Thames Valley Tour
The Thames Valley Tour was a 100 mile trip starting in Hampshire and travelling through Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
Whilst 11 TRs were entered, only 9 turned up at the start at Blackbushe Airport and not all were
from Windsor Forrest. However, other Windsor members did come in other makes of car so the
group was well represented.
The first short section was designed to get crews used to the navigation and hence was quite
straight forward. however it did include a ford swollen by the overnight rain which many crews
chose to avoid, but Barry tackled it in the TR4A as did the driver of the Lotus Elise (lucky it didn’t
float away). This section also saw the first of 12 clues scattered around the route, that crews needed
to collect in order to complete a raffle ticket for a draw at the finish.
After a brief coffee stop the route took crews up to Cookham for the first of many views over the
valley. Then a crossing of Marlow bridge led to a longish section of narrow lanes and spectacular
views before arriving at Badgemore golf club for an excellent lunch.
The final section took crews across Pangbourne toll bridge and through the outskirts of Reading
before arriving back at Blackbushe to hand in their completed raffle tickets. Then it was along to the
Ely for the raffle draw which was won by a Mini crew.
