Eight gathered at the Square just before 8:30 and were setting off a minute later when another rider appeared in the nick of time. We set off via the Cross and Brunswick Road, past the cricket ground and off to Tuffley via Linden and Podsmead. A road closure sign on Grange Road caused brief consternation – would the closure be at the railway bridge and not negotiable? Fortunately it was well before that pinch point and could be bypassed easily on the pavement.The roads were especially quiet this morning – OK, it was early but England’s world cup tie the night before must surely have caused many to have a leisurely start to their Sunday. Good for us, as was the welcome shade on the ascent of Horsepools on the main road, holding up the National Express for a while. Turning off at Edge church, the next drag was conquered at a steady pace and then we began the fast descent to Whitehills, only to brake hard for the right turn to Ruscombe. Worth the detour on a lovely road that prolongs the height gained and presents marvellous views over the valley and across to Selsley.
Some questioned whether the dreaded climb to Selsley Common would be on the agenda, but I assured them no; however after descending through Cashes Green and Cainscross, and swinging left onto the foot of the climb at the Sainsbury’s roundabout many were disbelieving for a moment, until the leader signalled right and pulled onto the old railway path. This provided a flat, shady section for recovery until we reached Station Road at South Woodchester, where we turned onto the main road then took the first left up a fairly steep climb – I heard this ramp being denounced as horrible – but we turned off well before the top to take the lovely little road to Theescombe and Watledge.
Nearing Nailsworth, we stopped to take in some culture outside the former home of poet and writer WH Davies, with an inscription in stone on the wall of the cottage denoting the facts.
“What is this life if, full of care, there is no time to stop and stare?”
On we went to cross the road at the bottom of the Nailsworth W and then another gentle ramp into another well-shaded section taking us to the very rough section of the Devil’s Elbow and crossing the road to Minchinhampton we descended to Longfords Mill – a new road for most of the group. From there the B road was apparently closed somewhere, resulting in a lovely quiet ride with no other vehicles being seen until we reached Avening. Ascending gradually through the village we took the right turn by the old pub, now the Queen Matilda B&B, to climb the final testing drag up Star Lane and onto the flat section towards Tetbury.
Reaching the A433 there was another surprise in store. We turned right (after observing some questionable driving) and immediately left onto the lane to Long Newnton but then through a gate; an unexpected development for most. This took us onto the old railway line, nicely resurfaced not so long ago and taking us directly to coffee at the old goods shed, nice and early which was ideal as things hotted up considerably later!
Return was via Chavenage, Kingscote and Frocester Hill to Stonehouse and the well-used route via Haresfield towards the city, into a headwind that was doing very little cooling! Around 50 miles covered.
TB