Sonning Common to Christmas Common - 36 miles 1886 feet

 It's Monday.  Daphne and Linda both busy today, and since Dave was also busy, John and I took the opportunity for an "Ebike Monday" ride, since we missed our Ebike Sunday ride yesterday. 😉

(John rode yesterday on a Henley loop, whereas I sensibility stayed indoors. His got drenched, and his boots were still wet this morning.)

Route link

We drove to start our ride at Sonning Common, and passing through Sonning, noticed that the Thames is running really high. Almost no steps showing at the French Horn. A grey day and not the most photogenic. Loads of puddles and messy lanes, as we climbed via Kidmore End and Checkendon. We avoided the equestrian centre lane, since it would no doubt be flooded today. We continued via Nuffield to cross the main road to Hunterbombe End, where several posters were displayed along the lane, with wording such as...

"We shall fight for our Beeches" and "Not bluebells, Alarm bells".

Sadly some land for sale for housing development of around 30  homes at the far of Huntercombe End near the B481. We really hope this doesn't get approval. This once quiet, windy lane, gets busier each year with delivery vans. We rode this lane in both directions today and had to stop to allow traffic to pass several times.

As we came into Christmas Common, I stopped to photograph the fir trees.

Christmas Common

Views as we dropped down Watlington Hill.

The road surface on the steep descent on Watlington Hill seemed more bumpy than ever!   No potholes, but very uneven surface. I  really slowed down more than usual to make my way down to  The Spire and Spoke.

The Spire and Spoke had some work going on,  and part of the pub is sectioned off with floor to ceiling boards. Apparently they are due to open more seating upstairs next Friday, in time for Christmas... no pressure on the builders then.

After tea and cake, we headed through Pyrton, climbing to the high point on Knightsbridge Lane.

Knightsbridge Lane, Pyrton. There used to be one log here which had a nice view over
it. The view is almost blocked now with the addition of a second log. 

Just left of the log. 

As we turned left to drop down towards Easington, the side wind was very noticable! Not a lot of protection on this road. But the clouds were quite dramatic, as I pulled over to capture this shot. 

Unnamed road which passes Easington entrance road. 

Next through Britwell Baldwin, continuing to Ewelme, where we headed to the Swyncombe Road. 

Stopped to remove my snood before we started our climb
to Swyncombe. It's a 13% climb. 

The Ridgeway at Swyncombe.  Top of the steep section
but it continues as 6-7% for a good bit further.

We retraced our route back to Nuffield, into Stoke Row and out the other side, to drop down the Kingwood Road to Sonning Common.