On a cold morning, three of us unanimously agreed not to hang around at the start just in case a hungover Villain should turn up late and we headed east towards our first stop of the day. Our ruthlessness was rewarded as we arrived at Lavender Hall Fishery a few minutes before two other large groups of cyclists, some of whom were still queuing as we departed following our hearty brunch. We then headed north via Meriden to our second stop at Church End Brewery in Ridge Lane. After sampling a number of ecclesiastically themed brews we headed back, with some wind assistance at last, via Shustoke, Maxstoke and Knowle to our final pew of the day in Weatheroak where we were joined by another four members who had ridden in the opposite direction initially but eventually succumbed to the same gravitational force as us. 70 miles in our case.
