August BH Monday, and sunshine with 28 degrees forecast. Reading festival is pouring out today, which can make Sonning and Henley bridge queues busier than normal, as drivers avoid Reading. So I suggested we park at Crazies Hill, and ride down to Henley and beyond.
John had recently been to The Maker Space Cafe, Nuffield, and that was our destination. I was aware of the cafe, but wasn't happy about the approach on the busy main road, since it also drops down a hill... which we need to climb back up. But when John did the recce he decided it was fine, since it is positioned just before the hill drops away.
Garmin route (screenshot at end)
A very easy first few miles of course as we dropped down Aston Lane to Henley.
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| Passing Remenham Church on our way into Henley |
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| Waiting for the green light in Henley |
A wiggle through Henley to the Harpsden Valley road next, and up Perseverance Hill to Binfield Heath.
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| photo by John part way up Perseverance Hill. |
At the top, and not far from Bottle and Glass pub, a group of cyclists in the yellow colours of WCClub riders coming towards us. They were doing a Henley loop today.
Having climbed up, we now dropped downhill at the X Roads, and then up again to Sonning Common, to the Pet Barn junction. Mutterings of "how far to the coffee stop?". lol We had hardly started! 7 miles of gradual climbing now as we turned into Wyfold Lane opposite the Unicorn Pub in Peppard. I've not ridden this lane for a while and it has not improved. Terrible surface.
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Very dark as Wyfold Lane meets Wyfold Road |
I don't know how it's possible that these ferns
are looking green! No proper rain for weeks.
Then the cheeky climb on Emmens Lane into Checkenden, followed by a few miles into Nuffield . Linda said she felt like her tyres were flat. It's a bit of a false flat... ie it's not flat all the way to Nuffield.
After the golf course, we usually do a dogleg right/left into Huntercombe End, but today a left turn on the main road where the cafe is not far on the left.
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| the Maker Space, so named because they run workshops there to make things. Fabric mostly I think. Cafe downsairs and a large garden at the back. |
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| oops Dave has nodded off. 😂 |
The ride profile today was heavily loaded with uphill in the first half, so the next few miles were easy as we headed into Nettlebed, and then to Highmoor. Ignoring Rocky Lane, we took the next left towards Shepherd's Green and to Rotherfield Greys.
We are often heading through Harpsden to head for home from here, via Sonning, but since we had parked at Crazies Hill, we once more had to head into Henley to cross the river. A different route for us all today, apart from John, as we wound our way through some residential areas, (all downhill 😊) to Henley where we joined the one way system on the A4155, just yards from the town centre.
The ride back up Aston Lane had quite a number of vehicles coming down today, maybe heading to The Flowerpot for lunch? Back to the start by around 1.30. A variation on a theme, and nice to try a new cafe stop, which is open 7 days a week, so handy for a Monday. (I bet that will please Linda and Daphne 😎)
