After a heavy shower and the prospect of more to come I was surprised to see Libby waiting in the market square and a few minutes later Louis arrived. Actually the conditions were not too bad throughout with only light rain, but quite cold and some slushy snow collected at the sides of the roads. We decided to shorten the route to exclude the climb up to Sparsholt Firs as the evening gloom approached, but just to spite us the skies brightened as we descended into Wantage - though not enough to encourage us to brave the chill of KAH beer garden. Thank you to both for a very pleasant ride - good to get out.