It all worked out nicely... Phil put on his team-player hat and dropped out, ensuring Richard got his lunch (we could have fitted him in on the table despite the initial guidance that it was only able to fit eight of us).

Anyhow, it was neither nippy nor too breezy and there were even moments of sunshine to enjoy. There were plenty of riders out to acknowledge and we set off on immediately quite roads, with some very nice surfaces too. Initially it was pretty flat, but then the hills came. We even got a waterfall to ride through in Chedworth, up the steep street in the village.

A lovely descent in Stroud followed, and we nipped through the town and headed out, finding the brewery before too long. Great lunch location - good beer (including a 0.5% IPA that went down very well) and the food was also excellent, albeit with no chips available due to a malfunction on the frier front.

The climb out of Chalford proved to be rather a challenge, but we all summited with varying degrees of style and heavy breathing. Kemble airport was spotted in the distance, with its airliner graveyard glistening in the sun.

A small breakaway group of 3 stopped for a lovely coffee and ice-cream break just short of the end of the ride, and had a nosey around the adjacent bike shop with Pete feeling compelled to spend.....