23rd April 2023 - Ride Out to Foxton Locks - Dave Cusdin

Following a rather pessimistic weather forecast seven hardy souls arrived at West Lynn for a reasonably lengthy ride out to Foxton Locks near Market Harborough. I had decided to take a convoluted route to incorporate some decent biking B roads so two groups headed off down the A17 then turned off to Spalding where we followed the A151 all the way to Colsterworth. We took a quick comfort stop and 2 of the participants had to cut the trip short due to time constraints. We carried on as a single group down the B676 to Melton and then took the B6047 to the locks, we were on the road for nearly 3 hours and only encountered one small patch of persistent rain.

Now the B676 is renowned as a bikers' road due to its geography which may explain why the authorities have deemed it necessary to reduce the speed limit to 50mph. This seems to be a more and more common occurrence and combined with the parlous state of our roads it becomes more difficult to make progress.

On arrival the sun came out but the previous dull conditions had kept the usual crowds away and we had no problems finding a table. Coffee and cake was consumed by the lock side and once again good company more than made up for the inclement weather we had encountered. We planned a more direct route back via Corby, Oundle and Peterborough. I kept up tradition by taking us slightly off track but we enjoyed a much drier ride back, however the physical road conditions were equally as bad as the ride out. The latest fix is to put up uneven road signs - cheaper than fixing the pot holes I suppose. Anyway enough winging from me.

Until the next time!

Adieu Dave