Day 391

Set of from home at about 6:30 am after loading the Merida in one car (For wifey to take to the bike shop to be mended and serviced) and the Dawes in the other car to take with me to Staines :-)

The M4 and M25 was the normal nightmare, I arrived in Staines at just gone 9 :-)

The training course ended at 5pm and I checked into the hotel, got changed re-assembled the Dawes and set of into un-charted metropolis....(I was so excited I forgot to turn the GPS on until I realised I didn't have a clue where I was going!)

My first impressions were not great! A little cycle track not wide enough on a road that was too busy! The first roundabout was also a but annoying as I headed up the wrong road :-(

Eventually I worked out where I was supposed to be going and headed down a cycle way off of the main roads - It almost felt like countryside!

Although I am sure the smog has affected the tree growth...

The cycle way passed the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede

I then cycled through Windsor Great Park...I really didn't expect to find such beautiful greenary in London!

I then caught the first sites of my target :-)

The cycleways were ok for the Dawes but would not have been any good for the Merida.

The plan was to cycle down NCR routes 4 and 52 this sent me past Dorney Lake(Joy had told me about this purpose built rowing lake)

From here I headed back towards Windsor - Alongside the rather noisey M4 and a river that I have never seen before - even though I have traveled the M4 dozens of times before.

I then headed towards the castle

I then started to realise that the ride time was a LOT longer than I expected and the GPS battery was starting to run low :-(

Fortunately I made it to the castle and on to a road that was signposted to Staines before the battery ran out!

I am sure it was only a week or two ago where I stated that I must always carry a spare battery!

When I started the ride it was beautiful warm sunshine with a very slight breeze, when I finished the ride it was starting to get cold and a hefty wind had risen.

I didn't enjoy the start or end of the ride but the ride through Windsor Great Park to Windsor and Eton was really nice, I must do it again tommorow - but next time I will take a spare battery!

The cycle computer had the ride as 33.44 miles in 2 hours 44 minutes with an average speed of 12.1 mph

The RunGPS plot can be found here...