Just two dedicated riders this morning from the WLCG. I asked Jeanette last night if she would like to plan a ride? Her idea was Bledlow Ridge. My idea was NOT to ride Bledlow Ridge.😂 (I've done it on my ebike!) But maybe we will give it a go one day soon. So instead, she joined me to recce a new ride I planned for Breeze next week. I've done it all before, just not in the same order, so needed to be sure. We went in my van to park at Mattingley Church. A cool 15 degrees when we set off. Refreshing.
Route link (photo of route at end of blog)
At the Rotherwick/Tylney Hall junction, I wanted to just nip to the right first to see the sunflower field.
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| They have peaked and heads turned downwards now, but still nice to see. |
Through the grounds of Tylney Hall, and at Newnham X Roads a RIGHT , right...... right Jeanette! The other right! 😅😅😅 We whizzed downhill to cross the River Lyde passing the old Mill. Some Haybales on our right.
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| Newnham Road. Plenty of fields of haybales. |
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| Newnham Road. |
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| As we turned into the quiet Pot Lane. |
A little climb, then left to go under the railway and drop down again to cross the A30 at Andwell. Soon followed by a climb over the M3 to Greywell Road. Right and left into Frog Lane, with a gentle climb to Mapledurwell, with my Garmin indicating a right turn coming up.
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| Arriving in Mapledurwell opposite this sign, and a tiny bit of water in the stream. |
A right turn then, as indicated by Garmin, but soon it asked me to do a Uturn, which I ignored. "it'll settle down", I told Jeanette, and sure enough it did and we continued on 'Turnworth Road, passing this pretty thatch.....
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| Tunworoth Road, Mapledurwell. |
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| Then a little further, this stable block with two horses peeking out, on our right. |
"That'll be a nice one to look out for on my Breeze ride", I said. Dropping down to a T junction. a right turn, and Jeanette asked... "Which road is this then?" The road into Greywell, I think. But we weren't going to Greywell today! Garmin indicated next right.... into Frog Lane. We had just gone round in a circle. 😂😂😂 And also the ladies on the Breeze ride wont pass the pretty cottage and horses! Or shouldn't!!
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| Looping around at Mapledurwell. |
Now we continued on Tunworth Road, in the opposite (correct!) direction, where at this gate view, we turned a very sharp left , still called Tunworth Road!
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| Very sharp left after this gate, and a climb up on Tunworth Road, before we branched off into Longroden Lane. |
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| Road block! on Longroden Lane. The lady farmer was running after the cows, so we held back a little. |
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| They slowed down to walking pace. |
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| We caught up and chatted with her along the lane. They turned into a field at the end on a sharp bend. She warned us of a steep climb after the next X roads. |
Guess what name the road is to our left at the XRoads. AND also straight over? Tunworth Road! (No wonder I get confused!) Our lane has no name, but basically we are heading to Weston Corbett and Weston Patrick .
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| The unnamed lane just before our climb starts up through woodland lined lane towards Weston Corbett. |
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| A gap in the woodland lane. |
We continued to climb, getting a bit steeper to about 11%. John had told me I would recognise where I was on this climb, but it's more usual for us to approach from the opposite direction. Sure enough, I came to the metal gate with the view at the top. 😉
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| Weston Corbett, top of the climb. Called Middlewood House. |
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| We woz here. Still smiling at the top. |
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| A lovely long downhill followed of course, emerging onto Weston Road, with this sign over our shoulder. Now downhill to arrive with the pond our left in Upton Grey. |
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| This just part of the cake choices in Upton Grey Stores, with lots of tray bakes too. We both settled on Lemon and Blueberry sponge. Jeanette took some time!😆 |
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| As we left, we noticed this colourful flower display at the house next door. I'm not a big fan of Begonias, but here they worked with with the red painted doors. |
Dropping back down to the pond, we turned left on Bidden Road, where on a rise and a bend, we turned right into Ford Lane. (tricky corner, must go ahead on the Breeze ride to give the all clear.... or not...round this corner).
The previous few miles were the ones I needed to check, since not yet got the geography of this area in my head... but getting there. Very familiar with the rest of the ride, crossing the Alton Road, climbing to Long Sutton, then looping into Odiham on Cemetery Hill. We dropped down to the canal, onto the track under the A287, and onto the "pet crematorium" road for half a mile before a left into the quiet Potbridge Road, leading to Totters Lane. I thought we had finished climbing, but getting over the railway line is another 11%, so not insignificant.... but short.
Left on the appalling footpath on the A30 just to connect to Burough Court Road around the back of West Green Gardens. Finally, on Hazeley Bottom Lane back to Mattingley Church. We finished just after 1o'clock.
