Andy rides out early...

Andy takes the racer out for an early morning ride.

And when I say 'out early' I mean early. I sent him an abort text and it woke him up earlier than he'd anticipated. He couldn't get back to sleep so he went out on the bike, leaving his house at around 0530hrs and heading for the Tatsfield Churchyard. He must have got there shortly after 0600hrs and then, on the return trip took this shot near the Surrey Hills totem pole on Clarks Lane (no more than a few yards from the Tatsfield Bus Stop).

There is, of course, a couple of morals to this story. One: think twice before texting somebody in the early hours as their phone might not be on silent. Two, put your phone on silent and don't leave it in your bedroom while you sleep. Remember: you can always check for messages in the morning.

To Botley Hill in thick fog...

There's no escaping it: if you drink red wine and eat a rich (ish) meal later than usual (in this case around 8.30pm) then you can expect to wake up in the middle of the morning and then not be able to get back to sleep again. This happened to me this morning. At around 3.30am I found myself awake and even considered going downstairs to mess around on the computer. Eventually, realising that I would eventually fall asleep and then have major difficulty getting up at 6am, I decided to abort the ride.

Yours truly in the fog at Botley Hill, 9.50am, Saturday 5th April 2014.

Once again it was a lovely day when I eventually surfaced around 8am so I decided that, after breakfast, I would head out alone to Botley Hill for one of those non-stop (ish) rides.

The weather was wonderful when I set off on the dot at 9am. I reached Botley Hill at 9.50am, took the two shots accompanying this post and then, at 9.55am, headed home. It took me 30 minutes to ride from Botley Hill to home. I got back at 10.25am.

Despite the lovely weather, as I progressed along the 269 the fog got thicker and thicker and by the time I reached Botley it was so thick I wished I'd put my lights on. On the return journey I took the risk of a puncture by riding along the off-road path until the fog disappeared and then I rejoined the road.

A good ride. Andy texted me to say he went out very early and was back home by 7am. Tomorrow we're planning a ride to Westerham and will be meeting on Warlingham Green at 7am. Phil won't be riding this weekend.

Next to the pub sign at Botley earlier today.