This week, Ann led Ride F to the Blue Egg. We welcomed a new rider, Gillian, to our group (the two Julies, Benita, and me). As we pedalled up the Flitch Way, I was chatting with Gillian and discovered she’d been brought in a Forces family, which meant she’d lived in several different countries and attended boarding school.L ater in the ride we discovered we both had a connection with Shrewsbury – I have an aunt living there (who I will visit next month), and Gillian originall

I had a reduced group to lead this week – just Claire and Diane. I gave them the choice of us riding the route clockwise or anti-clockwise, and they chose clockwise. We pedalled off through Braintree, across Weavers Park, down River Mead and past Braintree College. As we’d chosen the clockwise route, we had to grind up the hill to Beazley End. Conversation flowed well – there were debates about favourite films (Apollo 13 was mentioned); parental cooking; and different houses