Saturday 5th March 2016.
I woke at 7 a.m., looked out of the window and saw a white lawn. Oh, dear! I was immediately worried that the roads would be dodgy for the ride I was scheduled to lead. I popped round to the local shop to get my newspaper and at the same time check the roads. They were a little frosty with a few patches of ice, but the main B3047 was free of ice. At ten to nine I set out to Winchester and as I rode I noticed the frost was disappearing. I was still uncertain about whether to change my route and told the other 5 riders (Julie, Caroline, Rob, John & Ken), that I might stick to the B road.
However as we approached the turning to Easton I decided to take the lanes after all. A good decision as the lanes were fine apart from a few icy puddles at the side of the road.
As there were only six of us we stopped for coffee at "Chez Gridironman". I had just enough cake and flapjack for them.
After coffee Rob left us to go to watch Southampton play football.
As we climbed from Bighton to Medstead the sun tried to break through a couple of times and it felt a lot warmer but the cold N wind persisted and we were glad to get into the shelter of the cafe at the Avenue GC.
Service of food was not as good as usual, being so erratic that John had finished his lunch before some of us got ours. A mistake with my order meant that I had to wait over half an hour longer than the others. It was however very good when I got it.
As we set off for our return journey there was a shower or two, some hail, but thankfully not very heavy. Still a lot of debris on the road in Ellisfield.
Near Northington we saw deer, one shot off along the edge of the field at a very great speed.
The sun lit up the road down the hill to Itchen Abbas like a silver snake. In the village I left the others to find their own way home. I popped into the village hall to see how the "Auction in a Day" was going. A couple of nice pieces of furniture were sold for reasonable prices. However I was keen to get home for a nice hot shower so I didn't stay long.
I was home before 4 having enjoyed a day much better than I had feared when I got up this morning.
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