Recipe for Disaster.

- Take one software development company and make the development team go outside.
- Add an idea for a country pub crawl and mix in some bicycles.
- Have some of the developers drink lots of alcohol when at the pubs.
- Watch them fall off their bikes as the day progresses.
Well that was the plan...

Earlier this week we had our development summer do. We normally do something like hire one of the company boats and go up/down stream visiting a couple of pubs during the day, or go bowling or go karting as they did last year. Remember I was in Sydney last year so missed the go karting. This year we went on a local country pub crawl, most of us were on bikes but those that didn't want to ride walked/drove a different route.

Being so energetic I wanted to go on the same off road route that Wiki and I did the last time I was cycling around Wallingford. Roger was up for it as well so we both got into work early and went out. Unfortunately my car could only take one bike and Roger's hire car wasn't exactly big either, so both of us drove to the start point and went from there.

We were quite lucky for the entire day as the weather was ideal. It was partially cloudy so ideal for cycling.

Roger and I managed to do most of the off road course from Wiki's map directions before we had to head back to Wallingford to meet up with the rest of the development team for the pub crawl. It wasn't quite as good as I remember it but still fun all the same.

Here's Roger taking some snaps of the green English countryside for his friends back in Australia.

Once I got back I had to organise the cyclers back at work. We had a split of about two thirds of the team cycling and one third walking. The route we had planned would visit four pubs and be all on minor roads. There were only a couple of hills and I figured that the less able cyclers could at worse walk up them.

Once we set off I felt like I was leading a gaggle of ducks just waiting to get run over by the cars. I was in charge of the cyclers for the day as Wiki was unfortunately down with a cold.

We had a good start and managed to get to the first pub without any problems. Here you can see Simon, Allen and Roger (L to R) going off road to take a slightly different route to the first pub. This time I stayed with the main group to keep an eye out on everyone. At the first pub we stopped for forty minutes and all had a pint, some even managed two pints!

On setting off to the second pub a few people went an alternative off road route to it. I went with the off road group as everyone else assured me that they could get to the second pub without any problems and that they had a map anyhow.

The off road route while not very challenging was good fun with Simon, Roger Allen and Andrew. We followed some single track bridle paths which went through plenty of stinging nettles, ouch!

At the second pub we met up with the walkers who had been on a short walk to another pub and back in the morning.

Phil bought in his automated chicken coup door opener. It basically has a light sensor and at dawn/dusk raises and lowers the door to the chicken house. Here we all are gathered around the gadget while Phil explains how it works. Apparently the chickens automatically go into the coup when it's dark. The device works very well and has saved Phil plenty of trouble in having to open and close the doors.

We had a rather sumptuous three course lunch at this second pub which was quite filling. After lunch we were meant to visit the last two pubs but we were all so full of food and beer that most people were happy to stay at the same place and just head home later on in the day.

Mohamed my boss was quite shocked by the bill as it came to £1030, so much so that he shouted out the amount much to our laughter. He was quite happy to pay it though as I'm sure it wasn't that expensive compared to other expenses claims.

On the way back Simon who probably had the most to drink during the day managed to come off his bike at the bottom of the steepest hill. I wasn't there at the time as Roger and I took an off road route back. He was probably coming down the hill much too fast for the 90 degree bend at the bottom. That combined with the amount he had to drink meant that he fell off quite badly and split his head open!

There was blood all over the place and the people with him called an ambulance. Two arrived, one from Reading and one from Oxford. In the end neither of them took him to hospital, they just patched him up and Mohamed called someone from work to take him to the Oxford hospital. He ended up with 25 stitches in his forehead and probably a ticking off for not wearing a cycling helmet. Simon should be back at work on Monday and I'll enjoy taking the piss out of him for falling off.

Here's a picture of just about everyone in our development team outside the manor house building where we work. I took this before we set off for the pubs in the morning.

Near the very end of the afternoon Mohamed managed to come off his bike as well but he only grazed his knee and I got a rear flat, probably while coming down some good hills on flint stones. Some of us went for more beers and a curry in the evening in Wallingford.

All in all a wonderful fun day out and with a 96% personnel return rate to work it was regarded a success too!