Last week's ride to the Woodley Art Exhibition was a hit, so this week we had planned to ride to Gill's Textile Group's first exhibition. 17 of the artists had hired Henley Old Fire Station for a few days. There is also a cafe in Henley at the football club which we haven't used before, but which I came across in the summer. It's called Mill Lane Cafe, and that would be our teastop today.
We were 6 today, Andrea off for a short break. It was yet another gloomy day, with possible showers also forecast, but very mild.
No planned route today, so we headed to Crazies Hill, to drop into Henley down Aston Lane.
Route link (screen shot at end)
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| Misty conditions as we approached Crazies Hill |
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| Photo stop on our way to Crazies Hill. Louise in her new PINK DHB Jacket (Don't Hold Back) My orange one is the same brand. |
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| Crazies Hill junction. Would have been gorgeous in sunshine! |
We dropped down Aston Lane, me feeling much more confident again today, wearing my new distance glasses, so that I could actually pick out the pot holes.😉
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| Views to Hambleden valley from Remenham Lane |
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| Same spot. What a miserable day. |
We came into Henley at The Angel pub, where there was a very long queue backing up to cross the bridge which was down to one lane due to roadworks. Or rather pavement works. They were relaying some paving slabs. We nipped on the pavement as far as the bridge, then followed the traffic as soon as the lights turned red. (got away with it).
Rather than go straight on to the Old Fire Station to the exhibition, we first called into the loos at the Station. Gill had parked here yesterday, and suggested a cut through (on Queen's Road), where she had walked passed some very unusual houses. We wouldn't normally ride on this road, so it was a chance to see a different street, which was amazing.
There are 3 semi detached houses, and a bit of internet research tells me that they are called "The Painted Ladies."
It was originally built in the 1880s, when Victoria was on the throne and people travelled by horse and carriage.
The house was originally advertised for sale with an annual rental income of £40 per year, a large sum of money in those days.
Since then, every owner has handed down a package of information about the people who have lived there over the years — a portfolio of glimpses of times gone by and faded memories.
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| Beautiful painting on the porchway and above. |
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| Lovely tile detail too. |
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| This one a blue colour. |
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| And the house next door has terracotta colour paint |
So unusual, and a couple of years ago, priced at around £1.2M.
Anyway, onward to the exhibition.
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| Gill had joined a group called "In Stitches" 2 years ago, and her course was called Creative Journeys. They have a studio near Eversley Mill. |
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| Gill's corner of the exhibition. She was very excited yesterday to have sold some of her covered books, joining the ranks of PROFESSIONAL artist. Well done. (She sold 3 more whilst we were there.... to us!! Luckily Louise had her trusty huge bag on her bike 😂) |
Some very talented ladies in the group, who have been meeting up regularly for about 2 years learning how to dye and learn about mark making on their cloth. One of the artists asked Martina if she was dragged inside? lol. Martina said it wouldn't necessarily have been something she would have gone to see, but definitely enjoyed it.
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| I liked the fences on this one, with chain which Gill thought was crochet metal thread? |
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| And this inspired by a collection of old bottles the artist had come across. |
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| The text says "old Orkney Whisky" |
We were there for at least 30 mins, and were due to meet Jeanette's husband Martin at our tea stop. He got there just a few minutes before us, having been stuck in the queue of traffic at Henley Bridge.
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| Martin met us at the teastop. We had a laugh since he told us that he knew Jeanette had spent some money.... notification on his phone. 😂 |
I think Jeanette was number 4 in the Queue so plenty of time to plan her order. But when asked "What can I get you? ".. she went into blind panic. (request from Martina to include this Jeanette, since she thought it was hilarious).
Jeanette "oooh, ooh I'll have a hot drink please" 😅
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| It was a little damp outside so we sat indoors. This is the football clubhouse but the cafe owner gets to use it too. |
Jeanette left us now, getting a lift with Martin, which was always the plan today.
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| is it a tiny bit brighter as we leave? hmmm. Not convinced. |
Shock horror..... we are not going home via Harpsden to Sonning, since we crossed through Sonning twice last week. Instead.... surprise! We are now going back up Aston Lane. That went down well. 😂😂😂
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| That amazing red coloured foliage on the Thames in Henley. |
We were 5 as we climbed to Crazies Hill, until Gill left us here, to get home the quickest route for her. She took Loddon Drive to Charvil, since she had a deadline today. So then we were 4
We upped the pace now since it was mostly downhill or flat, passing Velolife Warren Row, and over the A4 onto Bottle Lane to White Waltham. We crossed straight over at the pond at Shurlock Row to take the left turn into Darvils Lane.
Louise "Oh, I've not been down here before", at which point all 3 us gasped. "Of course you have... a hundred times. "😅
As we cut through the Hurst Lanes it started to rain, quite heavily, so a bit of a miserable last couple of miles, as we climbed over the motorways into Wokingham. I couldn't be bothered to stop to put my jacket on, since it was warm anyway.
The rain then stopped as we got into Wokingham, but the cloud that had caused us to to get wet,very visible.
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| We were unlucky to get caught under this cloud, since the rain soon stopped. |
Well done to Gill and her very talented sewing group. A fun morning out. Today's route could be a chicken or a horse if turned on its side?
