A group 15th August to Paley Street

18 riders were sufficiently intrigued by Geoff's write-up of his advance ride of my route, (thank you for your feedback and kind words Geoff!!) to accompany me on the ride proper today. They may well have been having second thoughts when, within a few minutes of leaving 11's we turned off the main road and headed up through Woodlands mobile home park, and via some off road tracks and meadow through the back of St George's College, headed on to Mead Lane into Chertsey. Crossing the bridge and turning sharp left to follow the river road towards Staines, our progress was halted by an untimely puncture suffered by Ken. After some problems and a number of different inner tubes, the problem was fixed and off we headed following the NC4 cycle route, hugging the river all the way to Staines. From here we followed well known roads through Wraysbury and Sunnymeads on to Datchet , where we picked up the main road into Windsor....but not for long.! A detour along the edge of Datchet golf course took us on to the path across the river and then right through the middle of Eton College grounds. Onwards through Eton, we once again picked up the NC4, which popped us out into Eton Dorney rowing centre, and from there across the river again into Bray and then on to Ockwells Park, White Waltham and finally arriving at The Bridge House in Paley Street.

The benefits of pre-ordering food was very quickly evident as everyone's lunch was pretty much produced on demand as we ordered drinks and paid up...a system that some other lunch venues might want to think about considering some of the very lengthy waits (and wrong or disappearing orders we have had recently).

A swift ride back via Nuptown, Warfield and Winkfield Row enabled us to cut across the centre of Ascot race course and then head down towards Blacknest Gate and a trip around the edge of Virginia Water. Exiting the park, we soon ticked off Virginia Water village and then via Lyne Crossing into Chertsey, on to Shepperton and finally tea at the Riverhouse Barn in Walton, where 14 of the original 19 took advantage of the tea and cakes on offer.

25 miles from 11's to lunch, and then 21 miles on to tea, on a warm, pleasant and occasionally sunny day...actually far more conducive to cycling than some of the recent temperatures. Thanks to all who came along, especially those who marked corners and to Mike Barrett for back-marking...sorry we lost you right at the end Mike !!