Well after months of very settled weather it was all change and as I rode in towards town the squall that hit me was very off-putting – sudden rain, with gusts of wind that almost had me off and certainly delayed progress – but I was heading west of course. Arriving barely on time at the Square, I could see no cyclists – but no, a hardy foursome were sheltering next to Iceland. The forecast had obviously put several off, and I wasn’t keen myself at this point. However the rain had passed and we decided to proceed and maybe change the route if need be to avoid higher ground.
Heading out of town to Haresfield to rendezvous with Jim conditions did indeed improve markedly and were actually quite pleasant – which turned out to be largely the story of the day,. Although the wind was a constant the repeated appearance and disappearance of the sun made us hot one minute and cold the next. But no matter, as we experienced no further rain. At Haresfield we found Jim being kept company by a friendly local who was concerned that he was lost, unwell or broken down. But no, just waiting for us and expecting it to be a lot less than 35 minutes for us to arrive from the start!
Taking the tried and tested route to Standish then Stonehouse and Stanley Downton, good progress was made and the wind was indeed coming from the west so not too bad. One rider however was struggling on the hills and so at Frocester it was decided not to tackle the fearsome climb and switch to plan B, also for safety’s sake; it was a shame to abandon the chance to explore Ozleworth and its bottom, but hopefully another day.
Approaching the climb to Elstub Lane from Lower Cam our struggling rider decided to call it a day and return home, so the remaining five continued and passed through Stinchcombe and along the Wooton road with no mishaps, protected quite well from the wind by trees and bushes on the right side of the road. Taking the turn down off the hill to pass by the strangely named Isle of Rhé, we continued through Upper Wick and Middle Wick, ignored Lower Wick and headed on towards Damery and the tiny wee road to Charlfield via Huntingford and its gratuitous climb, finding interesting buildings along the route and very little traffic. Actually the ride to coffee was notable for a general lack of traffic, which makes a change. Maybe people prefer a lie-in when it’s windy – birds of prey obviously do as we didn’t see any that I recall, having seen so many during the recent spells of settled weather.
We arrived at the café at 10:40 after 25 miles but it was good to be early since there was a big queue out of the door, and this is a venue that doesn’t take morning reservations. However this cleared after 10 minutes and we were well served at our large outdoor table (in the sun, mostly!).
After coffee no-one decided to go straight home so we were able to make up the mileage by returning to Damery, where we enjoyed the lovely section alongside the stream before crossing the M5 and then finding a Land Rover with flat tyres blocking our chosen route (which to be fair was only a little narrow cut through). Avoiding this blockage, we then continued south west to Stone, thence to Rockhampton and Hill, where we enjoyed the strong tailwind back up to Berkeley and Slimbridge before taking the canal path. Here we saw swans with 7 cygnets (awww), not on the path of course, but on the water. To Frampton, where all was a bustle and lots of people enjoying some sort of fête, with many immaculate classic cars of various vintages on display. However the pub was calling and we didn’t stop. One rider left us at Frampton and the remaining foursome took the longest 3 miles ever into the wind to Arlingham and the pub, where we established ourselves in the garden at the rear only to find the back door locked and having to walk around by the road to get in the pub! Some ales were duly sampled, one being the UB40 (commemorating 40 years of the current Uley Brewery) but unfortunately for one member the Peroni had just run out! Still, it was very nice sitting in the garden in the sun, having carried our drinks around by the road again, on top of our 50+miles already covered! A fine day out with some fabulous riding.
TB