The first Sunday of March gave us one of the coldest mornings of winter this year, after a freezing-over in the night. Luckily the morning also brought with it glorious sunshine, which continued throughout the day! After some deliberation between the ride leaders, I decided I would stick to my planned route rather than diverting straight down the A38 to Dursley. I knew I needed to be very aware of the risk of ice on the roads, but my feeling was to try it out and be extra cautious.
Four other brave riders accompanied me, and we set off out of the city heading South-East. Turning right just before Matson, we rode around Robinswood hill to wake us up with a little climb. From there we took the roads often travelled by the club to Stonehouse, through Brookthorpe, Haresfield and Standish. I was somewhat reassured to see a lot of liquid water along the sides of these country roads! Making a right turn before fully reaching Stonehouse, we meandered through little Australia and then the new housing estate that now sprawls over Great Oldbury.
My route had originally included an ascent of Frocester hill, but as we’d heard the week before of a landslide and road closure on said hill, I had altered my route with a detour to climb Selsley via Middleyard instead. As we approached the crossroads at Frocester however, there was no sign of any road closure. To my surprise, the consensus of the group was to climb Selsley and avoid Frocester, and not even attempt an exploratory mission up there to sus it out!
I was further comforted to see our way bathed in sunshine as we began the climb up to Selsley Common, which gave us at least 3 distinct steep sections to challenge us. Making our way steadily up, the views over the Stroud valley grew more spectacular. After crossing the last cattle grid, we started the long rolling hills through Stanley Wood, and saw a fair amount of snow either side of the road, which itself had thankfully been gritted. Originating from the airfield on our left, we were treated to a close sighting of a glider in mid-air, being towed by a small plane!
Continuing on the B4066, we descended through Uley taking extra care to not go too fast. This provided us with stunning views of the Uley valley in the sunshine. After that, a big dipper was thoroughly enjoyed before navigating some turns and roundabouts as we got further into the town of Dursley. We made it to the Bank café for some well-deserved elevenses, safe and sound.
After refreshments, it was time to try and warm up again. All five of us rode together to join the A38 heading North. A pleasant route took us through Upthorpe, Ashmead Green and Coaley. Whilst some of these roads were fairly muddy, the continuing sunshine lifted our spirits. Then two of our party continued straight along the A38 to get home, and the remaining three turned left onto Perry Way (B4071) towards Arlingham and our lunch stop. At Frampton on Severn, we were delighted to be joined by another rider in familiar club colours, one of many who had decided to play it safe and not take any risks with ice in the morning. The now party of four made good headway to the Red Lion, most fueled by the thought of a pint of beer or two, and this ride leader a Sunday roast! As expected, the Club Captain arrived shortly after we had settled into our reserved table inside the cosy pub.
61 miles with 2,700 feet of climbing
EB