Last Saturday, I wanted to go for my longest ride to date. Cycling to Windsor was not part of the plan. Our plan was to ride over to Justin’s brother, have a rest there and then ride back. There was only one flaw with our plan…

Our decision to ride over to High Wycombe was somewhat last minute. Because we set out early in the morning, we decided to call him on route. And found out he was at work. 🤦‍♀️

We didn’t want to turn back and head home, so we adjusted our plans and headed towards Windsor instead.

Because we had to change our route, the way we got to Windsor was not the best. Had we known from the start we were cycling to Windsor, we would have picked up a completely different route. The route we followed back home.

Sometimes you can’t avoid riding on busy roads, but we want to avoid them as much as possible. For starters, quieter roads are safer, but also far less noisy. It gets tiring to hear the cars zoom past. Once our desitantion changed and we headed West rather than North-West. We tried to find quiet country roads that would take us to Windsor. This seemed an impossible task as it seemed that we just ended up on busy main roads regardless of which way we went.

Eventually we got over the M25 (a motorway that goes around London) and after that, the ride got so much better. We finally found the quieter roads we were after and headed over to Datchet and from there it wasn’t too far to Windsor.

The day we rode to Windsor was the day of Prince Phillip’s funeral. We began to notice the arrangements for it as we neared Windsor.

There was a heavy police presence and press over the world. But they had not closed down any roads – probably because it was all contained within the grounds of Windsor – and we could get to the river without any problems.

We found a free bench right by the river and had our packed lunch. It reminded me of when I was a kid. My mum would always prepare sandwiches for longer journeys. And I tell you what – food has rarely tasted as amazing as it did when we stopped.

I wonder if every morsel of food on our cycle ride is going to taste as great?

Now, the bench we found was right outside a pub called The Boatman and once we had refuelled with food, we had a sneaky pint before getting back on the bikes. And I tell you another thing. Rarely has a pint tasted as sweet as that one! But since it’s not a good idea to drink and ride, we just had the one pint before starting on our journey home.

The route back was so much better since we but a bit more thought into it. From Windsor we headed back to Datchet but then chose a different road towards Runnymede, Staines and Egham.

It was so much better way to cycle than the route we chose cycling to Windsor. Or I should say stumbled upon on our way to Windsor. Just goes to show that a bit of planning is key. Having said that thought, and yes I know I’m contradicting myself here, some of the best routes I have found have been by just following my nose.

But following your nose and making it up is fine when we are still staying within the boundaries or at least close vicinity to London.

It’s a bit different when you are out on the road in areas completely unfamiliar to you.

We have been watching a lot of bikepacking videos on YouTube lately and learning from the masters of bikepacking inlcuding Ryan Duzer and Matthew Norway. That’s how we discovered one of our favourite bikepackers: Mira la Perra.

Many of the seasoned bikepackers use Wahoo for navigating the road, so that is something we need to look into. That and so many other things!

Our ride is so close now and we still have so much to do and get that sometimes it feels overwhelming. But we will get there – I am the eternal optimist and things always have a way of working out.

But we are on the lookout for sponsors who might help us with getting the equipment we need, So if you know someone who might be able to help us out, let us know.

We would be forever grateful.

But back to the route back home briefly. It was a great route with quiet roads and when it got busier, in most parts there was a cycle line so you didn’t have to ride on the road.  Below is the link to the ride on Strava, so you can check out the whole route if you fancy cycling to Windsor from London.

 

Keep an eye out next week for some more great cycle rides including one to Thames Barrier. Also, I am planning a collaborative post on how to protect your skin with my friend Michele who is so knowledgeable about the subject. So make sure you don’t miss any of the posts coming up, sign up for the newsletter which is also available in Finnish 😁.

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And finally, we took these photos and the video below with the GoPro my sister kindly gave us. We are thinking of following in the footsteps of the bikepacking pros and sharing videos of our ride on YouTube.

What do you think about YouTubing our journey? Let us know in the comments. 

Thank you for being here and reading the post. 

Until next time!

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