A beautiful SUNNY day, but with blustery winds. Martina working again, and Andrea still not able to join us until Ian safely through his upcoming eye surgery. But Jeanette now with negative Covid testing, was able to join us once more. Lots of us are still not up to speed after Christmas colds so we weren't aiming to do a fast ride today. John's buddy Dave had a wrist injury, so I invited John to join us.
Jeanette has not been well, and not ridden for ages, so her aim was to get to Stubbings and Martin would pick her up. That's about 15 miles, so enough for her first outing. But she and Lynne shot off ... so much for a slow ride 😅, and set a good pace as we left Wokingham, to meet Gill at Pound Lane. Sandford Lane had been closed 48 hours ago, but open again today, although Gill said the Lake is up over the paths, so no entry from Sandford Lane into Dinton atm. (with several hours of rain due tomorrow, its likely to close again.)
Route
With off road sections too muddy, the route today was all on road, but plenty of quieter lanes included. John used his road bike for the first time in a while. We made our way to Shurlock Row, and stopped for a nose blow and drink as we turned into Smewins Road.
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First stop, Smewins Road, Beenham's Heath.
The girls plus John. |
Then we rode all the way through White Waltham, passing the airfield, and stayed on Canon Lane all the up to the A4 roudabout. It was unfortuanltey quite busy with traffic today, but we soon left it behind as we cut through our usual route on Newlands Drive. We stopped for a moment once through the alleyway. Then off we went, except that after our second turning, I could see in my mirror that John was missing. He's not familiar with this area, so Louise peddled back to find him.... gone.
My phone rang. He had not taken the turning we did, but liaised a little further along on Pinkneys Drive, as we aimed for Pinkneys Green.
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| Pinkneys Green cricket club. But very exposed and windy all around the thicket today! |
With some temporary traffic lights to wait for, we then turned up Winterhill Road, and first left at the pretty cottages on Golden Ball Lane.
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| Lee Lane. Difficult to photograph, with the very bright sky contast. |
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| Passing me on Lee Lane. |
We basically did 3 sides of the National Trust thicket which is always lovely but was VERY exposed with gusty winds. Not far to our tea stop at Stubbings Nursery, and where unfortunately Jeanette didn't have time for a cuppa before Martin was due to pick her up. ( time constraint today).
We locked up our bikes, and opted to sit in the " tent". No one else there to start with, then these two ladies arrived with a dog. I loved their bobble hats and the little detail on the wall. (another painting?)
Our return trip was through Burchetts Green, and to Littlewick Green.
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Photo by John as we turn into Burchettes Green Lane
to pass Stubbings Manor House, and Little Stubbings. |
The light had gone quite flat as we passed through LWG, so no photos there today. As we emerged through the village, some quite dramatic shafts of light, which I tried to capture as the ohters peddled ahead into the strong winds.
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| near Littlewick Green. |
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I was hoping the light might hit the lone tree, but I had to dash off to catch up,
so couldn't wait. |
Left into Bottle Lane and to White Waltham, passing The Beehive once more, but this time we continued to the 5 way Xroads at Waltham St Lawrence and turned towards West End. There had clearly been some flooding from the Twyford Brook, as we turned into Plough Lane, but no problem getting through today. (But sure it will flood again tomorrow).
We had to slow down with an approaching vehicle shortly after this and unfortunately John stopped rather suddenly, and poor Gill had no where to go, so came off her bike as she hit him. Thank goodness she landed on the soft grass verge on the left, and not tarmac. She was a little shaken up but said she was not hurt. Her head seemed to bounce, so she may have some neck pain later. 😟 Hope not Gill. (Its now almost 2 months since my collision with tarmac and my ribs are still sore.)
Into Hurst and we stopped for a moment as we saw the horse in the field where the Hurst Show is normally held. The land has been sold, and so the horse needs somewhere new to go.
We left Gill in Hurst and then we were 4, then 3 then 2.
John enjoyed the ladies company today, and was impressed by our speed of 11.2mph. He doesn't go that fast with Dave some days! 😂 My bike rattle seemed to get worse today, so maybe I need a new cassette. It's never ending! But I guess it's done a lot of miles.
