A Woosehill ladies ride today with 4 of us, including Gill who joined us recently. Gill told me that she had sent my blog links to her Mum and Dad. They enjoy reading them, so I thought I would start today by saying a virtual "hello" to Pat and John. It's nice to know that my blogs are appreciated, although I only really started to write them for myself to remind me where I had been, who I was with, and an excuse to use my photographs. I now have a few regular followers which is great.
route
Months ago I had found a coffee stop online, which is near White Waltham at an Arts Centre, called Norden Farm. Then, like everything else it closed due to Covid. I checked yesterday and the cafe now reopened from 11o'clock from Wednesday-Saturday. So... off we go! Since we were setting off at 9.30, there was no point going the most direct route, so we started off heading across the other side of Wokingham, and along the pretty lane passing Ludgrove School, where I took the first two photos. (I rode my ebike today just incase I was too tired after riding 33 miles yesterday with my brake stuck on on my road bike! As it turned out my legs were fine, and only used power on a couple of minor hills).
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Ludgrove Lane views
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Ludgrove Lane
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Next we crossed the railway line, along Waterloo Road, through Priest Avenue, then a wiggle through Bean Oak Estate to join with the Binfield Road.
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Eeek! Black clouds as we crossed the A329M on the Binfield Road
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We used Monks Path through Binfield which was an investigation to check just how muddy it would be. It was pretty muddy, so won't be using that cut through now until next spring. From there, we connected to Ryehurst Lane then a loop around Westley Mill Road where we stopped to puts jackets on (which had not long before been taken off!) since it started spitting and spotting. This horse and owner were just about to set off where we stopped.
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Westley Mill Road
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Jackets all back on again. Then the rain came to nothing of course
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A quick dash along Howe Lane to the end, then a right turn to Paley Street, where we cut down Paley Street. I screeched to a halt to photograph this tree and grasses.
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| Paley Street at Paley Street |
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Waiting for the photographer
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It was now 10.45, so we were on track to arrive about 11ish at the Arts Centre. Now we crossed the pedestrian bridge over the M4 and this is where the path deteriorates. This was also a bit of an investigative route today, to check how muddy it would be. We made it, but again wont use it now until spring.
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Our coffee stop
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Sorry out of focus, but we parked our bikes next to the
silver birch trees in the grounds |
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We had this part of the Arts Centre to ourselves, with a large table
Other seating areas were for max 4 people |
Our only slight disappointment was that they do not serve home made cakes, but plenty of choice of quality biscuits and muffins, so we were not too hard done by. Prices seemed reasonable too. Toilets had a traffic light system with Green for available. Being an arts centre they no doubt have busy periods during performances, whereas today there were only 4 others there. All felt very Covid safe.
Retracing our steps for a short distance, we now used the pretty Breadcroft Lane, to cross the railway, and joined up with the Knowl Hill Bridal Circuit (good path) to take us to Bottle Lane, White Waltham.
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Crossing the Knowl Hill Bridal Circuit
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| Crossing the Knowl Hill Bridal Circuit |
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Bottle Lane. Taking the flag flying very seriously😁
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I had only once been through Shottesbrooke Park, so thought today might be a good time, with the autumn colours in mind. It was a wee bit muddy, but not too bad. The film crews which were there last time I came through about a month ago, had packed up, although the grass where they had used mats for parking, will take some time to recover.
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| Nice carpet of leaves in Cantley Park. The path is under there somewhere! |
Tomorrows forecast looks pretty wet and windy. I imagine lots of leaves will get blown off the trees this weekend, so it was nice to ride today to appreciate the ones which are almost ready to drop.
Well done ladies. 30 miles is becoming our new norm it seems, and it's great that we are all getting more fit whilst taking on this big responsibility of testing cake stops. Enjoy half term with kids, and see you next time.
