Unexpected weather

We had been watching the weather forecast all week and it seemed it would be wet and grey as the rest of the week had been.

I went to my quilt group on Thursday and enjoyed our Christmas lunch but drove home in the rain. Friday didn’t look any better, so I sat and sewed until lunchtime when the sun shone through the roof light.

I switched off my sewing machine swiftly and went downstairs. DH was in our “snug” which has very little natural light and asked if he wanted to come cycling. We were soon changed and got out but only cycled about 12 miles along the river Tees and did some supermarket shopping for things we can’t get elsewhere.

On Saturday morning , we drove to our GP surgery on the other side of town where we could get our flu vaccines at a walk in clinic. It was raining but as we returned home the sun appeared. So once again , we quickly changed and made a sort of plan as to where to head for. As usual, I made the decision to go to Hurworth to the Mustard Tree which is a little cafe in the Methodist chapel.

We went over there by crossing the river at the barrage and then up through Stockton where the Christmas market was in full swing. Then it was through the major roadworks near Elton and along through Long Newton and Middleton St George.

We thought we were too late for the cafe , but fortunately, we got a warm welcome with toasted teacakes and hot chocolate. There was a sprinkling of rain but we didn’t get too wet.

We decided to come back through Darlington and negotiated the roundabout near the football stadium without difficulty. Then we picked up the patchily signed cycle route to Morton Park. Here we decided to head past the Amazon warehouse and on across the A66 bridge but then on to Sadberge. No stopping there as the cafe doesn’t open at the weekend. We rode along to Stockton and I stopped to take a not very good photo of one of the booths all lit up.

Stockton

While we were there, one of the lads from the bike hub came to chat. We hadn’t seen him for a few years and he asked if we were still with Sustrans. Unfortunately not. There is no group on Teesside and he is disgusted in how many miles of routes Sustrans has abandoned as they are on roads. I understand and do wish that instead of just letting those routes go, more effort is made to make roads safer to ride on. More publicity needs to be given to the changes in the Highway Code to educate all of us.

48 miles this week and 3391 YTD