The weather worked in our favour all though March and on the day. Putting all the controls out on Saturday everything was riding as fast as I have ever seen it for this area. It may get like this mid summer but the grass in the upper flatter bridleways tends to grow long and starts to impede pedalling then. When I was checking out the area in January I was choosing frosty days as I know the mud can get sticky.

Starting from Hawksbury Upton allowed for an area with contrasting terrain with the steep Cotswold valleys towards Wooton providing some more challenging and technical riding for those into their hills. The rest of the area was on the slip slope of the edge and if you were going in the downhill direction the bridleways are nice and fast but if your going up hill into the prevailing wind it's hard work to keep up a good speed.

I initially checked the bridleways for a slightly bigger area with a 1:30 000 map but the ones on the outskirts were not the best so I eventually decided that even at 1:25000 the area was just about big enough to be fairly sure it would not be cleared in the 3 hours. I have no idea what the best route is but lots of people look to of tried lots of different variations.

The only real disappointment was totally out of my hands with the work going on on the Bridleway by number 25. It used to be a land rover style track that was ridable but challenging if wet just below the control. I believe all the stone was put in just in the last week. The top section had been rolled fairly flat when I put the control out but I gather the bottom half was still loose and something of a nightmare. According to the local I talked to when collecting the control, it's just to get better access in for pheasant shooting.

A big thanks to Paul for taking on the admin and organising the hall and cakes. Also a big thanks to everyone for turning up and making it all worth while.

The other two dates for the year are July the 6th and October the 26th. Exact areas are still TBD. Somewhere towards the Marlborough Downs if we can find a suitable hall and probably the area around Bristol airport.