B Group March 19th

After the (in)formality of several group photos taken by Mike M., B Group made its departure from the Greeno Centre in Shepperton. There were seventeen of us: Judy, Liz, Pam - sporting a tan on her face and hands and probably elsewhere but being well rugged up for the chilly conditions that was all the evidence we could see of her three-month stay in Lanzarote - Les, Norman, Terry, John G., Harold, David, Ray, Nev, Phil, Mick, Cliff, Bernard, Richard (usually rides with Cheam-Morden) and me, Gill, the leader. The Rose and Crown at Woodside was our destination for lunch, the other side of Windsor Great Park. Our route out was through Chertsey, along Stonehill Road to Gracious Pond Road where we saw some lovely daffodils on a bank outside one of the larger houses out that way. At Burrowhill we crossed straight over the Chobham/Windsor Road and did a loop on a quiet back road through Valley End, seeing again a mass of daffodils on both sides of the road in one stretch, before joining the Chobham Road leading into Sunningdale. Crossing the A30 and then the A329 to come into Cheapside, the last lap saw us tackling several steep hills as we followed the edge of the Windsor Great Park. It was with relief that we reached the turn-off to Woodside - or am I speaking only for myself?! With the Duke of Edinburgh pub hosting a walking group and a funeral party, we were booked into the Rose and Crown. There was a table laid for us and the speed with which they took our orders was very impressive as it was already busy with other lunch customers. Food was very good and the Ladies Loos have to rate 5 stars! Ray, Phil, Nev and Mick left us on arriving at the pub, so we were a smaller group of 13 for the return trip. This was the easier part of the ride. We headed into Windsor Great Park coming out at Bishopsgate, down Tite Hill to Egham. The decision to take the back road to Staines was not a good one as we got caught not just at one, but two level crossings!! From Staines, with the wind behind us it was an easy ride following the Thames back to Chertsey Bridge. The river was flowing fast and at Laleham had flooded some of the grassy areas. Afternoon tea was at Shepperton Bakery where the special deal was tea/coffee and cake for £2.20. For those who had fruit cake, it looked as if we were getting a quarter of the cake, such was the generosity of the lady behind the counter! Nine of us stopped for tea and shortly afterwards we were joined by John, usually an A Group rider who had unfortunately got his weeks muddled up and gone to Dorking for Elevenses only to find no-one else there! Apart from a few spots of rain while on the towpath, it had stayed fine and been a good day for a ride. Thanks, Terry, for being back marker yet again.
Gill Finlay