We headed out along Sandy Lane and discovered the last rutted and challenging, in any way, feature of the trail has now also been surfaced :( It's now possible to get south out of Melton to the foot of Burrough Hill pretty much on hard surfaced trail.

At the end of Sandy Lane I suggested we try the direct "North Face" ascent of Burrough Hill. This is a route used by motorised vehicles and so suffers from their damage. It is also usually damp in the middle section. With the ground still baked dry I figured it would be dry but a good challenge negotiating the ruts. It was as I expected and neither of us cleaned it. Both of us had a couple of dabs which wasn't bad for an on-sight? It's definitely cleanable... so next time....

At the top of the hill we commented how warm and still the air was. We continued on to Somerby and found it to be breezy and spitting with rain there! :o It wasn't worth getting coats out for and we continued to Owston before heading across to White House Farm to pick up the road climb back to Burrough-on-the-Hill.

Next we descended on the bridleway across the fields towards Thorpe Satchville. The first field was lovely and smooth so fine on the hardtails. The second was hell! The third didn't have a path across (come on Mr farmer!) so we had to go round the edge.

Although we still had plenty of time we decided to keep things simple and head back towards town so that we'd have time for a pint on the way home. A swift one in the Crown was enjoyed.