As the Lashings, International Cricket Tourists were playing at Eversholt, we thought we'd ride out that way to have a look at them. (See http://www.lashings.co.uk/ for details).
It was good to see CP back in the saddle after crashing the tandem after the beer festival- Better still, we had the first appearance for some 2 years of Kieth.
Kieth (aka Keith), a regular rider until a couple of years ago, was the unfortunate victim of a typo on the club shirts and the name has stuck ever since (As far as we know, this had nothing to do with his recent absence.)
Six of us ( CP, Kieth, Tom, Brian, Richard B & Chris H) set off into a stiff south westerly breeze and, with impeccable timing, arrived at Eversholt just after stumps. Nevertheless it was an idyllic scene as hundreds of spectators milled around the cricket pitch and pub.
After picking our way through the crowd, we headed out through the deer park and on to Potsgrove where we had a very close encounter with a buzzard. Unlike his cousins in the west country, this one was not interested in attacking us but hovered extremely close as he battled the wind. As we rejoined the A4012 we had a narrow squeak with a Fiat Pander appearing from nowhere at about 80 mph- Can they really go that fast? The second sighting of a buzzard was less spectacular as it lay dead on the verge- apparently wiped out whilst taking carrion off the road. (Perhaps it was mauled by the Panda?)
A fast descent from Milton Bryan brought us back to Eversholt- We decided to avoid the Green Man which was still mobbed by cricket goers and pushed on to the Drovers at Steppingley, via Tingrith. Still more of an Indian restaurant than a pub, they serve a decent pint of Young's, even if it is over chilled, and this must be the only one of our regular stops where we get waiter service.
A siting of a hare in the corn field opposite prompted another discussion about Masquerade and the golden hare of Ampthill Park- Not sure any of us knows much about it really and certainly none of us has read it!
CP, Tom & Kieth set off home. The rest of us headed for the Old Sun where many well oiled cricket fans were spouting total gibberish- Somebody said this made up for some of our absent members, but I couldn't possibly comment.
Approx 22 miles at a (wind affected) average of 14.4 mph.
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