At long last we were off. Our first ride of the year; delayed one week due to global warming (as you can see from the photo here)

So, a quick glance at the weather forecast, check the tyres and off to Poplar 2000 to meet the others. I arrived about an hour before we were due to set off (see, very keen) and managed to snap most of the arrivals as they turned up. And what a crowd we had - 15 bikes and 2 pillions. Not too shabby for the first ride of the year. We even had a guest rider who had turned up in case the Warrington riders were out - so, welcome to Graham and his Blackbird.

Just before 11, we set off. Another first for Manhoc, setting off on time. Gary led us out of the car park and onto the back road to Congleton. Ahh, what a feeling. Back on a ride again. The roads were not too bad considering it was only 6c but we were all a bit careful to start with. The buddy system worked well and no-one got lost. There was much banter between the riders since 8 of us had radios. I'm not sure what anyone else would have thought, but we enjoyed it.

After about 90 minutes we arrived at Stapeley Water Gardens for a well earned cuppa. We parked up and wandered in. The food was a bit slow in arriving (so, my hot soup was warm soup) but it was all OK. Gary managed to "borrow" some of Johns dessert - so everything back to normal here.

Then, a bit more walking around and then back on the bikes for more riding. This time, we headed West and North to find the A49 and back to Poplar. As everyone knows, the A49 is the best road for a bit of safe "fun" and by the end of the ride, we were all "buzzing" - especially once we got to dry roads. Wonderful. We did lose Geoff for a while as his visor fell off but he caught us up at the last stop.

A last mug of tea and then we split up for the ride home (and a nice lamb dinner in my case).

As always, some pictures to help relive the day.