At 8.30 nine riders left early for Chedworth for coffee at the Roman Villa. They were escorted up Nuthill by a rider on a Moulton. It must have been easy for him as he didn’t stop talking. The fairly recently resurfaced lane from Brimpsfield to the A419 was a delight to ride and keen eyed members noticed what looked like a “henge” on top of a hill. It is a farmer’s folly. a modern stone circle.
A climb to Sparrowthorn took us on to Colesbourne and the leafy lane to Withington. By kind permission of the leader the Captain took us on an exploration of an uphill lane of about two miles which brought us back on to the route about 500 metres from where we had left it, however curiosity was satisfied. The grand descent through Casey Compton took us to the Roman Villa for coffee.
The Captain for some time has been recommending the delights of the Coln valley so we took up his suggestion and followed the Coln as a stream down through Coln St Dennis, Col Rogers, Winson and Ablington. The stream becoming a small river and scenery lived up to the Captain’s enthusiasm for this route, thank you Ian. Having descended down the valley it was now a relatively flat ride to Barnsley and the Welsh Way to Perrots Brook, Daglingworth and up Longhill Road, aptly named. The group took the steep descent to cross the Frome at Edgworth and the ridiculously steep ascent out of the valley where several of the riders were forced to walk. The reward was that the route took us on to the familiar White Way and on to the Royal William for lunch and home. 61 miles and 4808 ft of climbing.