Still not quite firing on all cylinders this morning, but the sun was out and it was too nice not to get an hour under the wheels.
Coal Road (again!) and into an unexpectedly stiff headwind, so pleased to turn onto Red Hall Lane, then the A58 and onto Whin Moor Lane for the wend between the fields to Shadwell. Right instead of left at the junction and descended back all the way through the village to Carr Lane and the climb up to the A58 again and then the ups and downs to Thorner.
At the top of the climb through the S-bends I was aware of a couple of vehicles behind me, and as we were approaching the single track bit I pulled in to let them through. My kindness was then rewarded by being flashed through the following downhill section by a driver approaching from the opposite direction.
On the edge of the village I stopped by Kirkfields for a quick photo in front of the former Thorner Methodist Church (now apartments) - it's one I've been meaning to take for a while and I should have probably waited for better conditions as the low sun didn't help, but here we go anyway:
Back on the bike and another right onto Main Street through the village and past the Beehive to tackle the climb back up Sandhills, which passed without incident until an a*se in an Audi decided to pass close enough to touch despite having all the room in the world to move over.
Still, that bit of adrenaline saw me to the top and onto Skeltons Lane, then back to Coal Road, where a quick scoot along there saw me onto local roads down to home, with a long loop around the block to round the mileage up.
10.31 miles (16.59 km) in
54m at an average of
12.1 mph with just
472ft climbed and an average temperature of
5.7°C
No records broken today, but I enjoyed that and reckon it was just about right under the circumstances - and getting any miles in has to be better than no miles, doesn't it?
And to end, the map:
and 
on your birthday!
but tailwind back 
.The end of square grabbing so familiar roads home . Tollerton ,Plumtree ,Willoughby ,Wymeswold ,Barrow and home . 71 miles in the bag so metric century ticked off 
,17 new squares . A very steady ride at 14.4 mph the shared path killed the average but it was a lovely ride alongside the Trent . Got the clothing right and always just toastie all ride .
) and some new roads to explore.
