As it happened, at 10.50am we had racked up a fair few miles on our way to Isfield and Graham's local knowledge took us into Fletching. A beautiful village with an equally beautiful Remembrance service.
The way out had taken us through undulating countryside bathed in cool sunshine, mists and stillness via Turners Hill, Sharpthorne and beyond. But at Fletching, the memorial statue came with steps perfectly positioned opposite where we sat on our gloves to avoid piles.
The locals were welcoming and we thanked them afterwards for allowing us to share a very special two minutes of silence. Rolling on afterwards we reached the excellent Cinders Cafe just as a swarm of some 30 cyclists were leaving. There will still 10 or so inside... and we were rapidly joined by Mr B Costello complete with family and no lycra to be seen. We were also joined by Malcolm and Brenda, also on their own venture.
The route back again saw Graham enlightening us with the sights and salients of small villages. Nick Curran who started with a lot of 'Come on Webb... up the tempo' and 'get a move on, old man' type comments, ironically found that the previous day's ride caught up with him and disappeared into a layby to eat energy bars somewhere around Selsfield Common.
The rest of us pootled back finding it hard to hold back the feeling of privilege at such a gorgeous morning turned out so well on all fronts. The company was perfect - Andy G - a rock as ever. Andy R - ditto. Wally - double ditto and Howard - treble ditto. The picture says it all.
70 miles with close to 4000ft of climbing but you'd be hard pressed to find 70 nicer miles this year.
Adrian