Ride report

It was probably the chilliest morning of the autumn so far, but warm in the sun. We set off with a clear blue sky. As the day went on, cloud gradually appearing, enough to keep the sky interesting, but not to block the sun. A route over Boars Hill through Marcham got us to Millets for coffee. Millets was very busy with pumkins and things spooky in the run up to halloween. A route through the Vale of White Horse and West Challow got us to lunch. The pub had wanted numbers in advance, we had 10, 5 cancelled (2 due to post flu/covid jab queasiness) but 3 late-comers (if there is space) asked to join lunch, so we had 8, which kept the landlord happy. After lunch, we stopped to answer the lunch time query of “What is the blue plaque across the road?” – it was where Sir John Betjeman lived for some years (he grew up a bit further south on the downs). After passing through the pretty village of Woolstone, we turned east for the long fairly straight run back to Oxford in the autumn sun.