Hello all. Glad to hear Andrew is OK. And that being the main worry of the night, can we stop all this barmy talk of compulsory smartphones and satnavs and sashes now, please? On account of their being worse than useless at preventing people from riding into the back of each other... The TEC/waymarking system is pleasing in its simplicity, usually works fine, and the worse thing that happened when it didn't is that a few of us were bored for a while hanging around at uninspiring roundabouts and wondering how long we should give it before we throw in the towel. It happens anyway on the more spread-out rides that the strange time-standstill effect of waymarking is apt to convince you that you have gone entirely bonkers and the TECs must have given the "All up!" ages ago but you were too busy staring at the moon or watching foxes to notice. Given that waymarkers ought by definition to be reasonably robust cyclists with enough wit about them to follow a few signs to the destination should it come to that, a couple of key phone numbers and a bit of a clue about the route should suffice. Having said all that, hats off to Thom, who did a very fine and exhausting job of finding out what had happened and mopping up the strandees, and to Tim (not that one... not that one either... the other one) and his map, who enabled us to stick to something vaguely resembling the planned route on the last leg.
So - bit of a shambolic ride by FNRttC standards, but then those standards are higher than most. Thanks to the hot air treatment at J31, and despite having to conclude that the charms of the Five Bells roundabout are over-rated, I didn't have a bad ride, and enjoyed the whizz to the finish with Ian to keep me on my toes. 55 pancake-flat miles are a rare treat for those of us from the hillier zones, and (tho I'd be the first to declare our leader strictly irreplaceable) the company and camaraderie as usual couldn't be faulted.