The Spring evening ride took place on 13th March. We all assembled at the excellent Red Lion at Sutton for this years spring evening ride, 9 Riders on this one, lead from the front by John "Yam" Hampton. The aim of these rides is to give riders who rarely, if ever get out on the bikes after dark an experience of a " night ride" so they can see the extra care, observation, concentration and machine control required. There is also opportunity to discuss the ride challenges with our Tutors, see how your lights perform and enjoy a cracking Fish Supper to boot. So we set off at 7pm sharp and made our way down wet roads to the county line, crossing over into Shropshire and then south along to A41. At Woodcote we peeled off to the right and made our way through sherrifhales to the A5, where we came across a set of 4 way temporary traffic signals that had packed up early for the weekend! We proceeded with caution to the junction and crossing the A5 we were now off towards Shifnal. Into the town we passed late evening shoppers and folk off out for the evening as we took the one way route behind the historic church and then out on the road towards Telford. Taking the left fork at Kemberton, we trailed off on the twisting route to Sutton Maddock before turning north back toward Telford. As we neared the Sutton Hill island Yam turned off left again, this time the road was narrower and descended down into the Severn Gorge at Coalport. Following the river, we headed along the Gorge towards Ironbridge. The river was still very high, glistening a silver black sheen as it slipped swiftly past in the opposite direction. We followed this undulating road along the bank side, negotiations with deep pot holes saw us safely arriving in Ironbridge high street. Parking just off the Main Street we made our way to the excellent Ironbridge fish and chip restaurant, where we were greeted by the very friendly staff. Orders placed, we look our seats and the usual good heated banter ensued. After our hearty supper we were back on our way, the roads drier now as we caught up with the river again, followed it along to Buildwas before getting up onto the A4380 towards Atcham. Here we crossed over the river Tern as we made our way into Atcham, before a right turn took us on a great twisty road to Uffington. Meeting up with our old favourite the B5062 back towards Newport. The ride terminated just outside Newport before we split to take our own routes back home. A very entertaining ride , with lots of chatter on the airwaves all the way. A big thank you to Yam for the lead and to Arf for making sure no one got left behind in the dark ! Here's to the next one!!
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