South Bucks Midweek Cycling Newsletter - September 2025
South Bucks Midweek Cycling Newsletter - September 2025
I hope you have enjoyed the sunny summer wherever you have been; I have seen posts from France, Spain, Ireland and Italy! My ambition is to do an end to end pannier tour in Portugal, but one-way rides on your own bike are logistically more difficult, so it's still at the thinking stage.
I have been asked by a few people if we are going to repeat the Salisbury holiday. We will be discussing that at the committee meeting on September 30th so I will be able to update you after that. Incidentally, if there are any issues that you wish to raise with the committee, suggestions or offers of help, please contact me. For events like the Salisbury Holiday to happen, we urgently need a treasurer to replace David Ullathorne who has moved and now rides with another club. Please consider volunteering for this; you don't have to be an accountant, you just need to be able operate an online bank account and use a spreadsheet and help is available while you get used to it. Please contact David Ullathorne or me to talk about what is involved. Most of the work involves reconciling payments with bookings for events a couple of times a year.
If this doesn't appear correctly, you can view it on our page of the Cycling UK website.
Feel free to share pictures of your exploits on our Facebook page or send them to me for our photo album.
Thinking of joining a ride for the first time? We have a helpful page on our website which should answer most of your questions, but if you want advice please get in contact.
If you spot any interesting articles, pub or cafe changes, or want to contribute your observations, please let me know.
Safe cycling,
Peter Robinson
Secretary, South Bucks Midweek Cycling
Pub and cafe news
Sadly, The Red Lion in Marsworth is still out of action. According to their website, it has "severe fire damage"! The kitchen is closed; drinks may be available but I would check before visiting.
It appears from their website that The White Swan in Whitchurch is open for lunch on Wednesdays. It seems to have gone a bit upmarket, but that is probably necessary, and they have chips and sandwiches on the menu. Has anyone tried it recently?
There are a couple of new cafes to mention that have opened during the summer.
Pitchcott Kitchen, at Pitchcott Hill Farm, Pitchcott, HP22 4HT has a cafe in converted stable blocks. There is accomodation on site and space for yoga/pilates type activities. A lot of money has been spent on a high quality conversion and as it is out in the countryside, they must be aiming to make it a destination. It was a little cool and windy when a group of us from Aylesbury visited so we sat inside, but there is a lot of outside seating and the view across the Vale of Aylesbury is fantastic. The food and drinks are very good; I would recommend it.
Opening hours are 10am-4pm, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hot food is served until 2pm
Also newly opened is Home Ground Cafe, The Recreation Ground, Station Rd, Long Marston, Tring HP23 4QS. It is behind the Victory Hall in a brand new building facing the Recreation Ground (not the cricket ground). It is closed on Mondays but open for 11's and lunch the rest of the week. It looks from this post from the caterer Dottie about Cake that they also have proper cycle parking. Thanks to Ray Bennett for the tip off.
It seems that the cafe at Hogshaw Farm (formerly The Green Dragon Eco Farm) has had a relaunch as Five Pigs Cafe with catering by the Five Elms at Weedon. It is open Tuesday to Sunday 09:00 to 16:00 in the entrance to the farm, so you don't need a farm ticket.
Six-person bike ride challenge
Six men from Hoddesdon, Herts rode 110 miles on a six person bike to raise money for the Brain Tumour Charity. The bike is based on motorcycle parts and sounds quite a handful to control!
The whole rig needed each rider to be working in complete synchronisation, otherwise Mr Waddington said, "someone will end up in a hedge somewhere!" and "going into corners you have to be upright to make it work, it's not easy". Paul Martin said the group of friends had "just got to hold on tight and go over the top of the roundabouts along the route"
You can read the BBC News article here.
Christmas is coming - save the Christmas Lunch date!
We have booked Chartridge Park Golf Club again for our Christmas Lunch, this year on Wednesday 10th December after the rides. The bar will open at 12:00 and lunch will be served at 13:00. All are welcome including partners, travelling to the venue by any means. There is plenty of car parking. The food and service has always been excellent. The menu is good with something for everyone and very good value at £29 for three courses. You can see the menu in the attachment below. A booking form will follow where you can make your choices, but please put the date in your calendar now.
Knog light recall
Thanks to Alan Lawson for this product recall notice:
This week, bicycle accessory brand Knog has issued a product recall on a number of its front bike lights, stating that a number of early batches "were manufactured with batteries that could potentially degrade over time, cause malfunction, and in some cases, pose a fire hazard."
The front lights affected are the Blinder 900, Blinder 1300, Blinder 80 StVZO, and the Blinder 120 StVZO.
Affected batches can be identified by cross-referencing the batch code on the underside of the light with the affected codes listed on the Knog website.
Order your South Bucks Midweek kit
If you want to buy South Bucks Midweek kit, contact David Ullathorne and when we meet the minimum five items requirement , we can place an order.
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 christmas_lunch_menu.pdf | 376.29 KB |
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