Moss End Loop - 25 miles

Delighted that my knee injury seom yesterday's ride has improved overnight. I took Andrea's advice and used an ice pack a couple of times last night. Still bruised, but the stiffness has gone. 

Lovely  to ride with Stephanie today for the first time since October! She's done a fair amount of walking, but not been cycling for weeks, so she requested a ride of about 25 miles. She is however always fit, so our average speed today was 12.1mph. That's enough for me. I slowed it down with endless nose blow stops, which seems to be a problem atm.  Only one photo today.

Route

We met at the bottom of Blagrove Lane. I couldn't believe it started to rain as I was heading down the hill. That wasn't forecast. Thankfully it didn't last too long. We headed across town passing Ludgrove School. No herons as we passed today. We left Wokingham on Plough Lane, heading to Binfield and enjoyed the downhill on Tilehurst Lane to the Stag and Hounds. Left here, and right into Ryehurst Lane. Now to Moss End, and a nose blow stop at the Green Triangle.

Nr Frost Folly Car Park, Moss End

As we headed downhill here, we passed some fly tipping on our right. Such a shame, littering the countryside. We looped around to West End, then cut through the narrow Watersplash Lane path, crossing over to Osborne Lane and back round again to the road up to Frost Folly. At this point, Steph commented on more fly tipping on our left. It was of course the same lot.😉

As we returned via Bottle Lane, Cathy was riding towards us. We pulled over into the edge of a driveway for a brief chat, standing in front of the closed gates. Cathy is solo riding for the moment, since she is picking up young grandchildren from school, and is conscious about not spreading anything she might catch. She mentioned that she had seen 8 Herons the other day at Ludgrove.

As we were just leaving to go our separate ways, the automatic gates opened and a car emerged, window down, and the driver shouted "Get off my drive. I wouldn't drive on your property" and drove off. Honestly!! What an angry man we thought.  Unbelievable. 

We returned via Shurlock Row, the Hurst Lanes and over the motorway bridges to Cantley. 25 miles for me, so about 28 for Stephanie, which is great considering she hasn't ridden for weeks. We hope to ride again in about 3 weeks. This 1-1 restriction means that it takes a long time get around to seeing a core group of friends, whether walking or cycling, but nice to look forward to.  Thanks for your good company Stephanie, till next time.