Unfortunately, none of my Monday ride buddies were free today, so I opted to ride with the boys. John had recently ridden up Hollow Lane aka "the halfpipe" out of Turville and fancied doing it again today.
(This is one of those hills that I have always said I will NEVER get up, at least not without my ebike. I have whizzed down the 1.5 or so miles from Northend many times over the years, and always in awe of anyone coming up. Eeek.)
This is Blog number 601. I had hoped to do something significant for number 600, so am a day late. 😁
We drove to Upper Wargrave in glorious weather, but there was some debate between the forecast that John had seen, and the one I had seen. My forecasted rain due at 12, whereas he was convinced it wasn't happening till after 3, by which time we would be home. Let's see. Having got soaked yesterday, I was not ready for it again today.
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| Beautiful start from Upper Wargrave |
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| Dropping down Aston Lane, I stopped to see the herd of deer over the hedge. |
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| Crossing the Thames at Hambleden. (The lockkeeper told us off for riding. He says that the railings were designed for walkers not cyclist. How many cyclist have gone over the railings ? Probably none. 😒) |
On our way towards Hambleden Village, we spotted some of those fluorescent signs you spot which means that film crews are in the area, and sure enough, the car park at the Rotten Row junction was full of big film crew vehicles. ( I got an £80 fine for staying 30mins over my time recently here, so I wonder how much they pay to take over the carpark for several days?)
Into the village, a quick comfort stop, and as we were leaving the village centre, more film crew at the gates of Hambleden Manor. (but all sitting around waiting for something to happen.) They must be soooo bored with all that hanging about.
Just passed the Caterpillar shaped hedge, and where you need to put some real effort in to get around the steep sharp bend into Bottom Lane, we had to stop abruptly, as a vehicle was blocking the junction. They were doing some work up a telegraph pole. So, we needed to get off and walk just a few yards which meant loosing all the momentum.
A pleasant ride up the valley road, but up ahead we spotted red brake lights. A handful of cars which had passed us, were all now in a queue. Next roadblock! This enormous truck was trying to reverse into a driveway, on a bend, not much wider than the truck, just coming into Skirmett. We also had to stop, but then when safe, we shot passed all the traffic and got around the lorry.😊
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| Roadblock near Skirmett. |
We had noticed lots of groups of snowdrops on the road verges this morning, so they must love the flint soil around this area. I finally stopped to take a photo as we we were leaving Turville.
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| One of the many, many displays of snowdrops we saw today, these in Turville. |
The climb to get out of Turville was looming! I pulled over at this lovely view just before the climb starts, and basically it looks to where we are going, to the top of this hill to Northend.
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| Just got to get up that hill now to the the house at the top. It's only a mile and a half! |
John set off first, then stopped to photograph me coming towards him, but he miscalculated my speed, and I was on him before his camera was ready. He started running up the hill on foot to try to capture me. lol
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| Photo by John. his bike in the frame further back, as he had to run up the hill ahead of me as I came up too fast.😂. Dave just appearing around the bend. |
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| Photo by John. Dave about to run into his camera. |
Having passed John, I kept going as far as I could, until my heart was thumping and legs burning, and where the slope leveled out just a bit, giving me a chance to be able to get back on my bike if I stopped.
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| I stopped for a breather, and Dave just kept on going. Well done Dave. |
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| John catching me up. See you at the top! |
I was chuffed not to have walked it at all, and after taking the photos, was back on to climb to the top to Northend. From here, the climb just keeps on going all the way to Christmas Common, but very gradual.
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| Snowdrops not far from Christmas Common |
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| Chatting to walkers who had also stopped to admire the snowdrops on the left. |
The wind was blowing a lot today (again), and I joked that we might be peddling down Watlington Hill into the wind. We didn't of course. It's a massive hill, which needs the brakes on pretty much the whole way down, and I am pretty sure that I will never come up that one... at least not without power.
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| Coffee break at Spire and Spoke, Watlington. Dave had some Spanish Coffee which the waitress had to ask her colleague how to make. Delicious apple and cinnamon cake. |
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| Landscaping project at Spire and Spoke. Gravel arriving tomorrow. |
So it was now 12.00, and guess what? It was raining. We peddled through Cuxham and Brightwell Baldin to Ewelme, and it was miserable! Rain and strong wind not a good combination. We climbed out of Ewelme on Days Lane, opposite the church. I normally stop for a breather at the top here, but it was just miserable, so I just kept peddling.
We crossed the two main roads, and our route back up to the top was up Nuffield Hill. Oh joy. This is another tough climb, and one that I have never managed. Well, with these two 70+ year olds with me today, I felt determined to give it my best shot. I got as far as this gate, and stopped for less than a minute to recover. Dave and John kept going.
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| A brief stop at this gate, to catch my breath on Nuffield Hill. |
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| They carried on, so now I have to catch up |
John hung back a bit for me to catch up, and reminded me that the steepest bit was done. Really? I seem to remember another steep bit just around the next corner. But actually it wasn't so steep as the first bit, although still challenging. I finally stopped at the Church at the top where there was another lovely snowdrop display.
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| Nuffield Church. Top of the hill. |
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| Nuffield Church |
We are at the top! It's still raining, and we still need to get to Wargrave, but it's all downhill now for a while passing through Stoke Row and Rotherfield Peppard to Sonning Common. Down Devils Hill to the Harpsden Valley. I was feeling quite chilled now with all the downhill in the rain, but we were getting there. But then......
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| oh no! John punctured not long after Devil's Hill. |
We came through Henley, and with some big puddles along Remenham Lane, we reached The Flower Pot to face our final climb of the day, on "Flower Pot Hill". It was a doddle, compared to the other hills we had done this morning. At the top and with about 2 miles to go, it stopped raining.
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| Views from Crazies Hill. The blue sky that we started with long gone. |
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| We're back, parked not far from the Barn at Upper Wargrave. |
A lovely route, challenging at times, and not helped by the rain and wind. But I did it. It was a bit longer than John expected. He thought it would be about 30 miles, and in fact it was 41. So, lunch at 3pm today. Poor Dave then peddled home to Finch, so would have done closer to 50 miles. Not bad for an old man.😉 Happy Valentines Day. Garmin awarded me a Valentines Badge... WOT!!! Is that all??!!