M7 Cycling Club

M2 trains and boats – Sunday 14 October

Routemaster: Pete for all but the last 2 miles through Bradford on Avon
Total mileage: Doug = 36.83 miles, Pete = 31.77 miles
Average Speed: 10.42mph

Doug left Harbury at 8.35am and cycled to Pete’s house in Whitnash, and then on to Leamington Spa station arriving at 09.15 for the 9.38 train to Oxford. Pete had been told when he booked our tickets, to check with the station staff for instructions as to where to put our bikes on the train. This turned out to be a major undertaking, first finding a rail official on a Sunday morning, and then that official having to wade through a PC application to find out that there were two carriages with cycle storage space in the middle of the train.

When the train arrived, Pete went into the first carriage and Doug into the second. Having securely stored his bike, Doug discovered that he could not get through to Pete’s carraiage, and Pete had the proof that we had booked the bikes. Pete meanwhile was asked to show his bike reservation, and another cyclist in his carriage was taken to task for not having a reservation, but fortunately they waited until the next stop before throwing him off the train. Why is bike travel on trains so complex these days?

We were reunited at Oxford station and had time for coffee before starting the next leg of our rail journey to Didcot. This short journey was on a train without provision for bikes, even though we had booked them, so the bikes had to be placed blocking one of the passenger doors. At Didcot we had a few minutes to get to the opposite side platform, but fortunately there were lifts to the bridge over the railway. The train for Bristol departed on time, and there was proper storage space for our bikes.

We alighted at Bristol Temple Meads station, and at 12:00 slowly started our cycle ride by walking as it was a non cycling section of Sustrans Route 4. Within 1 minute we had taken a wrong turning, well the correct turning according to Pete’s Sustrans map, as we were faced with a junction with no right turn but we needed to turn right. Fortunately Pete’s used his Boy Scout and Army training to devise a short re-route to get us back on track. This was the only occasion we took a wrong turning or got lost over the 3 days. Why does it always happen when trying to escape from a city centre?

The route from Bristol to Bath was a delight mainly following a disused railway track. The weather was fine and there were many cyclists including young families enjoying a Sunday without being cooped up in a car. We resisted the obvious pub stop at Saltford after only 11 miles, and instead heading on to Bath. The Sustrans route through Bath was easy to follow, and soon we joined the Kennet & Avon canal. We cycled on for a couple of miles and at 13:40 stopped at a busy canal side hostelry, The George at Bathampton, for a most welcome pint of Butcombe Bitter.

Some 45 minutes later we resumed our canal side journey, and then tried a short hilly detour south, before rejoining our canal route to Avoncliff. Pete was in his element, not only had we cycled on traffic-free paths, we had out sprinted a steam train, passed many fine narrow boats and hippy style boating communes, crossed a very impressive aqueduct, and been mostly on the flat. What more could a cycling anorak ask for? Another beer, so at 15.25 we stopped at the Cross Guns at Avoncliff and ordered two excellent pints of Reverend Audrey bitter. We were by now somewhat peckish so we tucked into baguettes and chips; life just does not get better than this (how sad).

Refreshed, we tackled the final leg of the day’s journey to our B&B in Bradford on Avon. Doug had managed to book a house on the highest hill overlooking this fine town, and so the last stage of our day’s ride matched the first as we walked up the hill. We arrived at 16.45 at a fine B&B which was a self contained flat on the side of the owner's house. The temptation was to relax and enjoy a restful evening, but instead Doug took a somewhat reluctant Pete on a hilly stroll around the town. We ended up close to our B&B in The Castle which was recommended by our host as a good place to eat. The food was fine, the beer quaffable, but these two old chaps decided to retire early to their B&B and watch the second Rugby world cup semi-final and France’s exit, tee-hee.

A fine days cycling, not too taxing, good weather, excellent company, good beer and a very pleasant B&B.

M2 canals, hills and hills – Monday 15 October

Routemaster: Pete for the Canal and Ridgeway, Doug for the tricky connecting bits
Total mileage: 51.62 miles
Average Speed: 9.78 mph

After an excellent night’s sleep, and no snoring whatsoever, we arouse just before 8am and prepared for a long day in the saddle. We checked the weather forecast and were pleased to discover that the bad weather was now due a day later on Tuesday, with a dry forecast for today with the wind behind us from the south west. Following an excellent full English breakfast, we set off at 9.20 to enjoy the downhill ride through Bradford on Avon and back on to the canal towpath.

Being a Monday, the towpath was very quiet and we only passed a handful of cyclists and dog walkers. The morning was overcast but this did not spoil the enjoyment of cycling along Kennet & Avon to Devizes. Pete pointed out places of interest; pubs that he had stopped at; the boatyard where he hired his narrow boat; the impressive Caen Hill Locks. These locks consist of a full flight of 29 locks, with 16 locks in a straight line with large side pounds to conserve the water. Help I am showing signs of becoming a canal geek.

At Coate Bridge on the eastern edge of Devizes, we left the towpath and joined the Sustrans route 4. We did not follow this for long, but instead headed north at Coate, over the canal at Horton Chain Bridge, and then west to Alton Barnes. Here we stopped for sugar intake and water before tackling the near vertical road which dissects Knap Hill and Pewsey Downs. We surprisingly both made it to the top without walking, cruised back down to East Kennett, cycled a few hundred yards along the A4 (Roman Road), before turning north along Stone Avenue to the stone circle at Avebury. It was 12.15 and so we stopped for a coffee, and I do mean a coffee, at the Red Lion in Avebury before tackling The Ridgeway.

