If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? We are a little closer to knowing the answer now. Speech House Road was closed after high winds had brought a tree down – it might not have made a sound, but it made the news. Given that the Road is 7 km long and we only planned to use 700m of it (that’s off roading for you!). We should have been safe, but it was not to be. Our final climb to the café in Hopewell was nicely free of traffic, as had been the whole morning’s ride, but passing the tree involved a scramble through the undergrowth. I’m sure the steady riders, who were to go down that hill after coffee, would be grateful for our path clearing efforts.
Who were we? Three intrepid riders who had turned up for the President’s gravel ride. Out of town we headed west, taking any bridlepath that led us toward our goal of the Forest of Dean. On Whitehall Lane we avoided the infamous dog (though it was noted that he had not recently been sighted) by taking Kite’s Nest Lane to Bulley. Often boggy, it proved to have a beautiful new rolled gravel surface; better by far than Whitehall Lane itself.
A couple of further diversions took us to Littledean and a frontal assault on the eponymous hill. A road descent, and we were into the forest, not to touch tarmac again till we were in sight of the infamous oak.
The return took us through an incredibly busy cycle centre, almost out of parking spaces, and we were glad we could leave it behind to go off piste to Hawkwell and work our way across to Longhope. From here the route had been picked from the map, rather than local knowledge, and it showed. Stiff climbing, some hiking, and an unscheduled dismount indicated that this was our most technical secteur and we were all glad to emerge safely in Huntley. At the Red Lion crossroads we scattered for our various rides home.
