Breeze Cantley to Warren Row - 30 miles

PLAN A - The advertised route. To go over Sonning bridge to Binfield Heath. But since the weekend the road through Sonning has been closed due to flooding. (I drove through it Friday night and it was scary!)

PLAN B - Since Plan A had to be abandoned, I rode to Cookham on Sunday with hubby to check that route was ok. It was fine, no major puddles,  other than Cookham High Street being underwater! However, that route is 35 miles and with the forecast for today of 1 degree at 9am, with a windchill of -6..... I thought forget that!

PLAN C - A mystery tour!  I contacted everyone to revise our start time to 11am, when it was forecast to be a dizzy 4 degrees, with a windchill of only -2. 😎   I thought they would all cancel anyway, but only one pulled out. Are they mad?!

Sue had also decided to delay her start time till 11am, so it was nice to see her with her group for a few minutes before we went our separate ways.

Route link (photo of route at end)

Our first plan was to head to Shurlock Row, then assess how we were feeling about the cold. It was certainly a stiff COLD wind, but by the time we reached Broadcommon Lane in full sunshine, it was lovely. I think most of us had hand warmers in today, so fingers were fine, and with 5 layers on our bodies, we were feeling too hot!

My phone rang on Broadcommon Lane, and although I normally ignore phone calls when I'm riding, I had asked hubby to let me know of any nasty icy patches as he set out an hour ahead of me. I saw a missed call from him, but nothing on my list of recent calls... weird.  So I ignored it. We carried on to Shurlock Row, where we agreed everyone was feeling fine about the cold, so we planned to head to Velolife at Warren Row.

At the X Roads on Kiln Hill, White Waltham.
Nose blow stop, so also a chance for a photo. Lovely light on this house at the junction. 

They are all still smiling, and happy to keep going. 
Louise, Amanda T, Gill, Kim.

Cutting across Breadcroft Lane, and over the railway, we joined the Knowl Hill circuit. I had expected to get blown away here, but strangely it was very calm! It was 5 degrees at this point. Time for a group selfie in gorgeous sunshine. 

Long shadows and sunshine behind us. 

Look like bandits! 

Look at that sunshine. Gorgeous day to be out. 

We turned right into Bottle Lane, across the A4 at Knowl Hill and up to Warren Row.  As we approached Velolife, a van ahead of slowed down so much that I put a foot down to come to a halt. But my foot slid! I couldn't stop. There was ICE all across the road here, and thank goodness everyone managed to get off and walk across to the cafe entrance without a fall. 😨😨😨

(I hadn't looked again at my phone, but turned out that the missed call had been from hubby, via Whats app was warning of ICE at Velolife!  Very dangerous was his message!! He never calls on Whatsapp which is why I was confused. )

Since it was now 12.30ish, most of us were ready for something savoury and hot.  3 lots of Cheese Sour Dough toasties on offer, which is great unless you don't like cheese (Gill 😂).  

Louise said to me "oh look it comes with pickled egg", which we both thought a bit strange. When it arrived the "pickled  egg" was "pickled veg".  (should have gone to Specsavers.😅)

Delicious Sour Day toasties with Goats Cheese & roasted Veg, 
served with picked veg.😋

Amanda had taken a photo of 3 helmets on the windowsill
so I added 2 more. (They need to clean their windows!)

And an arty farty one. 

So having discussed, amongst other things,  all the latest TV must see shows, we were ready to go. the plan had been to carry on to Crazies Hill on a loop to Wargrave, but the only other cyclists there said the road had several icy patches ahead, so I made the decision to backtrack initially. Much safer. 

View from Warren Row as we head back the same way.
Look at the sky! 

We headed downhill to the A4, and it dropped to 2.1 degrees. Brrrr.  Back across the A4 once more, to White Waltham on Bottle Lane, continuing all the way to Waltham St Lawrence X Roads and the temporary lights, which have become a permanent feature. (Sue says she saw us ahead here, then never saw us again).  I have come this way lots recently, and turned left to Shurlock Row. So, for a change, we continued on the B3024 Twyford Road, all the way to Ruscombe.  It was very quiet. Not sure any cars passed us the whole way.   As we approached to go under the railway bridge, more ice. Eeek. 

(As we climbed away from the railway, some riders from Wokingham cycling club coming down the hill, so was able to shout out to warn them about it. )

From Ruscombe Church, I was a bit worried they may be ice at the bridge next to the Vineyard, so we opted for Broad Hinton estate road to be safe. There was a fair amount of ice on the pond in Hurst in the shady area, which will no doubt grow over the next couple of cold nights. 

Finally into Broadcommon Road for our climb back to Cantley, leaving Gill at Pound Lane X roads. 

Thanks ladies for a great ride in sunshine. Will be very happy when it warms a bit, but better than rain.