Christmas signing ride and World Peace cafe

 Our festive signing day (Friday 3 December) was cold and damp, but as always the group were in high spirits and good cheer. It was a fantastic turnout, with numbers sewlled further by Brian's son Gavin  and both Maldwyn and David's wives joining the group for the day too. It is a long time since we checked NCR 68 from Ashbourne down to Etwall, which lies at the very southern edge of our region. I recall that last time we rode this route it was a lovely sunny day!

Although this section of NCR 68 will probably be removed or reclassified from the network, so far we have had no instructions to do this and so we have diligently worked to maintain the integrity of the route and signage to ensure users do not get lost. One or two key signs had gone missing, but we had plenty of helpers on hand to replace them 

Thankfully the signing didn't delay us too much as we had pre-arranged to meet at the Tara Buddhist Centre's World Peace cafe for lunch. We have cycled past it several times on signing rides before, but today we rode down the impressive tree-lined drive way and enjoyed the hospitality of their cafe.  

The curried courgette soup was quite fantastic and we had no problem at all relaxing in the warmth of the cafe. A great place for lunch. 

Thanks to David and Catherine for making all the arrangements for the day and for getting us back to the cars by a different route, through Osmaston Park. It was a lovely ride and just the perfect length at 40 kms. Thanks also to Catherine for the delicious chocolate fridge tiffin, which really made an ordinary signing day into a very special festive one!

No plans for a work day in January yet, but how about we look at possibility of Monday 10th January 2022. 

Happy Christmas to everyone and I hope you all have a wonderful New Year. Many thanks to you all for the work we have done during 2021, which I know has helped to keep the Sustrans routes through the White Peak area well signed and enjoyed by many users. Well done