Today's Ride

@ mkone - very jealous of your rides last week, they look great. Weather was beautiful and I was absolutely itching to get out myself. Unfortunately work commitments + refurb work at home over the weekend put a stop to that!

Today is actually my first ride since Pat’s passing. Stopped and spent a few silent minutes listening to the woods and paying my respects.

Just echoing THM's sentiments, my first ride for a while as well.

Early morning ride in deepest Sussex.

Perhaps, collectively and individually, we could pay our respects on 01 June (posted by Jess, one of Pat's daughters):

Hello to friends of Patrick Reddix:

Our Family has rescheduled Pat's Celebration Of Life and Memorial Party to Saturday, June 1st., (6/01/2019) and it will be held at the Lake Lagunitas picnic area in Fairfax. The celebration will commence at twelve noon and go until 5 p.m. Jessica Reddix will give the eulogy for her dad around 3 p.m. Our family will, of course, welcome everyone with: barbecue burgers, barbecue meatless burgers, chicken, and refreshments of water, lemonade, beer, and wine. Please bring your pot luck side dishes and other drinks etc. that you'd like to share as well. Kindly spread the word to any of Pat's friends you can think of. It's going to be a memorable celebration and a time for reflection, stories, laughs, humor and kinship in remembering Pat Reddix and the love, smiles and friendship he brought to us All
Our family is very much Looking forward to seeing you!

Lots of love,

The Reddix Family

I think that's a great idea Al; either a collective ride / meet up, or any individual ride out on the 1st June would be a great way to celebrate Pat's life.

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In keeping with Pat's almost daily postings and narrative that he added to this thread.
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It hasn’t rained here for a while now, so the trails are really dry up on Crookham Common. This was taken yesterday morning, when it was still warming up after a hard frost .

This is the edge of the common where the landscape was enhanced in the early 1940’s to accommodate the former Greenham Common Air Base.
. by Philip Mock, on Flickr

Pip

Another hard frost first thing this morning, but it reached a balmy 18.7 deg C here by mid-afternoon .

Out on the 2000 Explosif again; this is down the other end of Greenham Common from yesterday’s picture, near Sandleford. Some of you may recognise that name as it is the real place that Richard Adams used in his novel Watership Down.

Greenham Common West 260219 by Philip Mock, on Flickr

Apologies for the poor quality pics this time – I left my camera at home and had to use my very old non-smart phone.

This is along the South side of the Common where it opens out to single track through Heather and Gorse – check out that sky!

Greenham Common South 260219 by Philip Mock, on Flickr

Pip

Good stuff Pip - do I spy the infamous 2*10 (11?) set-up?

I'm hoping the rain isn't too heavy tomorrow and Saturday so I can get out there (on Saturday)...

Yes, you are correct, it is the 2x11 set-up – and of all the riding enthusiasts that I know, you are probably the most informed regarding why it is on there…. and more importantly, what I think of it .

Now that I have used a 2x11 set-up for various rides, I still maintain that a certain story by Hans Christian Andersen sums it up .

Pip.

Still exploring the area around my temporary home. Lanes and byeways across towards Purton Stoke today. Marshland so very wet underfoot. Lovely day.

The weather has been positively Spring like here in West Berkshire. I think that THM had the better of the last two days yesterday, as there was a somewhat chilly Northerly breeze today that meant the long trousers were still needed – well for a skinny old poof like me they were!

A bit of a change from the natural terrain.

. by Philip Mock, on Flickr

. by Philip Mock, on Flickr

Once again this is Greenham Common, on the furthest South edge. The little pond you see here below is fed by a water drain that goes under the original security fence back when it was an active Air Base.

In the mid 80’s the S.A.S. used this drain to gain access.

The agreement between the U.S. and the U.K Governments was that 96 armed Nuclear Tomahawk Cruise Missiles would be deployed at Greenham. There were however a couple of interesting conditions. Firstly, a Battalion of British Soldiers would be permanently stationed at the Air Base to work ahem “alongside” the United States Air Force 501st Tactical Missile Wing. Secondly, at some point the British S.A.S. would carry out a mock assault on the base to test the security.

I knew some of the British soldiers there at the time, and they described what it was like the following day after the S.A.S. had broken in by crawling up the drainage outlet that feeds the pond in the picture. Apparently it was chaos, and very embarrassing for the U.S. Air Force. The S.A.S. had run havoc in there. They even got right up to the Silos, and fixed imitation Limpet Mines on the doors - oops!

The now empty Silos were also used for a scene in the last Star Wars film.


Greenham Pond 250319 by Philip Mock, on Flickr

Pip.