Sunny, but a sharp reminder that autumn is here.

After basking in the sunshine under King Alfred's statue, six of us set off at a good pace through the vale. It soon became apparent that after Jez's recent training in France he was itching to push things along, so, by prior agreement, he stretched his legs off the front ... and then came back to see how we were doing.

When we got to cyclist friendly Lynwood's in Lechlade we were shocked to see how full it was and how cluttered the front was with bicycles. Fortunately, a small peleton was just leaving so we took over their table. Jez, wowed us again with an excellent sausage sandwich - no pictures but take my word for it.

The peleton paused to admire Old Father Thames - missed by the breakaway - and spread out as we climbed up to Coleshill. Regrouping on the way back, we shed Paul J at Goosey and said our goodbyes back in Wantage Market Place. Rumour has it that a separate breakaway retired to Alfie's