Group Ride Saturday 11th May 2024
Group ride with Alec Gore.
Alec Gore leads a level two group ride from Winnall to Sutton Scotney, with a lunch stop at the
Bowlers Arms at Wash Common.
10 riders took part. Alec led the ride on his new Triumph Scrambler 400X which despite still
running in proved to be particularly sprightly and nimble, well suited to the roads chosen and
quicker in places than some bikes with three times the capacity!
Last year when we did this route thick fog came down near the River Thames across Oxfordshire
and we had to cut the ride short; this year‘s ride could not have been a greater contrast. The
weather was warm and sunny from the start and no storms materialised in the afternoon. The
countryside was lush and green, superb riding except for some Sunday traffic around Wantage.
We took the Candovers road up to Basingstoke, then the A33 to the M4 south of Reading, going west on the motorway to Reading Services for a coffee and comfort break. Leaving the motorway at Theale it was up to the Thames at Pangbourne and to Streatley and the A417 for 15 miles across the Berkshire Downs to Wantage and down to Great Shefford on the twisty A338, then east towards Newbury across the river Kennett floodplain. The Bowlers Arms is a very nice pub on a cricket ground. There was no game on, but we sat outside for lunch. The last section of the ride took us to Sutton Scotney services via the Bourne Valley and Whitchurch, where we went our separate ways.
Thanks to Neil Escott for being tail rider.
PS After the ride, Alec dropped in on David Forster in Sutton Scotney village for a cup of tea. Some will remember him when he was chairman of SAM some years ago. He and his wife are now in their 80s. Unfortunately, he can no longer ride but they are keeping well and wish to be remembered to those who knew them.
Read what they said about this ride!