I had suggested an evening ride planned for last night, so off we went, starting from The Flower Pot at Aston. Rain forecast due at 8pm, and we got back at 7.55. The storm was horrendous, and after some food, the drive home was very scary with lightning flashes the entire route home. The roads back from Henley though Wargrave in particular had turned into rivers disappearing under water.
John led Susie, Linda H, Kelly and me and Roger joined us for dinner later. Poor Kelly felt unwell and turned back after just a couple of miles. I think she
knew about the hills ahead of us. The first 6 miles were tough, then very nice after that.
The Route
We crossed Hambleden Weir then a steep uphill to Rotten Row. Then a right towards Lower Woodend. An undulating ride at this point! Some nutters of a group of male cyclist, two abreast almost took us out on a bend here.
In this dip we spotted a deer amongst the grasses.
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| Once into Frieth, a lovely downhill, emerging at The Prince Albert Pub |
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| And we continued downhill past the harvested fields |
Now at the bottom, and through Fingest, and onto the Hambleden Valley Road, where out speed picked up as we dashed down the valley at around 20mph watching the sky!
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| Crossing back over the weir, and still dry |
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| A glimmer of light amongst darkening skies in one direction...... |
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| Eeek ! Quick, just 2 minutes back to the Flower Pot. |
We made it just in time. Good food at the pub before the memorable journey home with flooding everywhere. Glad we were in our van!
