The day opened with with a light sou’westerly wind and a grey blanket of cloud blocking out any spring sunshine and the warmth that might have come with it. Still, with no rain in the forecast it encouraged a great turn out. Only decision to be made was “Shorts or Longs, Summer bike or Winter bike?….🤔
As is traditional with the ‘Masters’, the ‘veterans’ take the ‘honour’ and lead the ‘field’ off on the ‘first tee’. The first ‘hole’ was a ‘par 4’ right hand dogleg taking us from Etton uphill to Holme-on-the-Wolds. ‘All square’ after the first, the second was a long straight ‘par 5’ with a number of undulations which managed to stretch the ‘field’ out as we approached the twisting snake-like ‘par 4 third’ leading us into Middleton-on-the-Wolds.
Next up was the ‘par 3 fourth’, a short up and down through the village. Some confusion reigned at the start of the ‘par 4 fifth’ when some ‘competitors’ misread their ‘course notes’ and tried to miss out the next section of the ‘course’ by turning onto Warter road instead of continuing to North Dalton.
Setting off on the ‘par 3 sixth’, a long straight heading directly into wind on the Dale road towards Warter. On reaching the ‘par 4 – 7th tee’ the terrain took another upward turn as the various groups climbed towards the highest part of the course at Nunburnholme top.
Next up was the ‘par 5 8th hole’ taking the ‘competitors’ from Nunburnholme top downhill through Londesborough with a sting in the tail climb of Intake Hill towards the end.
The ‘par 4 ninth’ meandered further downhill towards Market Weighton before a dogleg left heading to Goodmanham and the climb up to the ‘half-way house’ at Fiddle Drill cafe.
Following refreshments the ‘groups’ set off for the ‘back nine’. The ‘par 4 tenth’ continued the climb upwards along Crossgate. As we approached ‘Amen Corner’ and the ’11th Tee’ heaving in great gulps of air, a waft of “eau-de-manure” drifted across from the neighbouring field tantalising our olfactory nerves. “Ooh the joys of the countryside!” (either that or someone was letting rip ðŸ¤)
At the 12th Tee a few competitors abandoned to find their own way home while the remaining ‘players’ tackled the fast downhill run along Kiplingcotes Race Course. The 13th was a short ‘par 5’ featuring a 5% average climb at the beginning followed by a short dip and another climb before the long straight ‘par 4 14th’ bringing the competitors back towards Etton.
The ‘par 5 15th’ led back through Etton village with a dogleg right and a short climb over the old railway line and into Cherry Burton. The next stage to tackle was the fearsome ‘par 3 16th’ with the infamous “Granny’s Hump”, a short climb averaging 5.2% but touching 9% briefly.
Once the ‘players’ managed to get over the ‘road crossing’ the ’17th’ was a relatively easy ‘par 4’ taking us back towards Manor House. The final ‘par 4’ 18th saw the ‘players’ taking various routes back to their own ‘clubhouse’ to end another extremely enjoyable ride around the East Riding.