Lovely ride out today with a couple of mates. We frequently meet at my house for coffee and a bacon sarnie or something before we set out, but as the washing machine repair man was due, and he'd be blocking the kitchen up, we decided to meet at another regular place, the Canoe Centre on Bedford Road.
After a quick discussion on how long we could be out for the day and how many miles we were up for, I suggested a route I'd ridden last month to Stoney Stratford and Buckingham. This would be about 50/60 miles over an undulating, but not hard route. As one of the chaps has not done a lot of miles recently, he was happy with the plan. T'other chap has had a bit of a health issue so it suited him fine as well.
The first part of the route is up the hill through Gt Houghton and on past Salcey Forest to Hanslope and Stoney Stratford. We rode down the High Street there that is quite narrow. To think I used to drive a truck down there many years ago! It's now been bypassed, the bypass has been bypassed, and now the A5(D) bypasses that! Progress, eh?!
Stoney Stratford is an old coaching stop in years gone by, and, so I was informed, is where the phrase 'A Cock and Bull story' came from. Apparently there were two inns where the coach & horse drivers stopped at and exchanged stories and tales about stuff, exaggerating as they went.
We then headed towards Buckingham via some lovely quiet lanes until we reached a narrow, busy A Road that we had to ride a mile along. Last time I did this route, it was a weekend and it was a lot quieter. Still, it had to be done! The right turn towards Leckhampstead was good to see as it got us back on to safer tarmac.
When we reached Buckingham, we needed a bite to eat and a coffee. As we sat in the town centre, the clouds got darker and darker overhead. Luckily though, after a few spots of rain, they blew in the direction we'd come from, not the way we were heading! Result..
After a half hour stop, we carried on through the really narrow town streets to get to our turn towards Stowe House, a National Trust property.
Nope, not the Arc de Triomphe , but not a bad front gate for a house.
The view back down the hill from whence we came.
This was probably the furthest point from home on the ride, and I guessed we'd hit the North Westerly headwind from here on. I wasn't wrong. Fortunately it wasn't too bad as most of the roads were sheltered by trees. Still a bit more effort was needed to push the pedals though. We could hear some racing going on at Silverstone Racetrack, but even though we rode into the place, we couldn't see anything. All the free vantage points are blocked off on this side of the track sadly.
The homeward stretch was via Stoke Bruerne, back to Salcey, were we stopped for coffee No. 2 and a chat for a short while. We were on 50 miles and getting near home time for the others, so we aimed towards one of the chaps houses where I topped up my water bottle and though it a good time to get a few more miles in. I was on about 60 when I left his, and thought 80 would be a good day, and get my Grande Fondo sorted on Strava.
By the time I got home, I was on 83 miles.
Quite happy with that for the day.
http://www.strava.com/activities/180586675
. Made it back to our glamping pod as it got dark. Will have to see if I can find a bike shop in the area, two gears won't cut in these parts. 
