It's still Easter holidays so Lynne was doing family stuff and Martina is in Malta. Andrea is on her way to the Lakes today for a short break. So, it was just 4 of us today, and we started at Riseley.
The Silchester Pop up cafe at the village hall is still only open on Fridays, but the good news is that the Cricket Pavilion reburb (after the fire), should be ready for them to move back there after May. It may be a few weeks before they open both days, but one to look out for for a Breeze Wednesday ride over the summer.
The route I would normally use to Silchester would go passed Daneshill School, but there is a road closure there STILL after several weeks. The road closure near Sherfield on Loddon now open, so a bit of pre planning today on Garmin. Once I had planned the route, I thought I would reverse it to ring the changes. That would confuse everyone. 😂
From Riseley hall car park, cries of disbelief as we went right into Park Lane, and not into Bull Lane. "We don't normally go this way!". Well today we did.
We skirted the edge of Wellington Country Park, passing Wellesley Water Meadow, then a short section on Odiham road to take a left turn at the roundabout, then soon right down hill on Laundry Lane. (I came up this way leading a Breeze ride last week, and the conditions were appalling. However last week we had got caught in a downpour and the lane was like a river running, so not quite that bad today. )
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| Laundry Lane at the top part was fine.... it got worse! But we just took out time and picked our way through. |
Doglegging over at the end, at the New Inn, we rode on Bar Lane, which eventually joins Bottle Lane. It wasn't long before we got our feet wet. Jeanette said she didn't fancy getting her feet wet, but short of riding along a busy main road, there wasn't really an option. Gill was off. 😂
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| Waiting for this runner to come through. Her feet were already soaked she said, so nothing to loose. |
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| Waiting for my turn, and for the water to settle down again. |
With soaking feet, we continued and turned left into Bottle Lane. (to the right is where the road closure is).
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| This sign on a wall along Bottle Lane. None of us had any idea of what Kate White did?!!! (maybe Gill's Mum might have known?) |
I looked at her website and she is a wedding dress seamstress, specialist in lace work for veils etc. So now we know.
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| A breather in Rotherwick, just short of the Tilney Hall Junction. |
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| Jeanette peeling of her jacket, and Louise her headband. It's 14 degrees! |
Right turn to head to Lyde Green, and my route was going to drop down Mill Lane to pass the stream, but decided to give that a miss today, since the road would have been another messy one. So we continued on the downhill called Rotherwick Lane, which was very nice!
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| Jeanette's Owl.😂😂😂 |
This lane which links to the footpath along the A33 has been closed for about 6 months, so it was great to able to link to Sherfield on Loddon once more. They had been laying cables I think along the grass verge of the A33, and as a result the footpath which had become tiny, with grass growing all over it, is now a reasonable width. Still not a great surface, but at least a bit wider. It was strange not stopping at the cafe at SOL, but since Silchester cafe is ONLY open Fridays, that was the plan.
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| A bit of skirting around Stratfield Saye are and then heading to Bramley |
To avoid the Bramley railway crossing, which ALWAYS has the barrier down, we rode on Olivers Lane, over the rail bridge to turn left into Minchens Lane. ROAD CLOSED. WOT!!!! not another one.
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| It turns out that John and Dave approached from the opposite end on their ride this morning and turned back.. only to be held up at the Station Barrier for ages. Told you! |
Leaving Bramley, no traffic behind us for ages, no doubt all held up at the level crossing. 😅😊. Continuing on Silchester Road we veared off right at Bramley Corner. I've only ever ridden this in the opposite direction. Looks so different. We passed the pretty pink thatch cottage on our left, and where the road name changes to Ash Lane, we did pull over to allow cars to pass
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| Ash Lane, allowing traffic to pass. |
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| Ash Lane. Dandelion time, with Rape fields behind. |
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| Today's team at Ash Lane, nr Silchester. |
A gentle climb up to Silchester Village were we arrived with the village hall on our right.
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| We sat indoors today since we all had wet feet. First time we have sat indoors here. Gill said she had never been. |
We all went savoury today, since it was noon. Sausage on a roll, sausage roll, cheese scone, and toasted cheese sourdough.
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| I have never photographed this church before, since we are normally whizzing passed on the downhill and want to keep going to get up to Silchester. |
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| Waiting and eventually Louise appears... on her own. |
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| Bye bye Jeanette who's front gear change was stuck solid. Cavalry call to "Darling " Martin. |
She was happy for us to leave her and she walked towards Mortimer direction to keep warm whilst Martin was on his way. In Mortimer, a left turn at the war memorial, and then soon right into the undulating Nightingale Lane, which today undulated in the opposite direction of course. Passed the "Barking Dog" house, and then all downhill, for a left turn onto Mortimer Lane. We ignored cutting through Wokefield Park on this occassion since two of the riders will do that on their Breeze ride next week. Instead we enjoyed an easy downhill to the junction of Goring Lane, followed by the next right into Goodboys Lane, and made our way towards Beech Hill...... a couple more floods to get through, but nothing too deep.
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| Primroses at Beech Hill Church |
Our final 3 miles was on Chequers Lane and up the inevitable climb on Welsh Lane, to join Bull Lane back into Riseley. Phew.
I enjoyed the ride, apart from the awful road conditions, and nice to see familiar lanes looking a bit more unfamiliar. 😁 It stayed dry, 16 degrees at the end, but with gusting winds at times, which we knew about. It was strange driving home alone, with my passenger missing. Louise was now meeting a friend for a walk. Isn't she weary?
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| Today's route went all over the place to avoid road closure. |