Monday ride and Daphne is back from her travels, but no Linda today since her injury from a fall indoors 10 days ago now is still causing her discomfort. 😟. So 4 of us travelled together to start in Bradfield, for a 30 mile jaunt in West Berkshire, with the promise of sunshine soon after we started. Hmmm.
Route link (screen shot at end)
Our usual start along Back Lane towards Standford Dingley and Bucklebury.
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| First of many horses near Stanford Dingley and Bucklebury. Gloomy skies! |
The ford at Bucklebury and the stream running pretty high today. We didnt cross the ford, but stayed on Brocks Lane, before turning left into Wellhouse Lane.
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| Wellhouse Lane, looking towards Marlston |
A right turn now, and a bit of climb with a brief stop before dropping down under the bridge to Hermitage.
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| Still some nice brown tones, as we stopped at the high point on Marlston Road. |
From Hermitage, soon a right turn to join Curridge Road, and nice quiet lanes to eventually cross a dogleg over the A34. That last couple of miles is not yet in my head, so arrival at this junction was a surpise.😂 But I now knew exactly where I was. There is a hill ahead!
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| Just after crossing the A34, a climb passing a school on Arlington Lane and up to Snelsmore Common. ( A cheeky 10% climb) |
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| Snelsmore Common. Lovely view just before we drop down steeply into Winterbourne. |
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| Dropping into Winterbourne. Looks like John is about to stop.... but waved him past. |
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| I stopped to photograph the church on the hill. Dave on his way down to the junction. |
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| St James the Lesser Church above Winterbourne |
A right turn at the junction, to soon turn left, and a climb out of Winterbourne. I've only done this a couple of times. We soon reached the church at the top, and stopped for a look. (actually not the top as it turned out!)
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| Some blue sky as we looked around the church but it soon dissapeared. |
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| Blue sky caught in the reflection in the arched window. |
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| Miles of open views behind the church. |
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| What would these be for? |
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| The view opposite the church. No sign of blue sky anymore. |
I kept thinking we had climbed the last hill for now, but the road to Boxford undulated a few more times, before we finally dropped downhill emerging opposite the church and thatched cottages, and soon crossed the River Lambourne.
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| Crossing the River Lambourne in Boxford. Running fast today. |
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| The Boxford . Our coffee stop. |
There were only 2 other people in the cafe. There was a "coffee and cake for £5 deal", so we ordered 3 cakes and 4 drinks. We got the cakes fairly quickly, then waited for ever for our drinks. (think the waiter was new).
Daphne and I had our muffins delivered on one plate for some reason, but not a problem.... or was it? Having donated a piece to Dave, and eaten a bit more, I then left the rest to enjoy with my tea when it arrived. When it finally did, I looked at the plate to see Daphne clearing the last morsel of cake. Which included mine.😖😖😖 Moral of the story... Don't ever share a plate with Daphne.
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| Daphne took this photo to send to Linda, who had just sent a message saying she hoped we were enjoying our ride. |
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| "John's tree" near Beedon? |
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| John and Dave caught up with us here to turn left, then next right towards Bothampstead. |
So, THEN I saw "John's tree" after the next turning, with a signpost to Beedon. It turns out there is Beedon Common, Beedon Hill, and Beedon.
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| Unusual brick chimney pots in Yattendon. |
The worst is over, and passing the Christmas tree farm, we turned right into Scratchface Lane, to cross over the M4, and dropped into Dark Lane once more.
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| a lora lora sheeps on Dark Lane. |
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| Highlight of their day no doubt. Photographer lurking. |
