Recycled Ride to Goodmanham on Friday, 29th September 2017

Cyclists: Dave Berger, John Bodman Boddice, Gill Fabby Fabricant, Nick Hart, Dave T-Shirt Neal George Sweeting, Bob Watson, Rod Webster & Dave Big Wheel Williamson.

Outward Route: Molescroft roundabout, Cherry Burton, Etton, South Dalton, Holme-on-the-Wolds & Goodmanham

Homeward route: Goodmanham, Etton, Cherry Burton & Beverley

Mileage: 25.3 miles

Weather conditions: Wet and low mist in the morning but clearing mid-day but still overcast.

6 am ... for a couple of hours a steady drumming of rain on flat roof tops. This is not a sound I want to wake up to on a Friday morning when it’s a cycling day. At 8 am it clears up a bit and stops raining, but rain still threatens from low, dark, fat-bellied clouds. In the damp, misty, half- light garden colours are subdued. Village landmarks, tall Poplar trees tremble and do not sway so that’s good sign even if it rains: there’ll be little wind to battle against, but in its cat and mouse way the rain returned at 9 am and stubbornly remained for the rest of the morning.

Before twelve o’clock, and with less than two hours cycling under our belts, it’s an early lunch for nine soggy cyclists at the Fiddle Drill farm cafe in Goodmanham, having accepted without a flicker of dissension, Bodman’s proposal that we leave Middleton-on-the-Wolds and Nunburnholme for another day! In addition to requests for drinks and food, I feel like asking if there’s a clothes line to hang us out on to dry out!

Before we leave the comforting warmth of the Fiddle Drill, I stick on a bushy moustache, one of my props, for a fancy dress evening I’m going to on Saturday. I’m glad I brought it along as it raised a smile from the others.

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We’ve dried out a bit at the Fiddle Drill. The consensus is that we get home in double quick time so there’s no visit today to The Goodmanham Arms. It’s stopped raining when we mount our bikes, but with layers of damp clothing I imagine everyone feels like I do - starved and shivery.

Earlier, on the Cherry Burton to Etton road, we’d passed a sign inviting us to fill our own milk bottles at Cherry View Milk, a new milk vending venture started in August where free range milk can be purchased from a herd of free range cows. Cherry View milk does not undergo the industrial processes of homogenisation and standardisation that shop milk does. I’m told that there’s a good old-fashioned layer of cream at the top which you probably remember from your school days when you slurped milk out of a little bottle with its straw. Cherry View milk has no food miles and is never more than 24 hours old and is claimed to be the freshest and most natural milk that can be bought in this area.

The dairy herd of prize-winning Holstein and Jersey cows are milked twice a day and produce 3000 litres of milk a day – that’s an amazing 1,095,000 litres a year. In terms of production statistics, it’s surprising to learn what farms on your doorstep produce. We pass them by without a thought and moderate sized farms often produce colossal amounts of annual produce. There’s been an initiative to involve local schools in this new venture so that children will see beyond supermarket shelves for the origins of their food.

On to South Dalton where under the shadow of the church spire there’s a group photo. The ladders on the spire still protrude above the weather vane and have remained there for many weeks now. One of these days, we’ll catch someone climbing up them and you can guarantee that Dave will be zooming in on what would be a great picture to capture.

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The dry valley road from Goodmanham to Etton is awash with puddles which at times cover the full width of the road and a few potholes. With no wind or rain, it’s pleasant, speedy cycling – all very exhilarating after the driving rain of the morning session. Big Wheel stops to take a photo of a herd of horned Jacob’s sheep which we’d seen before at Burton Constable Hall.

Leader of the pack

Dave Berger mentions a breed of sheep called Soay which have been introduced locally on the Spurn Peninsula. This breed comes from the 100 hectare island of Soay in the St Kilda Archipegalo, about 65 kilometres from the Western Isles of Scotland. Soay is from the Old Norse Seyooy meaning island of sheep. Soay sheep are very agile and sure-footed and so can graze where other sheep can’t and have become feral. They lack the flocking instinct and attempts

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to round up with sheepdogs result in a group scattering. Soay sheep exhibit a phenomenon known as over compensatory density dependence in which their population never reaches equilibrium. On the island of Soay, their population growth sometimes becomes so great that it exceeds the carrying capacity of the island and this eventually results in a sudden population crash. In 1989, the population of this breed fell by two thirds in 12 weeks. This cycle is repeated.

I’m home to Cherry Burton before the others which I feel a bit guilty about. It’s with some relief that I remove three or so layers of soggy clothing. It’s surprising how heavy it all has become. I settle down in my conservatory to warm up and very shortly to nod off and guess what: the sun comes out and the sky turns blue. Well, that’s the story of this summer: the weather playing cat and mouse with us – don’t you agree?

George Sweeting

30th September 2017

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