This morning, the fantastic news that the Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine, from Oxford University, now has medical approval, and the vaccination process will start next week. (this is the second one to be approved). The govt has ordered 100 million doses. (2 doses p/p are required).
The bad news is that the number of infected people is dramatically rising every day, and in some parts of the country the NHS is very close to capacity. An announcement on tiers is due to happen at 3pm today. I fear the worse that the whole country will go back in to Lockdown. (we are in tier 4)
It was a frosty morning, and I was cycling today with Louise. We delayed our start at 10.30, by which time it was almost 2 degrees, and any early frost had disappeared. Louise was limited to time, so we kept our ride local and short, and she also had not been on her bike for a while. To warm up, we headed over Carters Hill, Binfield, by which time, we had the feeling back in our fingertips.
From the top, we dropped down passing Binfield Church then second left into Ryehurst Lane. (avoiding first left which I thought was probably very messy). I was half expected flooding, but it was fine, and we continued through to Bottle Lane. Next over to Moss End, then a loop to bring us round onto Westhatch Lane. I've only used this section a couple of times and we saw loads (100+?) of Alpaca or Llama in the fields to our left.
We turned at the traffic lights into Forest Road, and cut through on the cycle path through Cabbage Hill. Still not sure if the unusual "thatch" house is old and renovated or completely new? The thatch does not look pristine, so maybe it is old. (**update - it's new. I found a news article about it)
The thatched house in the middle of the new estate. |
A little detour to see the sculpture |
Bronze coloured Carex grasses looks perfect next to the sculpture |
We passed the Stag and Hounds and up the nasty little hill to Terrace Road North, the a right turn and into Wicks Green where we spotted these Santa hats on the topiary.
Wicks Green, Binfield |
Heading back towards Wokingham via the Binfield Road |
As we came towards the end of Binfield Road, we had only clocked up 13.5 miles, and since we were both feeling warm enough, we decided to do a little extra to the south of Wokingham. We cut through William Heelas Way to connect to Waterloo Road, and over the crossing, to enter the grounds of Easthampstead Park. A rare chance to see the building without lots of cars in front of it (there were just a couple which I concealed behind the board).