The royal Australian flag evoked thoughts of Annie and Peter basking in the WA heat but these quickly vanished as we stamped our feet in the biting bitter cold. Seven stalwart Loiterers took off heading west by well known routes to the Military graveyard alongside Harefield church. The rows of graves date from WW1 and are laid out with precision – it’s a sobering thought that we have had many decades of life whilst most of the dead here were lads in their twenties of younger. The leader had donned his black cap, the first part of Alec’s mortar board Christmas gift and was attempting to find the actual board and tassel ( not the easiest thing to carry in a pannier) to give NL#1 when a lady with three dogs paused to talk and was obviously puzzled that a rabbi had stopped at a Christian cemetery – we gave her a chorus of Hava Ngela before pushing on uphill to Harefield Hospital for coffee. NL#2 on the history of the house went well and we cycled through the grounds to view the listed and eagle mounted but sadly dilapidated original building. A great downhill swoop to the canal, nature reserve and a wiggle through the salubrious suburbs of Ricki – hills there were but these were amply compensated by the excellent beer and food at the Black Horse. A vote was taken to defer the Captain Cook monument to later in the year when the path would be drier – ( or was it to avoid NL#3??) Woodford’s route home left much to be desired and much mud on our bikes .... great pint of Landlord at the Falcon – yes it was damn cold but we did it and are such lucky people to be out in the bright sunshine in the wonderful English countryside.
Captain Morgan a.k.a. The Nobby Lecturer