Red rag

I fancied doing a long ride today and somewhere a little different.  Dad was playing golf today in Pannal so I thought I’d see if I could distract his opponents while I was cycling by.

After hunting round the car park and searching through the trees to see if they were there, I gave up.  Later on, we discovered we couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes apart in the carpark - I was a little too early.  

My ride took me past Almscliff and then on the backroads to Burn Bridge, Pannal, along to Spofforth, the outskirts of Wetherby and back via Sicklinghall and Kirkby Overblow.  It was lovely and quiet.

Doing a longer ride is difficult with Little Dog as I don’t like to leave her for too long.  Rich reckoned that coming home for food and going out again wouldn’t work.

Which was just the red rag I needed.

So, after coming home and having an early dinner with Rich, I headed out again for an extra 25 miles.  That’s my longest ride since starting back on my bike.  There was no way I was finishing up the Cow and Calf coming home but I’m really pleased with my double outing (and tired!)

Little Dog wasn’t quite sure about all the coming and going as Rich had headed up to the Cow & Calf to go climbing.  So, when I got back, we had a walk up there to meet them at the pub.  I met an old friend that I hadn’t seen for 17 years… now that’s scary; it only feels like a few years ago.