Thames Valley Tour 2022
After a lot of worry about entries for the Thames Valley Tour it finally ended up with a reasonable entry of 22, including eleven TRs, the best TR entry in the, admittedly short, history of the event. Sadly only nine made it to the start, but that was still pretty good.
After a bacon roll and a cuppa, cars left the start and wandered through the lanes of West Berkshire via a well known ford which, surprisingly given the heat, still had water in it, to reach a break for refreshment at a garden centre south of Newbury.
Following a refreshing break cars tackled the main challenge of the event, the roads over the North Downs, some of which were steep and twisty whilst others had long fast straights that tempted drivers to put their foot down, and with a couple of impossible hairpins thrown into the mix there was more than enough to keep crews busy. The lunch stop at Popham Airfield proved to be very welcome with a filling ploughman’s meal and a drink provided by the helpful staff there. Then only a short section took crews back to the start venue where people enjoyed a well earned drink while they compared stories of their day’s adventure.
