Just as two ride leaders -alone in King’s square- were deciding which of their rides to follow, an impressive number of hardy riders arrived dressed for cold weather. The majority opted for the steady ride with small groups for tempo and moderate rides. So four set off on the NCN41 route out of town with one mishap on the way to the Estcourt road crossing. Once on Oxtalls Lane the NCN was ignored, following Innsworth and then Frogfurlong Lanes to Down Hatherly, with precipitation becoming more noticeable. We took Hatherley lane and the Cheltenham Road’s almost complete cycle path to Staverton junction and then via Boddington road to Piff’s Elm, then Stoke Orchard and Treddington. The leader avoided his favoured route through Walton Cardiff following reports earlier in the week of flooding and took the more tedious route across to the Odessa and up the A38 to Tewkesbury. The High Street, with (most of) the Christmas lights on, took us out of town where we turned left over the Mythe bridge. We followed the Ledbury road as far as Green St where we turned right and followed the back road to Piper’s End and then briefly onto the B4211 before turning left onto Longdon Marshes road. The mizzle turned to drizzle as we cycled up the long straight, trying to keep a decent moderate pace to avoid getting too cold. Visibility was poor through wet glasses but there was little to see but misty marshes, fortunately there was no wind. We looped right at The Farmers Arms and then on to Castlemorton where we turned right, passing through Little Welland and on to the B4208 (one of many “Gloucester road’s). A short ride then to the village hall where we found hot drinks and an impressive array of home-made cakes. Welland Village Hall was hosting a fund raising coffee morning that raised an excellent total of £260 to support the work of Community Action, providing community transport and social activities in the Malvern area. There were multiple cycling groups including the hardier members fr our steady group and the tempo group
The group split after coffee with one member choosing to up his tempo and two lunchtime stalwarts heading for beer the leader followed the steady group home. The return journey saw the cold set in to fingers and toes so we followed a direct route along the B4208 through Pendock and turned left for Eldersfield then across the Worcester road and on to Tirley. Once through the village it seemed warmer, perhaps we had dried out a little. The group then split, some heading for Ashleworth and the westerly route to Gloucester and three continuing through Lower Apperley, onto the A38 then left onto Cursey Lane and followed the moderate route back, finally separating at Churchdown for homes.