Surprisingly pleasant weather! Perhaps the most notable aspect of the day was that Don was stunning us with his remarkable cycling top.
The Route which officially started at Maybury: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1980606
Chris Jeggo had a great time touring the Pyrenees in September, and has now put his photos on to Flickr:No accommodation was booked in advance, which caused no problems, but which enabled the itinerary to be adapted to the weather. This varied between seriously sunny and seriously wet.
He’s thinking of doing something similar next year, probably a two-week tour to include Mont Ventoux, the Grand Canyon du Verdon and the southern Alps. Let him know if you might be interested in joining him.
Mt Ventoux
Louise Gagnon writes…
All-day remote start rides always give one that little sense of childhood adventure. And what better way to revert to childhood memories than to start it all with a hot brew made on a Camping Gaz stove. Neil had kindly set up all this logistics and what a surprise to find out that his wife Elaine had baked a delicious apple cake specially for us. Yummy! Barry then expertly led us on a 40 miler through the New Forest maze of trails, complete with a welcoming lunch break at the Red Shoot pub in Ringwood. Hearing the thup-thup of a double puncture was not enough to deflate Peter’s morale, but it was all hands on deck to fix this as the weather was closing in at end of day. A great day out on the MTB and so a big thank you Barry for organising this!
Louise Gagnon, Neil Eason, Barry Rolfe, Peter Chimes and John Child having a fun day on the MTB
Peter Hackman writes….
Despite the forecast five of us had a dry ride, until……(see later!). Geoff Smith jnr, Steve, Anne, Clive and I met at Godalming. Stopping for coffee at Petworth, we then made our way to the “The Forge” at Slindon for lunch. This is a new destination, which was only opened in Oct 2012. It is run by the community and seems to be very successful. (http://www.slindonforge.co.uk)
They are very friendly and the food is good.
We then headed towards Midhurst but it was as we crossed the A285 that the storm caught us. We learnt later that Hayling Island had been hit by a tornado earlier in the day.
Paul Holmes, who had met us at Slindon stopped to put on his cape. We didn’t see him again, as he then decided on a different route home. I did worry that the strong wind had caught under his cape and lifted him into a tree!
The rain soon passed and we then had a good, if somewhat damp, ride home.
No report on the ride, but a photo or two of the ‘highlight’ of the day –
Don in his best lederhosen outfit! GIve us a smile, Don, you look great!
