A short drive to start our ride this morning at Riseley Village Hall. Gill met us there. Martina and Louise not free today and since Dave wasn't free to join John, he joined us too.
Route link (photo of route at end)
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| Beautiful sunny day from the start, |
As we were getting organised, a lady approached us, and wanted to introduce herself. She has taken over the tearoom in the village hall, which until now as only done Afternoon Teas on a handful of days a month. She is going to open from 10 o'clock Thursdays - Saturdays, and is keen to attract cycling groups. Excellent. Will support her and spread the word.
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| Bull Lane, before we drop to Chequer Lane, in the shade as always. Brrrr. |
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| Gill awarded the "faffing" award today. We've just got going and she decided to add her jacket. 😊 |
Still quite a breeze blowing this morning, so the 8 degrees felt a good bit cooler as we whizzed down Chequer Lane, infact it dropped to 6.5! Back to winter gloves and liners today for me.
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| Part way down Chequer Lane, I had to stop and capture these tree shadows. they were very tall! |
We warmed up as we climbed to join Beech Hill Road, and once we pulled into Mortimer Lane, a much needed nose blow for me. Lynne also stopped, and the others carried on, so didnt see them for a couple of miles.
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| What a stunning day. This is Mortimer Lane. |
Turning downhill into Park Lane, to cross over the railway, the usual large puddles, following last night's rain. But no flooding. The climb to Silchester followed, before it flattened out as we headed to join a section of main road to Pamber Heath, and the big downhill to soon cross at the roundabout at Tadley Sports centre.
Not too much further, and at last into very quiet (messy) Church Lane, to climb to Tadley Church.
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| Tadley Church, Church Lane |
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| Just realised Gill's jacket is off again, and Lynne has no gloves on. |
Church lane was pretty messy with substantial puddles at times, but no floods. Keeping left at a fork in the road, we drop into the hamlet of West Heath, riding on The Common, to link to Deans Lane, with a short climb to Charter Alley. John was ahead and had deliberately gone straight on at our next left turn, into Pamber Road. He had noticed the village store, which I have popped into before when passing, infact looking it up again just yesterday. Although they do serve drinks and cakes, there is no indoor seating, and mostly for takeaway business, with just a few outdoor seats. So, one for better weather.
Pamber Road was a delight to ride on, since it was the only road so far today that had a good surface! What a treat. We dropped downhill after a mile to the junction with The Priory School, and followed the road as it swings round to the junction with the busy A340 Aldermaston Road. (We nip on to the footpath here to get us the couple of hundred yards to the small industrial park, where we are heading to coffee).
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| Parking up at Little Roses Coffee Shop, at Pamber End. ( A nice location to sit out in warmer weather) |
On our way after 30 mins, and a left turn now into Bramley Road, with our exit left soon to climb through the traffic calming road of Little London. Right into Frog Lane at the top, continuing to Ash Lane, and an annoying number of vehicles on this narrow lane today. But to be fair, they did all give us plenty of space.
We did pull in at one point at the entrance to a little industrial park, where about 5 vehicles all arrived at once. Then to the junction, where I took a photo of the sign post, since it mentioned "Latchmere Green" in the direction we just came from. Strange... never heard of it.
(I checked google maps and it refers to the area at the "pink thatch cottage" which I have photographed on previous rides, but which is just a little further back from where we joined Ash Lane today.)
(Note to self! When we turned right here, I have just noticed on the map, that a turn very soon on the left, is Church Lane, which takes you on a climb to pass Silchester Church. I have done this only a couple of times with John, and remember it being treacherous with ice on cold winter days. Infact I got off and walked)
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| Now we turned right on to Bramley Road, which changes name, just after a bend at a flood to Clappers Farm Road. I heard Lynne ask "was that the ford?" 😂 |
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| THIS is Clappers Ford |
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| There were 2 sheep just left of the ford, presumably due to lamb soon. |
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| As we sensibly walked over the bridge, two hesitant cyclists came through the ford... one at a time. |
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| Green Lane, West End Green, on our way to Stratfield Saye. |
The roads were all looking lovely and clean and dry, so it was a bit of surprise to have to go through 2 deep floods on New Road, Stratfield Saye. Unfortunately, it's necessary to ride in the middle of the road on a blind bend here, and sure enough, with Gill and I at the front, a car did come towards us. I just stuck my hand up, and kept going, and thankfully, they did brake to wait for us all going through. The only saving grace is that at least they had several traffic cones on the right, to show where the edge of the decent surface of road is. Since I know from experience, there is a BIG drop off the edge!
We all really enjoyed the slog back up Chequer Lane/Welsh Lane. And finally all downhill on Bull Lane back to the start. John decided to cycle home so did 36 miles. Jeanette and Lynne didn't argue about getting a lift.😅 Nice to see everyone. Spring is on it's way!
