A mild day and fine weather only brought out 11 riders for todays ride to Fillongley.
I had altered the route from the last time we did this NE route, by avoiding Solihull and instead headed towards Baddesley Clinton before turning north with a nice following wind. Luckily a ford near Fen End had subsided to be just a few inches deep and nicely cleaned our wheels after a rather dirty mile or so of narrow lanes!
Pausing at Bradnocks Marsh for roadside 11's and with our lunch orders phoned through, we carried on to Berkswell and Meriden where Chris & Owen peeled off needing to get home early!
Mike B followed them a few mile later (having conquered most of the hills!!) leaving just to lunch at the Weaver's Arms. Not quite the warm welcome we had had previously (new mgt??) and only 2 real ales on tap (Speckled Hen & Green King IPA) but the meals are cheap at £5 for a 'small' main. With 2 choosing sandwiches, we were rather bemused when 7 mains were delivered until we realised that that Owen had ordered one at the ride start before deciding to cut his ride short! Never mind, Tim 'volunteered' to deal with the matter directly ;-)
Being south of Shustoke allowed us to take the pleasant Maxstoke Lane to Coleshill before following the standard route home passing the Motorcycle Museum at Hampton-in-Arden back to Knowle where I peeled off home!
Over 2000' of climb and 48 miles for me (but probably another 20miles for a few others
