Meet our latest Belle....Archie of Southbourne....
It was another wet start but we had a great turn out and we welcome new Belle.......Clare who joined us for the first time today. Also there was Angela, Ellie, Caroline, Karen, Mercy, Elise and myself.
New Belle Clare and Elise....
We met at the start of the Centurion Way, which is good for parking, and we cycled along the track, turned off at Lavant and made our way to East Stoke.
Karen at the start of the ride.
We tried out the new route to Rowlands Castle, which is along quieter lanes but as we passed through Walderton we turned left and cycled up the short sharp hill. It was tough but it didn't seem too difficult this time around and we all felt quite satisfied once reaching the top.
Here's Caroline, still smiling after that hill.
From here it was about a 10 minute ride to our cafe for a much needed piece of cake! We made good time as we set off at 10.10am and reached the cafe at 11.30am.
Thought I should take a picture of Mercy's slab of cake, for the record!
It was good to take a break at one of our favourite cafes and the weather had begun to brighten up. We met two other ladies and I hope will be joining us on some rides in the future.
From here we cycled towards Westbourne and then Southbourne along pretty lanes.
How many Belles does it take to fix a puncture???
Looks like 5 and one to take the pictures!
That is until Angela spotted Gawd (alias Saem Roberts) cycling past. He very kindly stopped came to our rescue and within minutes we were on the road again...
Tom was very kind and we thank him very much - we owe you tea and cake!
Approaching the start of the ride Angela's tyre had gone flat again so Caroline kindly took her back to Bognor...
It was great to see you all today, we reached the start of the ride again at about 1.30pm - approximate distance was 38 miles.
