Palace to Palace - 2019
As with all good adventures they are never planned, usually start with a drink (well mine do) and leave you with lifelong memories. So when Brother-in-law David suggested that Kath and I joined him for the Palace to Palace ride in aid of The Princes Trust then we happily agreed, expecting an enjoyable Sunday morning ride in a different area to where we usually ride.
Roll on a couple of months, we are standing in St James park at 6:30 am on a Sunday morning dripping wet, soaked through and the ride had not even started!
The forecast was bleak for the day, more heavy rain and the wind speed increasingly pushing us back to the start. Not to be defeated we headed off from the start on The Mall and rode to Buckingham Palace took a left up Birdcage Walk to Westminster and then along the Thames. Visibility was poor and the road conditions were very wet, oncoming traffic needed to come into our lane to avoid huge puddles and we needed to use their side to avoid our own.
After an hour the rain stopped but the puddles and floods continued all the way. Going through Richmond Park was enjoyable with the deer rambling about either side of the road, we almost forgot how wet we were. The miles passed by and most cars were nice and would wait for you to ride through the puddles before they drove in the middle of the road to avoid the deepest parts, it was almost enjoyable.
As we got closer to the finish line the sun began to shine, we headed into Windsor up the famous Long Walk, only to turn left just before the castle entrance to ride down the High Street, along the riverfront and to the Royal Windsor Racecourse for the finish. Surprisingly we were told that we were within the first 20 to finish the course and my wife was the first female rider to cross the line.
Although the conditions made it one of the most challenging rides we have ridden for a long time the ride itself was certainly a great adventure and we will certainly consider it again. The Princes Trust (https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/) is a worthy charity and the planning for the event was amazing, they really appreciated those taking part.
