The weather of late has remained fairly warm and quite muggy, often threatening rain but not delivering. Today was no different really, although the eleven riders who set off from the Square at 8:30 did so with some light drizzle falling, but by the time we broke free of the city limits it had abated, and didn’t return. It did remain rather cloudy but with a welcome lack of wind. Our first climb up into the Cotswolds was the tried and tested (tired and detested?) Nut Hill-Fiddler’s Elbow-Sanatorium Road series, comprising the major climb of the day really. Regrouping at Birdlip we took in the dip at Brimpsfield which always seems to turn into a bit of a drag before the village – definitely an unclassified climb. Then the more extreme dip towards Cowley, to pass under the A417 and climb towards High Cross – but this time turning right on the narrow lane to Elkstone and passing down into the village proper as most of us have never actually seen it. Another short unclassified climb brought us out of the village, into the Elkstone dip and another unclassified climb past the Knead café/bakery.
The cunning plan here was to take the path next to the A417 as it’s a very good surface and nice and wide, but the A417 was eerily quiet – it was closed for the Missing Link work to continue. Some riders here took the main carriageway but all rejoined at the old road to continue past the services and under the main road to descend to, and through, the pretty village of Duntisbourne Abbots. Despite the drought, the ford there still had quite a lot of water in it so the raised footpath above this was used and then we climbed up to rejoin the road to the next of the Duntisbournes – another decent little effort not classified by the organiser.
Proceeding east, we noticed three hares running across a distant field and our exclamations made them stop and turn to look at us, pricklng up their long ears. Fantastic!
At Middle Duntisbourne we turned left to descend the tight bends to the ford – lots of off road motorbikes were coming the other way, and using the ford not the bridge so not to be outdone some of us also used the ford – fortunately not slippery. Then there was the third climb of the day up onto the Welsh Way, a lovely smooth quiet lane where one rider suffered two incidents – first hitting his head on a branch (fortunately no damage other than a shock and maybe a scuff on the helmet). He did emit quite a squeal, but not as loud or as prolonged as those from his next incident only a few minutes later caused by a hornet or something of that kind stinging him repeatedly in the stomach! This left us wondering what his third mishap might be, but apart from a close encounter with a pigeon he got through the rest of the day unscathed. Somewhere along this part of the ride we also had a chance to observe a buzzard just a few feet above us under the trees – they do look huge when that close.
After the Welsh Way we went down to Perrot’s Brook and back up onto the White Way for the descent into Cirencester and to coffee at Fora, arriving at 10:47.
At the café we were joined by the Social Secretary and after coffee (and tea) eight of us continued rather than going straight back – straight being the operative word for the President who was keen to enjoy the delights of the empty A417 back towards Gloucester. Our route took in lovely lanes and villages via Ewen, Poole Keynes and Oaksey, and from Oaksey we were overtaken at regular intervals by all sorts of old Austin Minis, standard, customised, pickup style, van, estate, even cabriolet. At Cherington we were forced to dismount and walk through where a fête of some kind was taking place (although it wasn’t very busy), giving us a chance to observe various curiosities, including some cute alpacas. Next to these was a stone construction with a carved inscription which at first I took to say “Let him who is atheist, come” but which on closer inspection turned out to be “Let him who is a thirst, come” as it must have been a now defunct drinking spout and not an invitation to come and be converted.
This mystery solved we continued via Hampton Fields, Minchinhampton and Box, where we stopped to examine the local scenes painted on wall tiles in the bus stop outside the halfway café. After Amberley, and a few more unclassified climbs, we emerged beside the Bear at Rodborough to descend to the pub at Kingscourt. “Don’t miss the turning!” was the warning from the Captain, but a couple of riders still overshot due to the speed of the descent. But all made it safely to the pub, and home later, most covering around 60 miles.
TB