Conventional wisdom with cycling is to head out into the wind and get blown home. Ignoring this convention, we used the stiff tail-wind to fly to Charlton Kings. A brief stop to remove excess clothing in Shurdington was at least further from King’s Square than the other group managed before their first stop.
Cleeve Hill was the only serious obstacle to progress until Dumbleton, where we had to cross the busy A46, which is always difficult. After that, we joined the familiar Bredon Hill circuit to a friendly welcome and excellent coffee at Kemerton Coffee House.
We paid for our swift progress on the way out, with a strong head-wind all the way home. A bit of coaching on working together paid dividends to the Old Spot, where another busy road crossing was encountered. Whether this will still be possible when the Motorway Junction is opened remains to be seen. Gloucestershire Highways appear to have little concern for cyclists away from the Cheltenham to Gloucester cycle path, which is odd, as the route through Boddington connects well with the cycle path, which we used past Dowty’s.
