An impressive turn out tonight.
The roster: Auntie Helen, Mrs OD, mrs_o, wowbagger, OD, Tomsk and myself.
Cameo appearance by Shadow (OD's cannonball-chewing friend from the Swan).
AH, mrs_o and myself had a lovely, mild ride out from Witham. So mild that mrs_o had to shed the nightvision jacket through overheating, but proceeded to want my armwarmers most of the the way to the pub
At the chequers, mrs OD, OD, Tomsk and wowbagger were already in residence. We arrived, got our drinks (tea, rose wine and, for myself, something from the extensive selection at the bar IIRC, there were 6 handpulls including Aussie IPA, Stonehenge Eye Opener, St Austell Tribute)
A few of those, a couple of large bowls of roast potatoes (provided by the house) and a pudding later we set off on the lengthy 2.5 miles to our second venue, The Swan at Little Totham. Here there were, as usual, a huge number of ales on gravity, including a number of locally brewed ones (Oscar Wilde, Totham Parva, Puck's Folly and a number of other crouch vale and Maldon/ Farmers ales amongst others --- at least 8 or 10 choices plus a few real ciders on tap to boot.).
All told, I did about 27 miles. The misty/foggy run back from the Swan was superb -- we parted into two groups near Braxted, with the Witham contingent heading back via Little Braxted, and wow and Tomsk heading off back to Southend and Dunmow respectively.
(Oh, and it's small potatoes next to wow's recent milestone on the Thorn, but this ride takes my Felt past 3000 miles).