Sudbrooke Sunday 16th April 2023

Cycling UK Louth Ride to Cherry Tree Garden Centre and Restaurant, Sudbrooke. Sunday 16th April 2023.

Ride Leader and Ride Report: Chris Owen.

This morning we started our ride not from Louth Leisure Centre but from Market Rasen Leisure Centre. Sadly none of us had cycled to the start apart from one person who lives locally. Starting from there were Tim Newbery, John Ambler, John Rickett, Rob Cook, Alan Hockham, Mike Gray and myself, Chris Owen. I had also invited along Gary, a friend of mine who is thinking about becoming a member of Cycling UK Louth group. We were pleased to see Mike Grey out with us because he had not ridden with us for some months.

The weather was fine at 10am as we departed for Sudbrooke and we were promised temperatures approaching 13 or 14 C later in the day. We headed through the back streets of Market Rasen until we met the B1202 road which leads to Wragby. We headed south towards the small hamlet of Linwood. There is a cycle lane beside this road for the first mile and it appeared to be in a sad state; covered in mud in places and with grass encroaching in other areas.

After Linwood we turned right and headed towards Buslingthorpe bridge. Surprisingly the small hamlet of Buslingthorpe was the birthplace of Sir Roger Scruton who was a philosopher and writer and influenced Conservative thinking in the 1970s and 80s. He used to write a column for the Times newspaper in the 1980s and his articles were often contentious and "provoked much rage".

From the bridge we headed towards Lissington. The White Hart public house in the village used to be a popular destination for the Louth cyclists in days gone by but sadly the pub has ceased trading now. In the war it was the nearest public house to RAF Wickenby and must have seen many raucous evenings from the airmen from RAF Wickenby. Sobering to think that over 1000 aircrew failed to return home to that RAF station during the war. From Lissington we headed to Wickenby village, home of the Jim Broadbent theatre. This theatre was originally started by Jim Broadbent's father who worked in this area during the war.

We headed to Snelland and onto Stainton by Langworth. Turning right there, over the Lincoln to Barnetby railway line and onto Scothern and the left-hander to Sudbrooke. The traffic had been surprisingly light all the way and continued to be so all the way to the A158 Lincoln to Wragby road. It was a shock to cross this road with so much traffic. After crossing the road, we had arrived at our destination...the Cherry Tree Garden Centre at 11.30am. We were delighted to see Paul Linder already there to greet us. He had cycled in from Woodhall Spa.

After being refreshed by cake, bacon sandwiches, full English breakfasts and the like we headed back to Market Rasen at 12.10pm. John Ambler had given the garden centre a rating of 8 out of 10 for their bacon sandwiches. A more than satisfactory score. Paul would leave us here and depart towards Lincoln and on to Woodhall perhaps riding over 40 miles in total. We headed back the way we came to Snelland and then turned east and headed to Holton Cum Beckering. As we cycled, we were passed by many vintage motorcycles whose riders were heading to the Cafe12 at Wickenby airfield. It is called Cafe12 because 12 Squadron were originally based there, followed later by 626 Squadron.

We stopped outside All Saints church in Holton cum Beckering to regroup. It was time to take off a layer or two of clothing as the temperature had risen by a few degrees since the start of the ride. We were surprised how beautiful the grounds of the church looked with daffodils and other springtime flowers. This village was home to many Conscientious Objectors during WW2. They were sent here to work on the many farms in the area to help grow the food so needed in the war.

After regrouping we headed to the Torrington villages and onto Collow. It was good to see most of the hedgerows becoming green as well as the trees. From Collow we followed the road to Legsby, passing by the small primary school where Jim Broadbent went to school. Just past Little London we turned towards Market Rasen, riding between Willingham Woods and Linwood Warren. In Market Rasen John Rickett left us to ride back home to Fotherby. He intended to stop off at Willingham Woods for a coffee and to inspect all the motor bikes. The group arrived back at Market Rasen Leisure Centre just before 2pm. 31 miles ridden by the main group. John would have ridden over 45 miles possibly by the time he finished.

That's your lot!

Chris