Crispin’s Guide to Stirling Cycling - General

Bike Right 8½ - The 15^th Bike Right.

12-13^th April 2003 – Longridge Towers, Berwick-upon-Tweed

Something was not right. There were no storms forecast, gales had not caused havoc, and even the trains were sort of running. However, my diary most definitely stated that this weekend was Bike Right weekend. Pondering over whether it was worth phoning to confirm whether the event was still going ahead, I threw some clothes into a saddlebag and headed for the train. I was relieved to discover on arriving at Longridge Towers that it was business as usual. By this I mean that cyclists were drinking tea, eating muffins and talking about things cycling while making fun of Seamus. Unfortunately, Phil then deserted us leaving Jason in charge !

Saturday dawned bright and horribly early. The question on everyone’s lips was “how long will Jason’s 55 mile ride be?”.

Tradition dictated it would be 50% over-mileage and nervously we set off, unsure as to whether our batteries would have a sufficient run-time to get us home. Our first stop was to visit and collect Geoff App. Thankfully the mountain bike guru had sufficient mugs to provide tea for 25 and he ably entertained us by playing back recordings of steam locomotives. We were all very impressed. Lunch was in the sun at Hirsel Country Park before a high-speed return to Longridge. With just 42 miles under out tyres, half the day’s mileage was done in the last hour, but then tea and muffins were waiting for us. The evening’s entertainment was provided by Ken “The Geordie Pirate” Davidson, with slide after slide of views from his bedroom window.

Sunday: Another cracker of a day. Over breakfast, Seamus explained how to make jelly babies scream, while also gloating over too-tight-for-comfort victory over yours-truly in the previous night’s quiz. Destination was St Abbs, with a wee bit of sightseeing before lunch in the sun. I rode with Gary back to Berwick-upon-Tweed, and waited for a train home. Excellent weekend. Thank you everyone. Looking forward to the October BikeRight (Bikeright 9) already.

Our esteemed co-opted leader – Jason Patient (with Gary & me hanging on to his backwheel)

© Peter Eland

Tea and steam engines at Geoff’s

Roger and wifey from Stonhaven

The old rugged cross

Tea and muffins in the sunshine

Psyching up for Sunday’s ride

Bowling along

Jason breaks the bad news that the pub does not open for another half hour.

© Crispin Bennett 2003

Crispin’s Guide to Stirling Cycling - General