Many riders were at the Square on a misty November morning that was rather chillier than expected. It was decided to combine the B and AA rides to Roses (for at least the first ten miles) and then see how people felt about tackling more hills. So a straightforward route via the Highnam cycle path (with the sneaky cut through into Maidenhall to avoid the hill) then along the Newent road to the Tibberton turn-off. Through the village then first right to Kent’s Green; views towards May Hill were rather murky but at least the rain was still holding off. All was well over the climb of Stallion Hill but as we regrouped at the junction in Clifford’s Mesne there was rather a lack of cyclists – it turned out that the Captain had suffered a puncture, followed shortly after by CE as well.
The Captain advised those who were at the head of affairs to continue, as we had already waited for over 15 minutes, in order to get the planned B ride route in. So this we did (one rider turned back also at Clifford’s Mesne due to needing to get home early) and six of us continued down the very rough descent to Aston Ingham (being met on the way down by a large SUV and horse trailer which almost filled the entire width of the lane) to arrive safely on the B road.
Turning right towards Kilcot then first left along Mill Lane we braved the maze of Gorsley, crossed the main Ross-Newent road and headed for Hay Wood.
The extremely steep but thankfully short climb up through the woods caused many to voice their displeasure but all managed without dismounting and were able to enjoy the next pleasant sections towards Four Oaks and Dymock Woods, ending up crossing the old railway bridge into the centre of Dymock itself. By this time it was about ten before eleven and spots of rain were falling; two members decided to take the quick route via the Dymock Mountains along the B4215 straight to coffee; the remainder took the small lane towards Broom’s Green to cross the M50 at Ryton, then on towards Ketford where the rain came on properly, but turned out to be short-lived. Then the steepest climb of the day was taken (with one cyclist briefly becoming a pedestrian) out of Ketford towards Poolhill, then right to Botloe’s Green to emerge on the main road near the garden centre, arriving at 11.22 to rejoin the others.