19th July. Some threatening cloud, some sunshine and a bucket of rain at the end. Wind brisk, south westerly. As holidays take their toll, I guess we may be getting into leaner times on the attendance front. Still, ten is a decent number. We were: Adi, Deane, Graham Smith (apologies Graham, for calling you Geoff throughout the ride) 'John' who is a neighbour of Graham, Justin, Hugh, Erin, Julian, Paul Callow and Me. Justin took over the navigation to our destination of 'Spencers' at Wickham St Paul's (well south of Sudbury). The initial route was on of the usual ones, taking us to Stanstead (no, of course not that one). At around this point John quietly ventured that we ought to turn left , not right, because he knows the area quite well. We of course steamed on, following Justin's twinkling toes round and round and up and down. And we were, of course correct - but only because there are always at least three ways to get anywhere in Suffolk.

Spencers has been taken over, I read in the EADT, by a young couple who have a Chocolate making business called (rather unfortunately) 'The Chocolate Chef'. I can't help thinking of that definition of uselessness 'Chocolate Kettle'. "If you can't stand the heat, you're probably a Chocolate Chef". The place seemed mainly the same as on Wednesday Ride visits, but with youger staff. Prices seemed reasonable, though I wasn't actually involved in the paying of my bill, because Erin paid for the four of us at our table. I think this came about because the young man at the till pointed out that there was a limit below which a credit card coudn't be used, and Erin, without missng a beat just said "OK, I'll pay for the table then". I think that's cool. But then I suppose I would.

Different route back. Interesting. Justin took us onto the wild side; a very narrow lane with loads of gravel and sand washed into it by the recent rain, and that descended and ascended at about 15 to 20 %. As Justin asked a lady for a route through to Bures, John finally came clean with the information that he'd been brought up right there (in Alphamstone). A very lumpy route took us to Bures, where Erin punctured. While Adi aided Erin, some of us were up the road and couldn't see what was happening. We stopped. We waited. Justin went back to check. We waited some more. I phoned Justin - and had a nice chat with his wife Ann, since I chose his landline. All fixed, in under half an hour, and off we went to Gt Cornard, Lavenham and home. By this time, Erin was begining to feel the effects of the lack of training miles implicit in her current state of caring for her two children, one of two years and the other a few months. At one point Justin and I gave a demonstration of the 'double push' technique, whereby I pushed Erin and Jutin pushed me. I heard Hugh (who was riding behind) call for a camera - but I was a bit too busy to hand the camera over. It was near Bradfield St Clare that the rain came. It came horizontally from the left, and we very quickly became extremely wet. My total 69 miles, and my average 15.9 mph.

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