Bike Route: Whitley Wood to Sunbury-on-Thames 32mi 1100ft of climb
Accommodation: Lovely Annex (Airbnb); host Jeannette. King bed, washer, kitchen. A stylish, open plan and friendly space, five-minute walk to the River Thames and village. Large, modern, self-contained annex, behind Sunbury House; own entrance and space for parking.
Dinner: Veggies and rice in our annex
We were up early again, for our last day, planning to get to our annex in Sunbury-on-Thames between 13:00 and 14:00 so that we could walk to the bike store that was holding bike shipping boxes for us two miles away well before they closed at 17:00.
We found Anna in the kitchen when we went downstairs for breakfast, and got caught up in her life story, and left a few minutes later than anticipated, but still with plenty of time.
Remember that our host Jane was on her way to the Royal Ascot from Pewsey two days ago? Well, when we took a close look at our route for this day, we discovered we were going right through the middle of Ascot in the middle of the morning of the last, biggest day of the race. And there we were, surrounded by police and security and traffic and thousands of people dressed up in top hats and tails, fancy dresses and heels and fascinators, drinking champagne and riding in horse-drawn carriages and everything. It was festive and crazy and fun.
When we finally left Ascot proper behind, we had another five miles or so through Windsor Park, which was also lined with police and security and where carriages we queuing up and helicopters were flying low overhead. The farther away from Ascot we got, the sparser the crowds. The park was beautiful, wooded, with almost no traffic and only a few pedestrians and cyclists.
We finally rode through the last security gate and onto a busy road. We were running a little tight on time, but we were hungry and found a good place to stop at a Caribbean restaurant in Staines, a crowded city where I almost got hit by a car following Ken through a turning-red light (never do that).
When we arrived at our annex in Sunbury, our host was there to greet us and show us around. She asked what our plans were for the afternoon, we explained that we were walking to Walton-on-Thames to pick up bike boxes, and she offered to drive us. We accepted the ride, quickly showered and changed, and enjoyed an interesting conversation on the short ride to the nearby town. Jeannette pulled into a parking garage and said she would be having coffee in Starbucks, and we could meet her there in an hour for a ride back. Our bike boxes wouldn't fit in her car, but we settled on doing some shopping and dropping off a bag of groceries, then walking our boxes back.
On to Sainsbury's for food, Starbucks to drop off the bag with Jeannette, and Hoops bicycle shop for the boxes. As we were leaving the shop, the guy helping us suggested ordering an XL Uber instead of walking. What a great idea. We did it. The Uber came. We got a ride back to the annex.
Big chores done. Time to rest, eat dinner, catch our breath.
