Ride report

It was a cold north head wind as we headed into Oxford. Fortunately the forecast said it would warm up later – it did but not as quickly as hoped. A few observant souls noticed on my arrival that my new bike was finally finished. Progress to coffee was helped by the wind, so maybe it was more of a northeast wind. The plan was to take a slightly circuitous route via Cote to Bampton Garden Plants for coffee. Just after Cote a lady warned us the road was flooded “…to about 4 inches “. A quick group discussion reckoned 4″ was alright, so we carried on. The first flood was in accordance with 4″. Shortly after, a 2nd short flood was somewhat borderline 4”. The 3rd flood sort of started with a 4″ fail, but then continued as far as the eye could see along a 1/4 mile straight stretch of road. A few bravely/rashly gave it a try, but soon stopped. Adrian gave it a more determined try, but stopped with the water over his hubs and bottom bracket – have you checked your bearings yet Adrian? Despite having been in over 12″ of water, Adrian deemed his new cycling shoes “more water proof” that his old ones. So we retraced our steps, some with slightly damp socks, some with soaking socks. The plan was to get to coffee via Aston and Bampton, but the fact we had to cycle past Aston Pottery to get there was too temping, so Aston it was for coffee. On arrival it was remembered that they sell dry socks at Aston, so Rosey, Helen and Phil P went shopping. Phil B took his socks to the hand (or sock) drier. A smaller group continued on to lunch in Lechlade, looping west before entering Lechlade. The general impression was that Lechlade seemed closer than remembered. After lunch we realised of course Lechlade wasn’t closer; the all afternoon headwind reminded us we’d had a tail wind before lunch. The return through the Vale of the White Horse saw the weather brighten and the sun appear.