Jim ( not the Roofer - the other one) advertised this Sunday's long ride as morning at the Wayside Inn Staines, lunch at the Robin (a non existent pub) at Blackness (a non existent place) Tea at Iver Golf Club and distance 35 miles. Fail Fail Fail and Fail. During the course of the day we cycled off road and on road, quiet roads and busy roads, passed council estates and private estates, went under bridges and over bridges, crossed rivers, railways and motorways, went up hills and down hills and following a number of map checks performed some U turns.
The morning stop ended up being Wetherspoons in Staines. The lunch stop turned out to be (after a 29 mile ride) the Belvedere Arms at Virginia Waters (even this was a fail as we were told there would be an hour wait and that we would have to sit outside. Plan B was quickly cobbled together and we pushed on to Windsor (my exclusive patch) to end up in (wait for it) Wetherspoons. Can't really complain about this stop, as we were served by a barmaid even better than the one on the Wednesday ride. By the time we set off back, the evening had started to draw in and on top of that we lost the ride leader and Sandra, so we knocked the tea stop on the head and dispersed home. Total distance 47 miles.
Having said all this, the nine of us that followed Jim had a very enjoyable day out - thanks Jim.