A gloomy Sunday ride, which was meant to be sunny by mid morning. The temperature stayed below 10 degrees the whole ride, and for the first time for months, we both wore full gloves, and no extra layers came off. John was wearing his new luminous jacket, but he felt under dressed, so now knows its capabilities. Would have been fine if the sun had shone.
I took my drone just incase things brightened up, and so just relied on my phone camera for photos today, to avoid also carrying a camera. The drone stayed in the bag.
We were back to Silchester for the second time this week. The church car park was full and lots of cars parked along the roadside too. We were fortunate that one walker was just leaving, so got a space.
Heading downhill, we spotted the burned out van that we saw on Monday climbing up Church Lane.
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| A note now attached to say it has been reported and will be collected. |
On Ash Lane and Frog Lane to Little London, and across the main road at Pamber End to ride through Charter Alley, where we used the downhill on Deans Lane.
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| Deans Lane, Charter Alley. The hedges and foliage could have looked beautiful if the sun had shone. John ahead in his bright jacket. |
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| Nr Baughurst church. How gloomy! |
A right turn into Ham Lane on our way to Axmansford, and it was a guessing game as to which we would pass first...... The farm, or Snowdrop Cottage, since I still haven't quite got the geography of this lane in my head. Its always a surprise. 😂
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| Ham farm on our left along Ham Lane, where Snowdrop cottage was at the other end of this long lane. Snowdrop Cottage had a great Dahlia display. |
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| Some colour at last as we heading towards Ashford Hill. |
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| This is what John saw a few feet away. |
Our Garmin route suggested the next turn was a right turn 2.5 miles away, but we both knew we were expecting a left turn, so jut ignored it. The left loop uses quiet lanes, avoiding a long hall on Ashford Hill Road. (Hillhouse Lane and Galley Lane, but need to be careful to turn off of Galley Lane into Common Road, otherwise you end up on the A339 as John once did.)
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| Most people opting to sit inside today, including us! |
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| Getting ready to leave the cafe stop. (photo by John) |
We joined a bit of main road now, rather than repeat the gravelly track back to the entrance, but it seemed really busy today. We have only done this once or twice, and it includes a steep descent then a steep climb on Crookham Hill. (ok on ebikes). As we were riding, we noticed 2 cyclist coming from a exit on the common, to cross over onto another track. So we turned around and cut back through the common. This avoided the big hill ahead, but cut out most of the route we had used on the way in. So a good option to used again.
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| Scrapped the planned route (RED), to cut back through the common on a different path. |
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| This pool just inside as we rejoined the track through the Common. Can see the traffic passing on the road just beyond. |
The Garmin now seemed determined to take us left towards the A4. John hadn't actually checked this old route, so it was probably right.... but we didn't want to go that way today. (probably to Chapel Row?). So we persevered and ignored the Garmin carrying on through Brimpton all the way to Aldermaston, via Wasing. The Garmin finally happy that were back on track as we crossed the little bridge at Wasing Park.
With loads of battery power left, we kind of cruised the rest of the way back via Aldermaston Soke to Silchester. 😊.
The car park empty apart from one car now, and one more followed us in. The driver then asked if we knew where Silchester ruins were? lol. Right in front of her in the car park. 😂
A nice route, all been done before of course, but not so often. Just a shame that the sun came out as we drove home, lighting up the countryside.
