Shotley Marina was my intended destination for this run, indeed I plus a couple of others went there on Friday 27th June to fine tune the route, however it turned out to be a fine mess with the ongoing long term road works in Colchester causing traffic chaos and navigating a group ride through Colchester was not going to work. SWMBO said that a long ride with old men on old bikes and the very hot weather was not a good recipe either.

Plan B was for a bit shorter run to Thaxted for lunch but with the scorching weather still forecast I decided an even shorter route on roads I am familiar with was the best option, so coffee at Creaksea and lunch at the Museum of Power it was be. Various weather forecasts predicted various amounts of rain during Wednesday morning. This was OK for me as SWMBO wanted to see if her new trousers were waterproof after the previous leaky pair were replaced under guarantee. However it seems not many others shared our view that it was ideal weather for a bike ride and just ten riders and two pillions set off from Maldon for a dry thirty one mile ride on dry roads to coffee/brunch at the Parlour Cafe at Creaksea. The predicted rain eventually arrived whilst we were at the coffee stop so we stayed longer there until the rain eased off and had almost stopped by the time we left. Half the group decided to go home and the rest decided to go to lunch at the Potting Shed at Westview Nurseries, Woodham Ferrers instead of the MOP. The roads were wet in places, there were light showers at times but by and large we were still dry when we arrived at the Potting Shed. There was not even enough rain to see if SWMBO's trousers leak so I may have to do a garden hose test on SWMBO to prove if they are OK!

p.s. If anyone has photos I will happily add them, thanks Richard.