With Linda today, and since she needed to back reasonably early, I offered to peddle to start from Finch. Daphne has got off on her marathon holiday for 3 weeks. I also suggested Linda plan today's route, so she has been pouring over maps for the last few days to come up with our route. Good practice Linda! Well done.
With the junction at the end of Nine Mile Ride now open, we headed there initially, and used the new cycle path, which connected to Hogwood Industrial Park, to pick up the track to Arborfield. Except that the track is still closed... so we cut through a gap and then the left turn into Sheerlands Road. We climbed up to Farley Hill (straight up), which I haven't done for ages, but thankfully no traffic waiting behind us on the hill. Then we dropped down Sandpit Lane.
I always love this view at the gate, at the corner of Ford Lane.
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| View at corner of Nutbean / Ford Lane. |
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| Dropping down to Thatchers Ford, Long River, where we detour across the fields. |
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| Now to walk /cycle over the footbridge across Long River. |
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| Rhododendrons just coming into flower as we head towards Heckfield. |
Left at the top for our climb to the roundabout on Odiham Road, then joined the B3011 for a few hundred yards to take the right turn (which can easy be missed!) into Laundry Lane. Nice and dry today, unlike the last time I came down here when the road was more like a river. At the New Inn pub, a left turn on the B3349, Reading Road into Hound Green, where we stopped at the garden centre for our cuppa. (If we had gone straight over, we would have come to the "green triangle" which we will pass later)
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| At Hobo Cafe, Hortus Loci, Hound Green. |
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| Vicarage Lane Garden. |
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| I love how the Willow tree, which has clearly fallen over, is respounting. They have been kept trimmed like cloud pruning. |
At the bottom, we turned right into Bottle Lane, and then left (at the green triangle). Up the rise, and ignoring the right turn to Daneshill School, we took next left into Turgis Green Road, to pass Hartley Wespall church. ( where we have twice met the dustbin truck on Mondays!) Then a dogleg to pass Lyde Mill, and the climb up towards Tylney Hall.
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| The calves were running, leading the way, as the cows all heading off in the same direction at the Shoulder of Mutton. |
Plough Lane was closed to traffic which was a bonus! That done, we opted to ride over Bramshill track, since it's all nice and dry. Finally back to California Park on Nine Mile Ride.
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| A wild flower border on Woosehill ie not had the grass cut. The councils have done a lot more of this recently, and it looks lovely. |