C&M Easter Tour 2026: riding home

We planned to ride back over two days, stopping overnight at Reading.  The route loosely followed the Thames.  Monday was forecast to be warm but with very cold start, so the intrepid six set off from Lechlade wearing every bit of warm weather wear we had.  After a few miles a long steady climb into Faringdon had us reconsidering our attire.  The sun was out and it was already warming up, as were we.

Elevenses, or not as it turned out, was at Stanford in the Vale, closed for the bank holiday, so we carried on to Abingdon.   It was no major sacrifice since we had been eating fulsomely for the last three days in the hotel, where the food was excellent.   Also, the vale (as in Stanford-in-the-), seemed to keep us on flat roads all the way, with light winds and very smooth roads, so it felt almost effortless after toiling up the Cotswold hills.   We were surrounded by birdsong, notably plenty of skylarks up in the blue sky.

Abingdon

Abingdon was a nice place for an outdoor lunch, and then we continued down the Thames and through a few beautiful Oxfordshire villages, notably Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, to get to Wallingford, where our planned tea stop was also closed, so we improvised at Greggs and sat outside the church.

Brightwell-cum-Sotwell

Crowmarsh Gifford, just outside Abingdon

So far, so flat.  But after we crossed the river out of Wallingford we were confronted by the hills of Reading, gentle at first, then after stretch of lovely road through the open fields, a fairly fierce climb in the woods, poor timing as it was approaching the end of the ride.    

Still, the climb was worth it as we went to a lovely pub, the Black Horse in Checkendon, to celebrate our weekend.   Unfortunately that was closed too.   At least I was consistent in planning our stops.   I later learned that Keith, who had followed a similar route but ridden faster, stopped for a pint at the Black Horse on the way home.   Well done Keith, we are not envious at all.  Instead we were treated to a long lovely descent through sun-dappled woodland all the way into Reading, if you ignore the occasional bits of uphill.

The Wetherspoons in Reading was very much open and we spent some considerable time rehydrating before retiring to the Premier Inn for a good night's sleep.   The next day's ride home was a shorter flatter affair, and started along the Thames towpath for several miles to Sonning.   After elevenses at Wargrave in the new-ish cycle cafe, H'Artisan, Steve and Ann left us for their next activity trip.   We rode more familiar roads to Eton for lunch and then on to Shepperton before departing on our separate ways.  It was a very enjoyable few days riding to and from the tour, with a great bunch of cyclists, nicely bookending our time in Lechlade.

Leaving Reading

Sonning Lock