Some came with mudguards fitted and some a mac in the back pocket as the weather was unpredictable having just had thunderstorms over night. We went out as one group this week, with the plan of meeting David at Ockwells park around 10am after he was relieved of his junior parkrun duties.

 

 Gurpal the Navigator led the group away from the station, up Grenfell Road and west along the A4 towards Reading turning off the roman road just shy of Hare Hatch, headed down through Waltham St. Lawrence and in turn White Waltham. David was spotted coming towards us and the peloton grew. After the long straight of Drift Road the next landmark was Windsor Great Park where we stopped for a photo in front of the long walk with the castle barely visible behind (due to the distance and humidity restricting visibility).

 

After leaving Bishopsgate, the next notable point was the decent down Prune Hill where Simon got ahead and the main group lost speed due to a group of pedestrians blocking the lane making passing difficult. Following Gurpal became a bit harder as we temporarily lost him over the M3 working out which way he had gone but we soon caught up and headed into Sunningdale where caffeine was uploaded to most of our bloodstreams at Costa Coffee. Time to head back north via Ascot, Winkfield and Hawthorn Hill, where the group tried to catch Hewan, regrouping at the Bird Hills roundabout two main groups headed home in different directions.
A sociable easy, relatively flat ride, with the opportunity to sprint meant between 45 to 50 miles for most with an average speed of 15 to 16 mph.