Monday again, and all 5 of the Monday gang free to ride. Nothing toooo challenging today but a few gentle gradients. They didn't keep us warm though. It was a cold N wind.
Route link screen shot at end.
We drove independently to Crazies Hill, and the first few miles were all downhill or flat, whizzing through Warren Row to cross the A4, and then on the Knowl Hill circuit to ride through Littlewick Green.
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| Nose blow stop at the Thatched Cottage in Littlewick Green Linda brightening up the scenery. |
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| Littlewick Green.... green. |
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| Leaving Littlewick Green, and some Hawthrorne Blosson which would have looked so much better against a blue sky! |
We crossed to Burchetts Green, and soon climbed Honey Hill (towards Dew Drop), which Daphne renamed "Loo Drop". 'Nuff said. 😂😂😂😂
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| Waiting for Daphne. as we rounded the bend on Honey Lane |
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| high point on Honey Lane before we soon drop down steeply to Henley Road to reach Hurley. |
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| Some colour in Hurley. |
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| Looking back in Hurley at the same spot. (I had to wait for this, since I lined up my shot and a CAR stopped at the phone box!") |
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| Peddling to catch up with the others, but first another photo of the sheep along the gravel track Hurley. The lambs are big now. |
They waited for me at the other end of the dark tunnel. Soon into Marlow over the river, and up the main street heading for the Ark Cafe at the church. Not too busy when we arrived, but then the "Wombles" arrived for a tea break and took over the place!
A climb facing us now, to get to Frieth, and Linda a bit worried today about her very sore hands on the climb. But it turned out to be fine. A quick stop to wait for the boys to catch up at Bovingdon Green, and give Linda's wrist a rest.
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| Here they come, and they didn't bother to stop, since by now the steep bit is done. |
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| Whilst 4 of us carried on straight on Freith Road John opted to do Lower Woodend and Parmoor. (both which undulate, and added about 2 miles). |
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| Along Frieth Road. I liked the trees with some evergreen and others deciduous. |
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| Now waiting for John to rendevous with us just beyond Freith X Roads at the Prince Albert Pub. (We were cold waiting, so not the best idea today) |
Now we got even colder heading down fast to Fingest to join the Hambleden Valley Road. I was struggling a bit to keep up Daphne's pace along here. We stopped to see the sheep shortly before Hambleden since I said no point rushing, since I needed to wait for John anyway.... who has the van key.
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| Lots of hedge layers been done along Hambleden Valley Road |
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| Big sturdy looking sheep. |
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| The boys caught us up here. |
We all set off together for our final push now to cross the weir at Hambleden and up the hill, and withing about 2 mins I realisied I had a puncture! Aggghhh. (was this why I was struggling to keep up?)
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| My knight in shining armour. |
I got the new tube ready, but it wouldn't stay up. We then tried it with John's pump, and it still wouldn't stay up. So we resorted to a second new tube. 😕 This all took time of course, and I was frozen. Once we got sorted, I added an extra layer of my rain jacket, and by the time we climbed Aston Lane, I finally felt a bit warmer.
It was 7 or 8 degrees today, but it felt much colder. Warmer weather coming by Wednesday, thank goodness. Nice to see you all and hope you enjoyed the route.
