I met Sarah when doing my Breeze Champ training 3 years ago, along with Cathy. Sarah started the "Cookham Rockettes", and has led Breeze rides most Fridays ... her only day off work. Commendable.
Rosie, who lives in Maidenhead also trained as a Breeze Champ on the same day. So the 4 of us have met up a couple of times to share our knowledge of our local patches. It's been a while, so we must do it again! It was particularly useful for Cathy and I to learn some of the links through Maidenhead area to Cookham, and have used them many times since.
Like everyone who knows Sarah, I was devastated to hear the news that she had a diagnoses of Breast Cancer earlier this year. She was so positive, and just took a few weeks off from cycling for necessary treatment, and the fantastic news is that she is recovering really well... and of course back leading short rides again.
When she announced several weeks ago that she would like to host a Macmillan Coffee morning, lots of Breeze Champs put the date in the diary, to arrange group rides to Sarah's house in Cookham. I ride on Fridays with a friends' group, most of whom are also Breeze riders, so when Champs Cathy, Jill and Sue said they were all free to lead a Breeze ride, it made sense that I would ride independently with my regular Friday group.
I have ridden to Cookham a few times now but wanted to try a different route today. Some of which I have done in reverse, and the return loop, a new link to Hurley. (thanks to Rosie's Strava. )
It was a FOGGY start to the day, with heavy rain forecast after 1 o'clock. We climbed over Carters Hill, passed the dog rescue, then along Howe Lane, heading for White Waltham.
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| Sun trying to break through the mist on Howe Lane. |
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| Stopped to give the other 3 a chance to get ahead, and allow the traffic to get between us, on Howe Lane |
In White Waltham, we cut across the farm track called Haywood Farm Barns, which comes out onto Woodlands Park Road. (normally we go left here, to join with Breadcroft Lane.) But today, we were heading for Braywick, so followed Shoppenhagers Road to Ockwell Road, and the pedestrian bridge across the A404.
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| Lynne and Martina almost across.... |
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| Gill, Louise, Andrea crossing. |
This brought us to Kimbers Lane, and Harvest Hill Road, where we crossed the A308 and into Braywick, to pick up the Strand River pathway through Maidenhead. (learned this from Sarah and Rosie).
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| oops! Thats our route on the Greenway! We turned right, then left into Ray Mill Road West, where we picked up the path again. |
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| Toadflax or Snapdragon along the Greenway. |
The route we followed in the general direction to Cookham, was not exactly the same as I had done before, so was pleased to eventually come to this bend with the lattice paving, and we were back on track.
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| Selfie along the Greenway to Cookham. Its a great route, even if a bit bumpy at times. |
Not far to Sarah's now, and for some reason I had number 166 in my head . As we climbed the hill I knew we were heading towards the top, but ran out of numbers before we got to 166! lol. Lynne said that she had spotted balloons a bit further back down the hill, and sure enough we found the house. That was after rescuing a neighbour's dog from the middle of the road. 😅
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| We were the last group to arrive. Sarah took photos of each group.There were bikes all over her garden! |
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| Finding a spot for our bikes. |
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| Breeze area coordination Rachael with her group today. |
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| the Wokingham Champs with their riders. Nice to see Daphne join us today too. |
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| Sue modelling the new Breeze Gilet We will all wear this eventually. |
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| Maidenhead Champ Rosie. |
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| As Rachael thanks us all for coming, Sarah's husband gets ready to take the group photo.... from an elevated position. 😂 |
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| Daphne chatting with Martina, I think the only non Breeze rider there! (but one of my regular Friday ride buddies) |
I chatted with a few ladies, but we were all quite keen to head back before the rain came today. One lady and a fellow Scot, Karen, asked if I am "the lady who writes the blogs". Yes I am Karen, and hope you enjoy reading this one. She is a newly trained Champ awaiting her first aid sign off. (I passed mine last night). Do get in touch to join me an assistant if you want to learn a few of the routes around here. Would be glad to help.
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| On my way to collect my bike, below the apple tree. |
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| Sarah with a few ladies who cycled 5 miles to the pub to celebrate raising over £700 today. FANTASTIC. |
Our return route was via Temple and Hurley, firstly climbing Long Lane.
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| Catching up at the top of Long Lane. |
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| Views from Long Lane, where saw a cyclists use the path through this estate. One to try another time. |
Then we used a tunnel under the A404 by way of Lee Lane, then forking into Dungrove Hill Lane. A bit messy, with debris, but a pretty lane with a steep downhill towards the end. (Sarah did say it is steep coming the other way!)
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| Dungrove Hill Lane. |
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| Views from Dungrove Hill Lane. Beyond those trees is the busy A404, which we rode alongside on a separated foopath/cyclepath. |
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| We arrived in Temple facing this house, then a left turn and through the dark tunnel to Hurley |