Spring Bank Holiday

Last weekend was the Spring Bank Holiday so we went away cycling to Marlborough in Wiltshire. Saturday was fine and sunny so we had an excellent ride across Berkshire with a nice lunch in Kingsclere.

At one point we caught up with a man who was doing a charity ride on a solar-powered recumbent tricycle. In fact we caught up with his convoy as he had a lead car, a Volvo estate towing a large trailer, a following car and a motorbike with him. We didn't stop to ask him quite what environmental point he was making, we just overtook him and carried on our way.

Sunday morning was wet, not heavy rain but a determined drizzle. We decided to ignore the rain and rode out from Marlborough over the downs before turning south to Avebury, a village with a stone circle. Not as famous as Stonehenge, but the stones are accessible. In the afternoon the weather cleared up so we walked into Marlborough from the B&B.

On Monday we had planned a longer ride home, but there had been heavy winds overnight and it was raining heavily. From Marlborough we rode through the Savernake Forest. The road is paved, but heavily potholed.

Sue hit one pothole in the rain and jarred her wrists, bringing her to a brief halt. I managed to ride into another pothole puncturing both tyres. I called out to Sue who was just ahead of me. She came to a stop and we surveyed my tyres. Just then there was a crash and a tree fell into the road about 200 yards ahead of us. If we hadn't stopped we might have been under it.

Fixing the punctures took about 20 minutes and it rained heavily all the time. By the time we left the forest it was later than we had intended and our progress was slowed by the weather. As we made our way to Great Bedwyn Sue suggested that we could check out the train times. I had been having the same thoughts as I thought that two punctures and a brush with death before elevenses was a bit much.

As luck would have it we got to the station about five minutes before the next train and caught it to Theale near Reading. We got to Theale at about 12:15 and almost immediately came upon a nice pub. Hot soup and hot puddings revived us, and we had just under 20 miles to ride in the afternoon. Still it rained so by the time we got home we and our luggage were quite wet, but that was easily dealt with by hot showers and the washing machine. In all it was a good trip, and we didn't feel at all guilty about taking the train. At my age I'm not sure how many more character-building experiences I need.