A scenic, if somewhat indirect, tour to Marlborough.

Six of us set off on the A417 but in the wrong direction (East) to meet Richard, who had cycled from the Hendreds, at the Lains Barn junction.

Most of us were ready for the first climb of the day, from Sparsholt up to Sparsholt Firs. We were definitely into the swing of things on our second climb out of Lambourn towards Baydon.

We took the descent into Aldbourne carefully where we paused to admire the Doctor Who street furniture before rolling into Ramsbury. After a slight detour from the planned route we took Spring Hill in our stride. Some of us almost nipped up it.

Our luck ran out in the Savernake Forest where Jez punctured. Despite little recent practice, he quickly replaced the inner tube while the rest of us admired the woodland. Our progress was slow on the forest gravel path but we made up for it on our speedy approach to Marlborough.

After a satisfying lunch stop at Mercer's in Hilliers Yard we made our way back rather more directly, if still somewhat undulating. The only incident of note was another puncture, this time for Andy, just before we turned onto the B4494. Another woodland setting, another pretty swift repair and we were off again to enjoy Chain Hill the easy way!