England : Oxfordshire The Oxford pie-cnic. Saturday 9th September

[robjh]

Redbridge behind Go Outdoors.

Well see you later then neighbour.

I'm just hoping they let me check in before the 1pm official arrival time.

 

[Salty seadog]

We're relieved by the implication that you're wearing some

Just putting them on now. In in Amersham high street.

 

[Fab Foodie]

What site are you on? There's just a chance you may have a neighbour tomorrow night...

(Just to confirm : I'm in, and will see you all tomorrow)

Hurrah!!!

 

[StuAff]

Have fun everyone!

 

[rvw]

Apple pies are packed and ready to go - I will see you there!

 

[Hill Wimp]

 

[Hill Wimp]

5 mins get the Gins in

 

[srw]

Rain radar makes it look as if we'll be here a while!

 

[Salty seadog]

On the train back home. Great day, mini picnic in the middle of a roundabout in Oxford. Great company and laughs. The weather was much better than forecast with just a couple of showers while we sat in the garden of the Angel and Greyhound, under a great heated glass roof with room for us all and our bikes so nothing got wet. Thanks everyone and thanks @srw for organising it and leading a splendid ride in from Amersham which took in the spectacle of the Tour of Britain passing by 6 feet from where we stood.

Until next time.

 

[steverob]

I'll also add my thanks to @srw for all the work planning this - while the weather may have not co-operated to allow the original pie-cnic plan, it was still a fantastic day and really great fun. I've added a few more photos of the ToB intercept, the pub and the roundabout picnic to the following album: https://www.cyclechat.net/media/albums/allsorts.1161/

 

[srw]

Well, I think that went quite well. Five of us set out from Amersham, to be joined by one more at the bottom of the hill after Chequers. With the exception of the B4009, which was a bit lairy, the roads to Stanton St John were lovely and quiet, with the Phoenix Trail particularly delightful. There are very good crops of blackberries, sloes and damsons for anyone who wants to pick them. Buckinghamshire have even filled in the worst of the failed road on what I still think of as @GrumpyGregry's hill - but we did take it very easy, and a different group of riders had had to call out an ambulance, so I feared the worst. And the council have also sprayed some tar on top of the top-dressing, so the road up to Chequers was adequate if not smooth.

Thanks to a distinct lack of mechanicals (even if my advice that a folder would be suitable was a bit blasé - both at the top and the bottom of the gears some more variation would have been useful) we had time for a coffee in Thame, and hit the Tour of Britain intercept in perfect time. At 1pm, just about on the dot, the heavens opened for the first time - we'd had a minute or two of very light rain before - and @mjr and I rolled into the back garden of the Angel and Greyhound. A number of reprobates were already there, @rvw and @theclaud joined us a little later and in view of the weather forecast we ordered a pub lunch. Once the heaviest shower was over, we took @Fab Foodie's excellent advice and transferred to the Plain, losing @Mark Grant and @CharlieB to longer rides home.

Yes, it's a roundabout, but it's got enough grass (and wild cyclamen) for a picnic, and enough trees for a bit of shelter from the lightish shower we endured. @User provided the gin, @rvw the pies, and there is a Sainsbury's close enough to get tonic. The gradually diminishing peleton had the tourist walking tour of the High Street and Radcliffe Square in Oxford's best sunshine to Broad Street, where some people took the cultural diversion to the Norrington Room of Blackwell's and the rest of us secured a table in the Turf. It used to be a pub where you could guarantee a decent selection of independent brewery beer, often with heady Belgian-style ABV. It's now a tourist trap operated by Greene King with uninterested bar staff, but it's still a sweet little place to sit - and the couple next door to us were sitting, more interested in each other than their drinks.*

When @rvw and I left to come home so that she could have a drink the overnight crew were just settling in. No doubt there will be a further report in due course.

I feel a repeat coming along sometime next year, perhaps looking a bit further west for a picnic spot and a pub. I also feel a nighttime experiment at some stage. The first 30 miles from central London might be just too draggy and dull, but the 35 miles from Amersham would, I think, be an excellent ride now the roads have been improved.

Thanks to all who came.

*sudden thought - perhaps they were the undercover cops keeping an eye on us?

 

[Mark Grant]

Thanks @srw for a great ride and the others already mentioned for the company.
I only read the thread on Thursday and wasn't sure I would go until this morning. I quickly plotted a course to Amersham last night and another home from Oxford. I relied on RWGPS and didn't check the route at all.
Home to Amersham was fine, flat to Uxbridge and then seemingly all uphill to Amersham!
Amersham to Oxford was a nice route and all new roads to me.
We arrived at The ToB point just minutes before the first car came through anouncing the race situation at that time, we then had a succession of coreographed motorbikes stopping at 'our' corner and moving on as the next one arrived. It was very slick.
We rode into Oxford and stopped at lights outside a chip shop which had a large shark above its front. 'Nice shark I said'
'That's not the best one!' replied Stephen. I'm obviously easily pleased as I'm happy with an inferior shark. Just down the road we were shown the proper shark.

On to the pub where the others were already drinking just before the heavens opened, which meant a longer stay under shelter.
Just after 3 we made a move, the majority to the roundabout, Charlie and I heading home.
A little under 3 hours for me to ride home, it may have been quicker if I'd bothered to check the RWGPS route. It took me along a few miles of muddy bridleway where I managed to come off! No damage to me or the bike just a bit more work for the washing machine!
I stayed dry all the way home so my new Gore jacket has still not been tested.
104.5 miles for the day.

 

[robjh]

It was a lovely, and somewhat drinky, day. A couple of pictures

Many thanks to @srw for organising, and really good to see the rest you

 

[mjr]

Thanks all and especially @srw for disorganising it. I headed off from the plain to enjoy a tailwind instead and more new roads. I saw several more red kites, a biplane flypast and a windmill, all before crossing the M40. I had a vague notion from looking at the map of heading to Aylesbury but I had had enough of hills by Thame and caught the train back from there. Did you know Haddenham and Thame station is in neither place's Station Road? Glad I checked the map before riding down either.

Double quick time down Euston Road and completely uneventful until St Pancras where both me and a black cab pulling out did Emergency stops. I thought we were going to collide and from the cabbie's look of abject terror, so did he. In the end, we stopped a good couple of metres apart. Norfolk ride home uneventful as usual, give or take a rat trying to run under my wheel

 

[CharlieB]

A fabulous route from Amersham to Oxford, passing the PM's country seat and her church when she's in residence, much of which I wasn't familiar with. Not too many hills, the promised red kites were in abundance, and the ToB intercept point at Stanton St. John had a perfect viewpoint.
Unfortunately, due to domestic commitments, I had to leave the party early and trained it back from Oxford to Gerrards Cross to ride the 11½ uphill miles back to Chesham.
Thank you to @srw for organising and everyone else for the company. 54½ miles and 420m of ascent for the day.