It was so good to see friends again last weekend in the Chilterns, after waiting so long!
Many thanks to Norman for dealing with the accommodation bookings and to the various ride leaders. Jim Swan’s knowledge of the area was very helpful and I was lucky to have two relatively new members turn up for the ride I did on Saturday - they both live locally and entertained us on Alan Tuckey’s planned ride, boasting about the many TV celebrities who live in the area and showing us a pub which was used in several “Midsummer Murders” productions. We joked about making sure we didn’t lose any member of the group, and frequently counted to make sure we were all still alive! One of the local lads even offered his garden, with a panoramic view of the countryside, for lunch and showed us his very impressive collection of vintage bicycles.
The various rides were recorded on an OS map centred on Parmoor, which the Tuckey’s had organised, an excellent way of recording the routes, which Rob Newton, ex PRO, started a few years ago.
We even went to an ex-pub which is now a cyclists’ café, where our bikes and other cyclists’ bikes were all lined up with handlebars over a horizontal bar, providing an excellent locking system. We enjoyed lunch in the sunshine, comparing notes with other cyclists on our very varied bikes.
The terrain is very undulating and the villages, with their façades faced with flint stone, are very pretty.
These events are a good opportunity to ride in new areas of the country, away from our local haunts. We were so lucky that the weather stayed dry for both days and Sunday’s sunshine emphasised the beautiful Autumn leaf colours.
Finally, many thanks to our Chairman for keeping the Executive Committee meeting down to one hour, or was that something to do with the dinner gong?!
Caroline Palfrey