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Geoff, Chris and Paul
Geoff, Chris and I set off from The Royal British Legion, Bushey at 10.00 am on Saturday, 29th August as planned, heading for the war memorial at St Giles, Oxford .
Although the ride was originally billed as a means of raising the profile of the branch, it serves equally well as a training ride for the legion’s ‘Pedal to Paris ’ – which we were all on, setting off the following Thursday.
The ride to Oxford took us down the back roads to Watford , then cut through Whippendell Road to Croxley Green – taking the back ways to Loadwater. Here it was that, taking a wrong turn almost landed us on the front drive of Mr & Mrs Wallingham-Thackeray’s (real name altered for privacy) drive…
Immediately correcting the error brought us back to the main road in a few moments, the route proved uneventful for several miles until, at the village store in Hyde Heath, we stopped for some light refreshment. Pressing on, the leafy lanes and sunny roads afforded us some cracking downhill stretches – making up for the several uphill stretches we came across on the way to Lacy Green.
We stopped, at about 12.30, for a pub lunch at The Whip and very nice (and reasonable) it was too. I had been advised that it ‘was on the top of a hill’, which indeed it was. Having refreshed the parts only cyclists need refreshing, we soon discovered that the next stretch included a cracking view of the Chiltern’s rolling scenery – and the almost certain fact that there were many more hills to come. This proved unfounded however – had we had a few moments to take in the scene properly, we could have seen that the way we were to take was mostly flat, as we passed well to the north of those rolling hills. But when a long, straightish downhill descent comes along, all I want to do is see if I can top my ‘max speed’.
Stopping again in Thame, where there was a demonstration (or even a competition) of Morris dancing, we took our time to cover the last few miles to our destination at 3.30. Picking our way through the pedestrian-ised main street in Oxford suggests a minor detour might prove worthwhile next year. And by then, they might have the road works completed.
Oxford train station was only a few yards away, but trains from Oxford do not go anywhere near Bushey. We therefore alighted at Slough , where a new block of flats were just being completed across the road from the Station. The banner advertising them had the slogan ‘If you lived here, you’d be home now’. One of us said, ‘Yes, but you’d be living in Slough , wouldn’t you?’ which put it into perspective. On the ride home, we stopped again at a friendly looking inn in Fulmer and reflected on what a great ride it had been.
Report by Paul Harding
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