London to Oxford – Father and daughter and lots of Tea.
After our successful completion of the Thames Bridges ride in May. 32
miles on the ride and a total of 50 (flat) miles by the time we had
cycled to an operating railway station on the way out and cycled back to
Twickenham from the end in Molesey, my daughter (Cecilia – 11 years)
was desperate to do another ride.
I don’t know about the rest of you but I find it particularly irritating
to have to faff around by train to get to the start and back from the
finish of rides so the London - Cambridge and London – Southend rides
didn’t greatly appeal. What did suit was the 58 mile London-Oxford ride
as this started about a mile from our home and passed our front door.
However, I soon discovered that I couldn’t register Cecilia for this as
Bike Events would not accept registrations from under 14’s on the
grounds that the route “was too hilly” and because of the “busy roads on
the way in to Oxford.” Cecilia found both these reason very amusing as
much of her cycling takes place on far busier roads of West London and
because we make frequent trips a year to Italy where there are Real
Hills(TM). In the end only I registered and Cecilia just came along for
the ride.
We set off with the first group at 9am in bright sunlight and followed a
familiar route through Richmond, Twickenham, Isleworth and Heston.
Before too long we were clear of the M25, under leaden clouds which
threatened the forecasted rain, and at our first food stop at Iver. This
was nice, as it was a pub with a children’s license so no problem with
us both going in. Here I drank a cup of tea, filled my water bottles,
had a quick chat with a guy riding a Thorn Tandem and we headed off again.
A few gentle slopes later found us at our next tea stop at Burnham
Beeches. Here I had another cup of tea and we ate some of our food.
Twenty minute later we were off again through some very pretty
countryside and over the bridge into Cookham. There then followed a nice
climb up to Cookham Rise and a fast descent into Marlow. Here we found
our next food stop (Where I had another cup of tea) and we ate our lunch.
The next few miles were generally up and down through some very pretty
countryside and finally led to a horrible climb up to Christmas Common.
At this point let’s just say that dad (overweight, and who generally
rides around Central London where the worse “hill climb” he usually gets
to experience is the Middlesex side of Richmond Bridge) had to get off
and push, while “Queen of the Mountains” daughter twiddled her way to
the top and sat up and waited for me. We then rapidly descended what
must be the scarp slope of the Chilterns and stopped in the pub (no tea)
at the bottom. Once over the hills the skies had cleared and we were in
warm sunshine for the rest of the route. By then we were tired so we
stopped (for another cup of tea and a homemade cake) at Chalgrove School
and then rode the final weary ten miles into Oxford where we were by
Mum, who was on standby for broom wagon duties if required, as some as
the last finishers at 5pm. Two cups of tea later we loaded the bikes
onto the car and headed home.
A good time was had by both. Cecilia says “Can we go for a longer ride
next time?”
julesh