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Our annual trip up the Basingstoke Canal / Wey Navigation to the Thames, then along the river to Richmond took place on one of the hottest days of the year. Very little tarmac was encountered, otherwise it would possibly have been necessary to comment on things like melting tarmac; instead suffice to say that the dust rose as we sped past, first the six members of ‘Group 4’, followed closely by a larger number of Group 3 riders who did more or less exactly the same route. This included a circuit of Richmond Park where the only hill of the day was encountered – two in fact if you look at the profile of the route on Garmin (http://connect.garmin.com/course/7359524). Thanks to John C for this. Rico’s Group 1 members took a different route but we all ended up in the same pub – The Anglers in Twickenham – for an expensive beer and sandwich.
Thanks to John M and Laurie for leading the groups; it’s fair to say, I think, that a great time was had by all.
Ride distance 40 miles
click image to see ride details
A good number of riders turned up at Petersfield for the start of this week’s Wednesday ride. Car / train assisted rides, where you get the chance to ride some different roads to those in our immediate vicinity, are popular with many and Petersfield, whilst not too far away, gives access to some quiet and potentially lumpy lanes in north Hampshire.
After coffee in the Square in Petersfield, the group split into a couple of groups; the fast boys and girls disappeared up the road and your scribe, having climbed no more than two short hills in the past month, decided to opt for an easier day with the Group 3 riders. The weather was lovely – summer has definitely arrived – and the countryside was looking quite delightful as the photos below amply describe.
Laurie was our leader so thanks to him for this – never an easy job, particularly when your satnav decides not to work properly. Neither did the track when loaded on to Garmin’s website, so it’s not pssible today to show what route we took, other than to say it meandered east from Petersfield into Sussex. We lunched south of Midhurst at the White Horse at Graffham, before heading north to by-pass Midhurst before heading west and so back to Petersfield, passing through Milland and Hollybourne School which benefited from a generous donation from us at the annual dinner in February. A comfortable 70kms in total and a thoroughly good day!
To view the route on Ride with GPX, click on this link: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5327747
