening of chatting and seeing some of their amazing nature photographs right from their doorstep, it was an early to bed for me.  

I set off this morning just after 7.  It was drizzly but the wind wasn't quite a headwind nor as strong for a couple of hours so I figured making tracks would help enormously.  There was a point when I crossed the railway line and stopped to chat to a man with a dog, when I could see a band of blue sky ahead. That was a fine moment! And it just got better and better (if a little windier and windier and more and more head on!) 

This photo was one of my favourite stretches on the way over, just outside Market Weighton.  Yesterday, however, you could see the tarmac! There'd been a huge amount of rain overnight and the roads were flooded all over the place.

It was about here that yesterday, I met a 4x4 truck hurtling towards me as I pootled along.  I stood my ground.  Finding an older woman in the driving seat, she barked, "Gerrovvah!" out of the window as she abruptly slowed down and passed by. With that great grass verge, there was nowhere for me to go, yet if she'd had her eye on the road instead of intimidating me, she could have used that versatile vehicle of hers with those ever so slightly wider tyres to mount the verge on the left hand side.  Sadly, I didn't have time to explain this all to her but I did suggest she slowed down a touch.  The only minor hiccup in a wonderful two days of cycling.  And I did chuckle when I thought about  her exclamation and accent which reminded me of my Grandma who lived not so far away.  Although gentle Grandma never drove nor barked!

I made it to York with energy in my legs and didn't fancy the end of my ride to be in the centre of a big city anyway.  

So I kept going, found a second tea shop in a little village which gave me enough sustenance to ride home.  I met a lovely couple who had just got into road biking and enjoyed a natter with them about their trip to the south of Italy which sounded fantastic.

It's always a delight to see the sights of home as you come round a corner.  Today, it was Almscliff, looking strikingly clear against streaming white clouds and a blue sky.

I've since eaten.  And eaten.  And stretched. And stretched. 
What a couple of days!  

I'm now looking forward to going back to spend the time with my sister & Heidi that I'd originally planned.