Wednesday Intermediates A Ride to Burnham Beeches

This was the ride done by the Intermediates ‘A’ group, for want of a better description; group participants were: Louise Gagnon, Alex  Nash, Neil Eason, John Child, Keith Ricketts (ride leader), Phil Gasson – one of our newest riders – welcome Phil! – Laurie Mutch and your scribe Mark Waters.

R0014061~tighterAn improving weather picture, forecast earlier in the week, for once met expectations: so we, who were lucky enough to be free to come out and ride today, were gifted a most glorious day – and make the most of it we did!

Chobham was the starting point and we were heading north to Buckinghamshire and Burnham Beeches, via Windsor, Eton, Datchet and Dorney, where we had elevenses at Bressingham Garden Centre.  You can find details of the ride here: http://www.strava.com/activities/141045372

Route Map

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch was taken at the White Horse in Hedgerley, just north of Farnham Common. Reasonably priced and nicely presented, with the added bonus of beer straight from the barrel. I enjoyed a pint of IPA from a local Marlow brewery. We even enjoyed the extra bonus of an ice cream on the return trip through Windsor.

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The ride was a pleasant 87kms long, with not much wind. Most of the ride was spent warning our fellow riders of imminent deadly potholes in their path and, as is usual in this direction, the roads weren’t quiet.

I shot quite a few photos, including a number of shots of people. I also played around with editing tools to give some of the shots an arty look – principally because the shots weren’t particularly exciting – possibly as a consequence of the scenery not being overly exciting, but a photographer shouldn’t blame his tools!

Some shots taken along the way….

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And now for some group shots!

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And finally a couple of ‘arty’ shots

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West Surrey CTC in Powys

We’ve been quite lucky with the weather so far.

On Saturday we cycled along the Montgomeryshire Canal and visited both Welshpool and Newtown.

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Sunday was a grey day with quite a few showers around;  not good for photographs.  We visited Montgomery with its castle, the town of Bishop’s Castle, and cycled to the top of the road that crosses the Stiperstones ridge, at which point we saw a large grey cloud heading our way and ran for home.  That was the one shower that got us, and we only had our waterproofs on for half an hour.

On Monday we rode to Llanfair Caereinion and then meandered around the hills between Welshpool and Lake Vyrnwy.

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Train assisted ride – 16th April

Train-assisted rides are great for getting outside your normal orbit, but surely not as far as Canada!

Helen led a group from Haslemere station via Linchmere, Redford and Iping to Aylings Garden Centre at Trotton, where a fair few West Surrey CTC members were easily outnumbered by Portsmouth CTC.

Near Redford

Near Redford

Many, sunny, twisty miles later (on wings of speed?) we arrived here:

Louise - "Great to be so close to home!"

Louise – “Great to be so close to home!”

 

"Great to visit exotic places"

“Great to visit exotic places”

Is there any truth in the rumour that we left one small piece of black PVC tape stuck to the signpost?

At the foot of the South Downs

At the foot of the South Downs

From Quebec more twists and turns heading east at the foot of the South Downs took us to Cocking, where an excellent, though not cheap, lunch was provided by the Bluebell Inn.  Then a few more such lanes before turning north through Selham and Lodsworth to Gospel Green.  Some returned to Haslemere while others accepted Helen’s invitation to tea with hot cross buns at her home by Witley Station, whence the rest returned home.  It was uplifting to do something out of the ordinary on a day when the weather too was out of the ordinary.

 

The Surrey Hills Society

This is just to let you know that West Surrey CTC is now a member of the Surrey Hills Society. We use their logo so it was considered appropriate that we joined, and doubly so since a good proportion of our rides take place in the lovely Surrey Hills.

Their letter of welcome is shown below. Should you wish to take part in any of the events they lay on, I am sure that you can. If you need to quote a membership number then, the number is 798/0.

Surrey Hills Soc Welcome Letter April 2014