B Group - 22nd October

The good weather brought out a good number of cyclists to Addlestone today and it was a group of 20 which set out, plus a couple more who wouldn't be staying for lunch.  The lunch stop was at the Vansittart Arms in Windsor, conveniently situated on Route 4.  Our route was via Lyne, Thorpe Green, across to Stroude Lane, past the beautiful building of Great Fosters and into Egham - thankfully not being held up at the level crossing.  The first climb of the day was to halfway up Middle Hill before turning left on to Parsonage Road and Victoria Street into Englefield Green, where again we did a couple more left turns into Blay's Lane for a loop along Wick Lane, skirting the Virginia Water boundary up to the main entrance into Savill Garden.  Entering the Great Windsor Park here, we caught glimpses of some lovely autumn colours, before passing into the park proper and crossing it to reach Rangers' Gate.  From here the cycle path on the other side of the A332 took us into Windsor by the back-door where we were able to follow the Route 4 signs to our destination.

The publican had kindly reserved an area I had requested, big enough for the whole group, and with three at the bar taking orders, we were soon sitting down - apart from Terry and Pam who had been held up attending to a puncture sustained by Terry on the last lap.  (Well at least that was better than the three which we had had on the recce!)  The service was excellent and the food was good - a pub well worth revisiting.

The return route was straightforward - into Windsor, then via Datchet, Wraysbury, Staines, the towpath to Laleham, Shepperton and to my home in Lower Sunbury where 11 of us had tea.  Many thanks to Pam for being back-marker.

~ Gill

15.6 miles to Lunch

15.3 miles to Tea