Did anyone else think it felt almost chilly this morning? Have we adapted to living in a heat wave and a normal summer’s morning felt cold?
Anyway, the nine of us warmed up by taking the A40 to Pontshill (which was remarkably traffic free, especially after Huntley. We hardly saw a car at all). We parted company with two riders along the way, they felt the need for a shorter ride.
The Walford valley was very pretty, if a little parched, but the road surface really has deteriorated. The B road from Walford to Lydbrook is much better surfaced. The road was closed to traffic by a very neat lifting barrier controlled by a bike friendly operator, so we were let through and had great fun speeding along in relative safety.
The climbs through Lydbrook, Cannop, and Parkend were negotiated with varying degrees of comfort, but we all enjoyed the long descent to Whitecroft. Here we were forced to take a detour to avoid another road closure, and despite our chosen route being clearly signed as not suitable for traffic avoiding the road closure, it was snarled up with speeding cars.
By the time we got to Lydney Harbour we were definitely ready for coffee. It was pretty busy and the little Hips cafe was swarming with people, but they had an efficient system and we all got served in a reasonable time. We enjoyed big slabs of carrot and pistachio cake in the sunshine by the water.
One rider opted for the flat route home, leaving six of us to ‘enjoy’ chasing last year’s hill climb champion up to Yorkley. At Fancy Road two youngsters opted to turn left and embark on a bridge loop. We waved them off with a mixture of incredulity, admiration, and envy.
Home via Soudley, Littledean, Flaxley and Birdwood, the remaining four riders working nicely as a group. Until we hit the Over roundabout queues. Acting on intelligence received from the early returners we used the pavement cycle path on the south side of the A40 and skipped the traffic altogether.
Nice ride, and the weather ended up being perfect.
SP
60 miles, 3,445 ft, 15.9 mph.