What a gorgeous day for a bike ride, in September sunshine even if a little cool to start. I arranged to meet the ladies at Cantley today, and set off from home on my Specialised Diverge bike, fitted with new brake pads yesterday. The old pads had made a scraping noise on my last outing, and had worn down to metal rubbing on metal. Oops!
Today's noise, from the outset was a squeak, caused by the new front brake pads rubbing on the disk. Agghh. No time to sort it out now, so I rode all the way to Hurley with a squeak..... and resistance of course. Sorry ladies. The noise disappeared if I held the brakes on a tad, so I did that occasionally, but not ideal since that added even more resistance.
Route
From Cantley, over the motorways and into Lines Road, Hurst, then Shurlock Row. We had a few nose blow stops today, and this one was at Smewins Road at the lovely barn conversion.
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| Barbara, Louise, Sue C, Denise and Sue P. |
Soon we turned left next to the cricket ground at White Waltham into on Butchers Lane, ignoring the "Road Closed" sign. It was perfect. Absolutely no traffic today on that lane.😁. As we crossed the railway, and where the road name changes to Bottle Lane, I took a photo of the lone tree I often photograph in all seasons.
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| The lone tree off Bottle Lane |
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| The ladies owning the whole road today, which was closed to traffic |
Soon we turned right into Knowl Hill Bridal Circuit, passing all the harvested crop fields. We cut through on the little lane to emerge in Littlewick Green. Louise had never been here before, so we spent a few minutes riding round the circuit and a few photos too.
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| The ladies carry on uphill ahead of me |
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| Stopping to admire the view before the steep drop downhill on Honey Lane |
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| Half way down, a stunning view along the Thames Valley towards Bisham |
A couple of hundred yards on the main road, and then left into Hurley.
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| Loved the light on the little summerhouse, and reflections on the river |
We crossed back over the bridge, and back to the church, then road alongside the mobile home park, and with no traffic, a chance for a group action shot.
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| here they come.... |
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| ... and there they go. |
Now a short section we need to push, rather than cycle. Always good to have a nosey at the homes along the riverside.
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| We need to walk this short section |
We emerge on Black Boy Lane, and turn right for just a couple of hundred yards on the Henley Road,then turn left into Rose Lane, to climb to Crazies Hill. No views on Rose Lane this time of year, due to hedges, but it's very pretty in the winter months with views of all the equestrian fields.
Straight over at the top, and we enjoy the downhill now of Highfield Lane to upper Wargrave. We return via Tag Lane, to cross the A4, then cut through to Ruscombe Church, over the railway, then straight over to Broad Hinton, in Twyford, (ignoring more "road closed" signs). But this time they were tarmacking, and we had to ride on the coned off foothpath, almost half the way through this estate. They will be tarmacking the remainder tomorrow, and the road actually looks fine! So many other roads are full of potholes!! Seems like a strange decision.
Wiggling back through the Hurst Lanes, we grin and bare the climb back over the motorways to Wokingham. We had a bit of fun, as it turned into a bit of a competition, with some overtaking others. The good news is that by now, by brake pad was no longer squeaking and I could at last get some speed up.😊
