On a beautiful morning four of us set out. As we climbed up Court Hill it was immediately obvious that flies were out in abundance - fortunately no wasps yet! On the road to Peasemore the ride leader had a very close encounter (1-2 metres away!) with a deer that shot into the road from the right. A large herd then chased alongside us for a hundred yards before we paused for a while fearing that more of them might decide to cross the road. At Yattendon Phil joined us, as pre-arranged. After Aldbourne, and before the steep descent of Streatley Hill, we passed a very large, strung out group of elderly cyclists. As we paused on the bridge at Goring for photographs this group passed us, but our routes then fortunately diverged. The lanes out of Goring afforded beautiful views of the Chilterns and Thames valley and we paused to photograph a spectacular field of mauve flowers. We could not identify the crop - maybe it's this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd1900p7571o

We arrived on time at the King William IV pub at Hailey which is in a fine position with plenty of tables at the front. Despite their website stating they have a lunch menu their food offerings are limited to a range of substantial and rather pricey main courses ands starters. The food was tasty and we enjoyed it and accompanying beers over a leisurely lunch. Fortunately the return route to Wallingford was largely downhill with a tailwind so we were soon at South Moreton where Phil left us to return home.

A routing error through Didcot led to a flawed choice of off-road track out of the town and towards Appleford. A low-lying tree at a kink in the path (Note - track best avoided in future) caught out Louis. His helmet hit the tree and pushed his glasses down resulting in a wound to the bridge of his nose. Fortunately he was able to stoically continue with the (modified) rest of the ride back to Wantage.