On a very blustery day after two major storms in recent days, we were lucky, I’d say, to have a reasonable day, considering the rain of the preceding week, with today having some sunshine and little prospect of precipitation. Only seven riders were keen to take the option to go east and have to return against the wind, but at a steady pace it would be OK, surely? A classic route to Cirencester was planned, starting with the usual Matson – Upton – Nut Hill route and on to the A46 where the newly appointed Captain bid us farewell and turned for home.
One rider was new to the group and seemed to be keeping up OK so we proceeded at a reasonable rate towards Cranham, aided by the wind somewhat and on through Buckholt Woods to Birdlip. Here we took the (very) old road towards Brimpsfield where an oncoming tractor descending the major dip in the road was looming – fortunately for most of us we encountered it just where the road was wider, but the Social Secretary, bringing up the rear, was forced to stop. At the top of the rise, I was concerned that he was now a tractor bonnet ornament but looking back I could see him coming in the distance.
Zooming into Brimpsfield, I stopped at the junction to point the way (left!) and counted four riders through, so waited for the delayed rider. He didn’t appear; and thinking that he hadn’t been that far behind, figured that I must have miscounted, so continued on towards Elkstone. Catching the others after much shouting I could see that the tail-ender was indeed missing; phoning him it transpired that he’d gone straight on as no-one was marking the junction (oops) and had descended too far in the Caudle Green direction to recover, and would meet us at Cirencester. Meanwhile another rider had gone back to look for him, so we had to wait for his return before continuing. It was all going so well! I can’t remember the last time I lost someone on a ride, although that in itself might just be a symptom of memory failure due to old age…
Nevertheless, we were able to continue without wondering what had happened and took the lovely and straightforward ridge route from High Cross to Woodmancote; few motor vehicles were encountered on this stretch but the road was rather strewn with debris torn from the trees in yesterday’s storm Boelo. Beyond Woodmancote, the right turn to Bagendon was taken (having missed this turning on a previous excursion I was careful to look out for it), and the narrow and slightly dilapidated lane gradually descending to the village was gleefully taken. Rather blustery along this section, but no major panic moments, and lovely views of the trees turning gold, orange and red down in the valley.
Stopping in the village for a photo to remember the day, we chanced upon a couple walking and the young lady gladly took our photo, so all were in the shot (OK, but not the rider I’d lost – I know what you were thinking!).
As we had lost some time, the planned climb beyond Perrot’s Brook was dropped from the itinerary and we took the road behind the old Bear Inn to drop onto the A435 and head straight for Stratton. This section was surprisingly very free of motor traffic and had a nice surface and we were fairly zooming along, which was fun, not so much on the old road at Stratton which is rather rough, but soon enough we were navigating the various cobbles, no-entries and one-way streets of Cirencester to make our way to Hugh’s café, where once again we were welcomed and took our bikes through the building to park them in the garden – pleased to see that the big pile of brambles had now been removed and there was plenty of room. Soon after we were joined by our lost rider and another who’d come by a similar route, alone, and a very convivial elevenses was enjoyed.
On a side note, our lost rider (the former Captain) was happy to have been able to bag another two churches for his photo collection of Gloucestershire churches, and could report that the path beside the long ford at Duntisbourne Abbots has now been repaired.
Around 22 miles to coffee; return via Stratton, Daglingworth, Daneway, Whiteway etc, a route chosen to avoid the worst of the wind and which was reasonably successful, I’d say.
An enjoyable if windswept morning out!
Around 46 miles all told.
TB