We set off in 2 vehicles and parked at a skateboard park, not too far from Lily Hill Park, Bracknell. (That got us up one one hill at least, rather that start at Lily Hill Park) .
With Jodi and Jamie using the ebikes, and with the boys on the two recently acquired second hand bikes, we initially cycled on road/paths then cut down the off-road Sandy Lane, and wiggled through to Ascot Racecourse. John got a puncture not far after Sandy Lane, so we left him to fix it whilst we carried on slowly into the Racecourse.
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| Ascot Racecourse entrance where part of the grass course slides on rails allowing pedestrian access on non race days through this gate. |
John soon caught up and we left the racecourse via the underpass and then used the pathways passing Watersplash Lane continuing downhill to Cheapside to join a short section of main road. A left turn into Mill Lane, which is fairly quiet. When we arrived at the safety of Windsor Park Blacknest Entrance, we saw a sign "Polo Today, Cars £20" Then there were more cars inside the "traffic free" park than on the roads!
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| John and Mathonwy climbing the last hill up to Smiths Polo Lawn. His little legs did very well. |
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| We continuing to Saville Garden Cafe. It was quite busy and John decided not to Q. So Jamie and I went inside to the other cafe to Q. By the time we came out with all the cakes, the outdoor cafe had no Q! Bad timing. 😞 |
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| The perennial borders looking good today. |
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| We backtracked to watch the polo match now underway. (I now know that Each Chukka is 7.5 mins long, and the match last 90-120 mins.) |
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| We watched a few minutes, then the end of the Chukka was announced and the spectators started to walk the pitch to flatten down the hoof damage. |
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| Mathonwy and I had a rest whilst the others went off to see some buildings. Bran than reappeared ..... alone. Naughty Bran. |
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| Uncle Jamie followed not far behind, to tell Bran off for disappearing.😉 |
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| Before the final climb out of the park, a brief stop at some of the BIG old Oak Trees. |
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| Well done everyone. Now to drop down out of the park... to climb up Watersplash Lane on the footpath. 😏 |
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| And eventually back through the Racecourse on the opposite side, to drop down under a different tunnel under the racecourse, where lot of kids paintings of horses and our late Queen. |
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| Back at the top of Sandy Lane again. It's uphill on the way back! |
We retraced our route back to the start, much of which was unfortunately up hill. A couple of rest stops for Mathonwy, but he did so well. And we rode 18 miles.