We headed east out of Avebury along the Green Street to the Ridgeway. This lane started gently, but after a few hundred yards it becomes heavily rutted, and managed to throw the author of his bike when his peddle got grounded. We then sensibly decided to walk the last couple of hundred yards until we reached the Ridgeway proper.

The surface on the Ridgeway varied from being rutted to a reasonably good cycling surface. We headed north towards Barbury Down, where we had planned to follow the track to Ogbourne St George. We were now getting hungry, and aware that the pub in Ogbourne closed on a Monday, we for opted a downhill detour in the direction of Chiseldon where our OS maps showed a number of blue tankards. The selection of this detour had nothing to do with the sight of the steep rutted path over Barbury Down, or the fierce looking climb the other side of Ogbourne according to our OS map.

The pub in Chiseldon was of course closed, but unperturbed we cycled the short distance to Badbury where we found that The Baker’s Arms was open. This turned out to be a friendly Arkell’s pub, and we ordered sandwiches and two pints of their weakest ale; well we had to cycle back up to the Ridgeway after lunch. The food was excellent and we had a pleasant hour relaxing in the pub, but being fine athletes we resisted the great temptation of a second pint.

The first half hour after lunch was probably the hardest cycling we did on the trip. Not only did we have to cross the M4 three times, by bridges I hasten add, but had to regain all the height we had so readily given up in search of food and water. We rejoined the Ridgeway just north of the M4 near Fox Hill where Sustrans route 44 begins. Our lunchtime legs had us walking up the short steep track to the Downs, but then the sun came out and we were soon cycling on a fine track under blue skies. This is what it is all about Kerry.

We stopped at Whitehorse Hill and looked for the horse in vain, but of course it was way below out sight from us. We now only had a few miles of day's ride to complete, and we were soon speeding down Blowingstone Hill away from the Ridgeway to The Blowing Stone Inn in Kingston Lisle, our B&B for the night. We arrived at 16.45, but as the pub did not open until 18:00 we had to ring the bell to get the landlord to let us in.

The pub was adequate for an overnight stop, nothing special, and the sausage and mash washed down by three pints was most welcome that evening. When planning the trip, we had difficultly finding any B&B accommodation in the area, and were uncertain how far we could cycle that day on off road terrain. With hindsight, we could managed another 10 or 15 miles which would have taken us to the other side of Wantage and more B&B options. That evening we watched the weather report which foreacast heavy rain the following morning, and so Pete devised a more direct, less hilly, route back to Oxford.

Another fine days cycling, excellent company, a good re-route decision to locate a fine lunchtime stop, and an early night for two old chaps.

M2 – what no hills – Monday 15 October

Routemaster: Pete spent Monday evening devising the flattest and shortest route possible
Total mileage: Doug = 32.87 miles, Pete = 27.81miles
Average Speed: Doug = 10.96 mph

Another good night's sleep, with again no snoring in our room, and at 08.00 we anxiously switched on the TV to check the weather forecast. Once we had recovered from the shock news that Ming Campbell had resigned, apparently he looked too old, we concentrated on the ongoing window of weather opportunity situation. We were relieved that there would definitely be no hurricanes, but heavy rain was due to arrive after midday.

We studied our maps during our full English breakfast, discussed all the permutations, and then Pete confirmed the executive decision to take the direct and flat route to Oxford. We settled our bill once we tracked down the Landlord; I thought it was only guests that did runners. At 09.45 we headed north and as we glanced back to the Ridgeway we could see the clouds of Mordor gathering which endorsed our new route decision.

Pete had devised and memorized the route, so I just tucked in behind him and enjoyed the flat and quiet lanes of the Vale of White Horse; we never did get to see the horse. I cannot tell you the exact route, but we went in a north easterly direction heading for Abingdon. The ride was pretty uneventful, and just south east of Abingdon we picked up the Hanson Way which goes from Didcot via Abingdon to Oxford. Our original plan for the day would have had us regaining the Ridgeway and travelling a futher 15 miles towards Goring, before heading down to Didcot to join the Hanson Way.

The Hanson Way to Oxford was very pleasant as it meandered occasionally alongside the Thames, and even the sun came out before we ended up in Oxford opposite the Heads of the River pub. Now our train tickets, and more importantly our bike reservations, were for 17.41 and it was only midday. We decided against spending 5 hours killing time in the pub, and cycled directly to Oxford station to see if we could get on an earlier train. We arrived at 12.15 and were informed that trains to Leamington Spa were every half an hour and the next one was due at 12:40.

When the train arrived we were not the only cyclists trying to get on. We let two young ladies get on first as they had reservations for this train, only for us to be told by a guard that there was now no more room for our bikes. We did not argue the point, and so waited for the next train which we had no trouble getting on. We arrived back at Leamington station at 13.50 and headed home for Whitnash and Harbury. Doug arrived home at 14.30, and just as he put his bike in the garage it started to rain heavily. What magnificent planning, we did not get wet once on the whole trip.

A fine few days cycling, excellent company, fascinating routes and scenery, the odd pint on the way, and I can’t wait for the next adventure in February.