Ride report

The climb from Watlington up to Christmas Common was just the start, with plenty more hills to come.  There were 15 for coffee and cakes at the “No Car Café” at Turville Heath barn – a first visit for the club, but certainly not the last. 30km and 500 metres of ascent later there were 9 for lunch in Crowell. Highlights along the way included the Hell-Fire Caves at West Wycombe and the steam train departing at Chinnor. An earlier “highlight” was an encounter with a British Cycling road race when we Cycling UK tourists were unceremoniously cleared out of the way by the motorbike escort. The “highlight” came a few kilometres later when we overtook the unfortunate racers who had piled into one another – as is their wont. All of which brought to mind Aesop’s fable number 226: The Tortoise and the Hare.