Happy Easter everyone.
Sunday 9tgh April 2023.
Our Easter Sunday ride to Ambience Café started at 10:45pm on Saturday night when Mike B flagged that our usual meeting place, Rose Café, was closed. I thought about changing the meet-up location, but I did not know if anyone would be checking their email that late at night, so I decided to leave it as it was.
Bryan and I arrived at Rose Café at around 8:30am, only a few seconds ahead of Roland which was a surprise. Roland couldn’t join the ride but had decided to join us for breakfast before we set off. He had also not realised that the café was closed. Phil W arrived shortly afterwards, also hoping for a hearty Rose Café breakfast…
I suggested to Roland that we go to the nearest McDonalds in his car to pick up coffee and breakfast for the four of us. I was convinced that there wouldn’t be too many more riders joining the ride, but when Roland and I got back from McDonalds, a large crowd had gathered!! So, joining the ride today was Bryan, Phil W, Jim, Lynn, Mike B, Jon, Peter and Gordon. We were also joined by Marrissa who is currently riding a Honda CB125F and getting lots of miles under her belt to prepare for her MOD1 and MOD2. Thanks for joining Marrissa, we hope you had a lovely day. When we got to St Neots, I found out that Mike T was planning to join us too but sadly his bike broke down on the way to Chelmsford. We hope you made it home OK Mike!
The ten of us set off in glorious sunshine through Chelmsford, Little Waltham, Great Dunmow, Thaxted, Saffron Walden, Duxford and then on to Royston where we stopped at McDonalds for a coffee and a leg stretch. Gordon had left us by this time as he had a family lunch to get to. When we stopped, I was told that we’d lost Lynn (my tail-end Charlie). While I was trying to call her to find out where she was, she pulled up in the car park. It turns out she accidentally turned into a McDonalds we had passed earlier and was a little baffled not to find us there. She reprogrammed her sat-nav and made her way to us, so it wasn’t long until we were all together again.
Jim said his farewells and we set off again through Arrington, Longstowe and Cambourne to our lunch destination for the day, Ambience Café in St Neots. It was busy but there were plenty of tables and the staff were doing a good job of getting the orders out as quickly as possible. The portions were big, the prices reasonable and parking is free on Sundays, so it’s definitely recommended. After lunch, Jon headed straight home from Ambience Café and the rest of us rode back towards Essex via the A and B roads. There was a 10 minute bathroom break and leg stretch in Saffron Walden and afterwards the group started to peel off towards home.
Thank you to everyone who came along today, I enjoyed the ride and your company immensely and I hope this is a sign of the wonderful summer to come. I’d just like to add that I got us to the place I said I would get us to (those who know, know) LOL
Bryan and I rode 154 miles door to door today.
Till next time, ride safe!
Bron x
Thank you Bronwen for leading today’s ride and for this report and pictures.
Roland.
