Harlaxton

Di and Paul not only provided a great breakfast, including crumpets but Di spoilt us even more by making us  a pack up lunch for the ride south west to Harlaxton, a small village located three miles to the West of Grantham.   Weather looked set fair. No rain and not too hot.   It is in fact a rare day when everything goes right; bikes, weather, load, terrain and human performance but when it does nothing can be better than getting out on the bike and heading into the countryside.    09.30 was the time set  for brakes off.   My charge had slipped into a new pair of riding shorts which caught Di's eye!   It must have been the rippling thighs.   My legs have developed a new shape but will never be on show!  They only ripple undercover. Cycling Music's answer to Chris Frome was a little downcast this morning after weighing himself only to discover he had lost no weight on the ride.  He convinced himself that the conversion of fat to muscle was responsible for lack of weight  loss. Dodgy scales, I am sure.  I made supportive noises. My bike required a little attention to stop the chain from slipping off and the panniers needed to be reattached.    We still need  to locate  a weigh-bridge, not to confirm the scales this morning  but to discover the total load being carried. An interesting statistic. The artiste really is pulling the lions share and copes without complaint, mostly. It is some days, if not weeks,  since I have witnessed a sweary meltdown.  No blue air! After a short consultation with Paul I managed to plan a route which would keep us off all the main trunk roads.   Just five minutes late when we peddled  off from Hemingsby.  For the first hour our speed and progress matched the ride out of Lincoln however a headwind was getting up and was to be a challenge later in the ride. We don't complain though we just get our head down.  To date we have made every appointment and gig despite the various challenges thrown at us. Long may it last. Famous last .......... We passed through Woodhall Spa and on to Martin and then south to Ruskington along to Cranwell and then further south to Grantham. We actually caught sight of our first sign for Kings Lynn in Norfolk.  We were not heading home just yet.   The wind picked up to  20 knots plus and made the going tougher. In addition the landscape had developed from the flat to more rolling hills.   It is an area of strong RAF presence both old and current. RAF Woodhall Spa was once the home to the 617 Squadron, the Dambusters.  We passed RAF College Cranwell and finally Barkston Heath.   The latter brought back memories for me. It was the site of the launch of my Long Jump  balloon flight in October 1992 along with my good friend and fellow hot air balloon pilot, John Rigden. The Long Jump annual competition for balloons takes place each year. The challenge is to fly as far as you can in one flight.  John and I took off from RAF Barkston Heath attempted to fly back to our home base in Norfolk.    After four hours we had flown 60 miles and and were forced to land at Ashill near Watton as fuel was low.   Had we had one extra tank of gas we may well have reached Eccles. Enough of that history,  back to the cycle tour. We extended the ride a little by heading south of Grantham hopefully bypassing any hills.  We arrived at St. Mary's and St.Peter's Church at 15.30.  The ride is also noteworthy as we broke through the 1000 mile mark.  John was there to meet and greet and also provided a delightful light afternoon tea.  Richard was happy and grazed peacefully building energy for the set up and the show itself.    The open chancel and nave made for an ideal performance area.    The stage was set in good time leaving Richard plenty of time to prepare for the show.   Many old friends turned up all wanting to touch base with our star turn.  Gill and Annie arrived with their pet toy dog Fergus On Wheels!  There was a photo opportunity here! You can find Fergus on Facebook and discover  more about his various adventures across the country.   Fergus brought Richard and I a piece of cake which we enjoyed after the show. A generous and tasty thought!    Fergus was allowed to share the stage with the artiste on condition that there was no barking! A rare privilege.     The performance was well attended and the Cycling Music cd nearly sold out on the merchandising table.  A most welcome problem.  The tour T shirts are now on sale but are sadly not going like hot cakes.  They are available for sale at the gigs and on Richard's Website.   The artiste was pleased with the show and pack up was efficient.  We had a short ride into Grantham and the Red House Guest House.   Luckily it was downhill and an easy three mile night ride on the bikes.  We called into a twenty four hour  Asda to pick up supplies.  We arrived at our lodgings a little after 23.00 with no pub visit and therefore no beer.  I had at last succeeded.     Mileage on the trip had risen to 1028      We discovered we had left a rucksack, not mine, behind at the venue. Very kindly this was delivered to the Red House and arrived shortly after us.   It saved us the trouble of returning, uphill, to the church in the morning.   A successful day on many fronts.