The first ride of 2010 and what a great one it was.  We were joined by a new recruit, Karl, this morning.  welcome aboard Karl – it was good to have you along and hopefully we didn’t scare you off.

We headed out of Harrogate towards Knaresborough and Farnham before taking the Old Knaresborough road, through Bishop Monkton to Ripon.  After a quick dash down the Ripon by-pass we headed towards Boroughbridge before turning off towards the village of Skelton-on-Ure.

On arriving in Boroughbridge we stumbled across Gilchrists Bakers and Tearoom.  It was like stepping back in time, but buy did they know how to make a cuppa and cake…will be going back there for sure!

After our coffee stop we headed out towards Marton-cum-Grafton along a lane that had more ice on it than tarmac – we had to get oof our bikes for 20m to walk over a very bad stretch.  From Marton it was a familiar route back to Harrogate via Arkendale, Coneythorpe, Goldsborough and Abbey Road, before the final climb back up into Harrogate.

A very nice way for CCC to finally kick off 2010!

Route details are here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23617287