At 7.23am I was woken by Mother Nature in all her glory. Even Max (Headwind) was trying to lift the roof off to get inside, out of the rain. Mystic Meg still suggested a showery morning and a dry spell starting around 9. By the time I had got back from the loo the WhatsAp group was busy with excuses. Simon had made the mistake of looking out of the window rather than relying on technology and others had thought that if “Simon Said” then it was something to be listened to. Breakfast over and kit on, things were starting to look brighter. Still raining but brighter.
All good things come to an end and the brief spell when there were no temporary traffic lights along Bicklandwater Rd ended on Monday. The return to school and the weather meant that the queues were long, but I still got to Union Corner before 8.50. I was, perhaps, expecting Ian to turn up but he would catch up anyhow, so on towards the other place, where Paul, Phil3 and Costa Rican Mike waited. At 9.10 there was still just the four of us. Miss Molly’s is a good choice any day and today it was the only suggestion. Picking up Jan at Crane Garage we took the second shortest route, via Troon and Wheal Edward Mine and arrived early, and just as the rain stopped. We had our usual warm welcome and the offer of black bin liners to protect the cushions as we arranged ourselves around the long table by the window. We could keep an eye out for weather changes and be ready to depart as soon as the rain started again. Good company brings out good conversation but we still managed to cover Mike’s recent trip away, house renovations, trail runs, the recent Pathfinder and future Audax rides.
You could almost say it was dry when we left and before very long the sun made its appearance too. However, not taken in by this seemingly spring like turnabout we still chose to follow the regular short route back, via the cycle path and St Uny Church. I thought that after being off his bike for a couple of weeks Mike might still be 6 hours behind, but that was not the case, although he could easily have been “late” when choosing to ride in front of a box van turning into a gate way. The driver was not impressed but I explained that he was American. Paul rode all the way through to Halvasso turn again, whilst Jan turned off before Stithians and I was on my own dropping down to Union Corner. 33 miles for me. Dean