Undaunted by rain and another dire prediction of more to follow throughout the day, 3 riders followed me out of Uxbridge to the Chilterns.
My all weather cyclists were Alan Potter, Bob Morgan & John Owen.
We took the route to Denham via the muddy golf course , skirting around Harefield (where we picked up a bit more mud on some off road stretches) to Mill End where we stopped for Coffee at Beaumont's cafe at the William Penn leisure centre.
After coffee we continued on through Heronsgate, Little Chalfont and Amersham.
Lunch was at The Plough Public house a traditional, family owned, old-fashioned pub with good food.
It was still raining when we left the pub and Alan had an opportunity to demonstrate his new gizmo for fixing punctures. I was very impressed as it inflated his compromised rear tyre filling it with gas and some gunk to fix the hole.
The rain continued to fall as we set out down little Hundridge lane to climb out of Herbert's hole to Pednor.
I took a picture of the attractive brick dovecote just as all the doves became rather camera shy.
We descended into Chesham then onto Flaunden, Sarratt Croxley Green to take our final stop at the 'spoons in Ricky where Alan & Bob decided they were wet enough to head home.
On the positive side all the rain washed off the mud we had picked up in the morning.
John and I had some hot drinks and hung up wet clothes and gloves by the fire to dry out.
The second ride I have led this year both blighted by rain - it must be karma.