Recycled ride to Brandesburton on Friday, 20th January 2017
“Inauguration Day for Donald J Trump, the 45th President of the USA.”
Cyclists: Alan Beecroft, Adrian Benson, Nick Hart, Shirley Ives, Helen Kitson, Ian Metcalfe, George
Sweeting, Steve Watts, Rod Webster and Dave Williamson.
Route: Swinemoor Roundabout, Routh, Meaux, Benningholme Bridge, Arnold, Long Riston, Catwick
& Brandesburton and return via Leven
Distance: 26.73 miles
Weather conditions: Grey skies to start with – sudden burst of sunshine late morning which
remained for the rest of the ride – no wind
Yesterday, the 19th January, a month on from the winter solstice, was a special day in the northern
hemisphere because it was supposed to be the coldest day. Why is the shortest day so distant from
the coldest temperatures you may well ask? Well the reason is that there’s a gap, known as the
seasonal lag, and this occurs primarily because the earth’s land and oceans absorb some of the sun’s
energy and release it slowly over time. Today, we could be experiencing bone-aching freezing
conditions, but we are not – it’s surprisingly mild. Summer time temperatures have a similar lag: the
hottest days in the northern hemisphere are in July or August. (After a cycling absence of a few
weeks, there was another distinct seasonal lag: my cycling - for most of the ride I lagged behind at
the back! This did not go unnoticed by our leader, Big Wheel Williamson.)
The 19th of January was also a special day for one of our cycling group. As we gather at
Swinemoor roundabout under grey skies, Alan Beecroft arrives on a shiny, new bike.
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“Birthday yesterday and the family all chipped in and made some contribution, but the gears
are all to pot,” he says, looking a bit crestfallen. Never failing to respond to any mechanical problem
which any of us may experience, Steve Superman Watts quickly moves in with his keen eye for how
things should work and makes the necessary gear adjustments. Alan is soon smiling and cycling
along with ease. Later, and not to be outdone, Ian Metcalfe shows off his Pound Stretcher bargains:
a new seat and a back mudguard. “Mudguard’s a bit disappointing though – there’s no mud on it.” I
suppose that’s like wanting your pound stretcher of flesh.
Across the pond, one Donald J Trump and his extended family, and a gaggle of ex-presidents
will be getting ready for the events of the presidential inauguration day for the 45th American
president. The prospects of watching this show on television later on doesn’t excite me. Is this the
Golden Globes, an Oscar ceremony or even an American Strictly, I wonder, when I eventually switch
on after our ride and see various well-healed “oldie” couples dancing very slowly around the floor?
Melanie Trump looks expressionless. Would her face start to crumble like an iceberg if she smiled?
With the same floppy hair as his dad, Baron Trump, looks a surly piece of work – a bit like a young
Wackford Squeers from Nicholas Nickleby, I thought. Donald J Trump has come a long way: twenty
five years ago, on the football show Saint and Greavsy, he was drawing out Middlesbrough to play
Peterborough United in the quarter-finals of the Rumbelows Cup. Later, reading the inauguration
address in the paper – I couldn’t face watching it on TV – I found it was much to be expected: all
Trump – belligerent, bombastic, nothing in moderation, with its main theme of bashing the enemies
of those who had elected him, and all about the beggar my neighbour polices of America, America
and... yes, you’ve guessed right, America. No mention of the main thing to put right in this world: the
plight of millions of miserable and desperate refugees caught up in wars and freezing winter
conditions, and the extreme poverty of so many on our planet. Is there another message for many,
many Americans (and ourselves) to consume less and share more with others?
Last time I saw the Lambath Stream it was a trickle under Benningholme Bridge, but today
with all the winter rainfall it gushes below us like Aysgarth Falls in the Yorkshire Dales. We’ve passed
an occasional ploughed field but many other fields are a green sheen with their fragile shoots of
winter wheat, barley and rape. The hedgerows are still bare and will be for a few months to come –
no wind to rustle through them today or to sway the treetops, and all the distant turbines are statue
like in their stillness. Before Benningholme Bridge, on either side of the undulating section of this
narrow lane, there’s an avenue of trees which I always enjoy cycling under. “Possibly beech,” says
our countryside expert Adrian Benson when I ask him. It’s good to think in a couple of months we’ll
be able to cycle under their leafy canopy and also identify these trees by their leaves. A little later, a
willing passer-by takes a group photo outside The Bay Horse at Arnold.
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We glance at the graffiti covered walls of a short tunnel under the A165 and cycle along Long
Riston’s main street. Appearing well kept from the outside, St Michael’s Church, Catwick stands on a
shady lane beside open fields. A Saxon building on the site of the present church stood there before
the Domesday Book. A survivor of the Saxon church is set in the north wall of the chancel. It is a
small carved stone depicting the Angel Michael. Next time we pass, we’ll have to remember to call
and run our hands over something carved over a thousand years ago which is said to have great
charm but an unhappy expression.
We stop briefly before Brandesburton for a photo next to another gravel pit in this area that
has been flooded to provide a haven for wild life and recreation. Disturbing the quiet, heavy wagons
shudder into and out of an industrial site at the other side of the road.
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We meet up with Shirl the Dacre Arms – Day Care for us and because we are on a pensioner’s
special. Two courses for £4.95 is good value and the small portions are just right if you’ve a bit more
cycling to face. However, will Big Wheel be able last on these small portions until the Cherry Tree
Garden Centre?
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Finally, back to today’s inauguration - Jimmy Greaves catchphrase on Saint and Greavsy used
to be: “It’s a funny old game.” Well, a final thought to leave you with is it’s a funny old electoral
system that votes in Donald J Trump and with 3 million votes less that the other candidate.
George Sweeting
25th January 2017
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