Just 3 of the WLCG available today... Gill "up north" and Jeanette is dusting😏.
I put a ride together based around parts of a route I did with Sarah who led a ride from Cookham a few weeks ago, except doing it backwards. We were heading for Bray, then picking up The Green Way to Cookham. Our destination was The Tea Shop in Cookham, where Sarah told me you can push your bikes around the back to their garden. Its quite a long ride, so I just planned to get to Holyport on the most direct route. 33 miles, but it eeked out a bit to 37.
Route
After climbing Carters Hill, I was changing my gears to a smaller cog to get up speed on the downhill. But I couldn't get the gearing to change out of the largest cog so had absolutely no resistance. I was just spinning, free wheeling. I kept pushing and pushing the gear lever, but no luck. Lynne had gone ahead and turned into Howe Lane, and I limped slowly up the hill to join her. We had a look at my chain, all looking good, derailleur apparently working, and I suddenly realised it was user error! A senior moment. With my Sram gearing I have only one lever. Just touch it gently to move through the gears, and push all the way to change the other way. I blamed the fact that I had ridden a hire bike last week, but I had ridden my own bike twice this week already with no issues!! lol. 😂
A boring bit now, along Howe Lane to Paley Street, then through pretty Holyport, and on to Bray. Not far out of Bray we joined Route 4 on tracks through Braywick, and once across the A4 roundabout, joined the path along the Strand River through Maidenhead. All traffic free and continued to join the Green Way to Cookham.
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The rape crops which were glorious a few weeks ago, now gone to seed.
Cookham hill ahead. |
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| Camera balanced on Lynne's saddle. |
We detoured slightly into Cookham to find the Tea Shop. Very nice place with amazing cakes. I opted for courgette and lime, and Martina had blueberry. Great selection of teas too, and all served in teapots with proper cups. Think it was about £7.50, so a bit more than some places, but nicely presented, and we don't go very week.
A bit of backtracking to pass Cookham Station, into High Street, which had some very pretty older properties, so worth going that way. A lovely long downhill on Whyteladyes Lane, then a slower pace with about a mile on "Long lane" all of which is uphill. Gradual to start with, than a bit of a kick up towards the end.
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| Lynne and Martina catching me up on Long Lane |
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| Crops on Long Lane |
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| We are pretty high here, so views all around |
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| Windsor Castle in the far distance |
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| Drink stop in the shade |
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| We cross a pedestrian bridge over the A404, then get lost in Maidenhead Thicket. |
The path I had planned to take looked a bit netley and overgrown, and after trying to detour, ended up almost next to Stubbings. Lynne consulted her phone and managed to get us out of there. So many paths in all directions! Finally we emerged to cross the A4, where I had planned to be, at The Shire Horse, then into Cherry Garden Lane. Back on familiar territory now, as cross Knowl Hill Bridle Way, and back via Bottle Lane, and Shurlock Row.
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| A few bits of clouds as we cross Knowl Hill Bridle Circuit to Bottle Lane. |
Well done ladies. Always nice to try out a new ride, and new tea stop. With schools breaking up next week, may be some time before we all can meet up again, so enjoy the holidays and hope to see you sometime over the summer.
