26-Sep-2004 -- My first confluence point, I have had my GPS only a couple of weeks, and as we are heading into Winter I decided to go for it and ride to the closest confluence point. From my home in Oxford it was only 32km as the crow flies, so at about 10.30am I left the house on my wife's bike.
Headed out to of Oxford towards Kidlington, Hampton Poyle and
Western-On-the-Green along the National Bike path 51 to Bicester. This route was very interesting and car free. From Bicester up the A4421 to Buckingham was a different storey with the traffic being very busy all the way to Finmore.
As I was getting closer I found an old marker about 500 metres from the CP marking the distance to Buckingham, Banbury and London, but this was on the south side of the river, so I had to ride into Buckingham to cross the River Great Ouse and get on the A422.
Like others visitors to this point, when I arrived at the field it had a
lot of sheep in it, and like the others, they all followed me (like sheep) to all the way to the point. As this is my first point I am not 100% use to my GPS I had trouble getting the NSEW shots, but I am sure they will do. I took my photo's and returned to the bike and the road.
Rode the same route home, apart from a stop off for a beer on the way home at a pub on the A4421 before Bicester. My statistics for this trip are a little embarrassing but here they are
Total Distance Travelled 82.2km
Moving Time 5.09hrs
Average Speed 15.9kph
Top Speed 40.0kph