After several cancelled rides recently due to the winter weather, we were finally treated to a sunny Sunday with little wind, albeit a bit chilly but not unduly so. This resulted in a large group of cyclists at the Square, with sixteen opting for the steady ride – which was exactly twice as many as I’d advised (the excellent) Café au Chocolat to expect…
Today’s ride was planned to be a steady 24 miles to coffee, with only a few hills to deal with, the first being Woolridge – actually shown as “Woldridge” on the 1888 OS map (for those who are interested in these things). From there the clear conditions gave great views and we could see lots of flooding in the valley, which I was hoping to avoid. From there we proceeded through Hartpury and then via Blackwells End on up to Hethelpit Cross. These lanes were not too wet or mucky, which unfortunately wasn’t the case after Gadfield Elm, as we climbed the little ridge occupied by Dobshill Farm where the climb and descent were rather muddy – fortunately not particularly slippery and happily, no incidents! At the bottom we regrouped and allowed two horse riders to clop on by, then proceeded to Pendock and thence along a short section south on the B road to take us to the road past Eldersfield.
Passing Pigeon House Farm and its splendid dovecot (or pigeon house?) we took the meandering lane to Corse Lawn – this one often rather mucky but not too bad on this occasion albeit with the odd large (but avoidable) puddle. Somewhere around here I believe the eagle-eyed Captain spotted a red kite circling, and he spotted another one too later on, both of which I missed for some reason – must have been concentrating on leading!
Some consternation was aroused by the next choice of route as we took the next left off the Corse Lawn road and headed up Wad Lane with its gratuitous climb. Rejoining the main road by the garage we climbed towards Forthampton and regrouped on the lane known as Bishop’s Walk (as the village was once owned by the Church). From here we headed to the junction with the A438 where some riders took the direct route to the café in order to help prevent a long queue at the counter; we had also reduced our number slightly before this, with two opting to return home early. The remainder went via the climb to Bushley Green, then rejoined the main road to cross the Mythe bridge and arrive at the café just after 11. Thanks go to the Captain for looking after the tail end of the group to make sure no-one was lost, as a large group like this is difficult to keep together. 24 miles as expected to coffee.