The Monday gang fell apart today.😖
Daphne on holiday, Dave driving back from a weekend away and Linda's Aussie family flew in this morning to stay for 3 weeks. Just John and I then, and he fancied going to Hannington. I've never been to Hannington other than with my ebike, and since we used our ebikes yesterday, I suggested road bikes today. eeek!
Route link screenshot at end.
A beautiful sunny morning with only a very gentle breeze, very different to yesterday. We started at Silchester church car park, and dropped down to cross Clappers Farm Ford. Almost no water, so we rode straight through, only to stop to chat to the sheep on the other side. Used my new DJI Osmo camera again today. It loves this weather, but I'm not sure that its so good for a distant shot, since cropping in is not very sharp.
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| The leaves of the Liquidamber tree turning at Silchester Church. |
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| Sheep next to Clappers Farm Ford. |
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| Another cyclist who also rode straight through this morning. |
We made our way to Bramley then into Vyne Road to head for Sherbourne St John.
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| Wall at The Vyne, with Virginia creeper |
The original plan was to continue through Sherbourne St John to join the track called Rooksdown Lane, to eventually reach Wooton St Lawrence, but as we peddled past The Vyne, it crossed my mind that maybe on road bikes, that's not the best idea!
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| The duckpond at WSL with great reflections today. |
By the time we had done a little climb to cross the A339 we were much too warm, and stopped to remove a layer.
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| Stopping to strip off ! It's hotting up now. |
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| Ibworth Lane enroute to Wooton St Lawrence, where we now rejoined our original route. |
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| A right turn at this T Junction to arrive in Newfound, then into Oakley. |
The road through Oakley is a bit dull, with residential properties, but a few nice thatches and older properties at the end of the road next to the pond. (which I have photographed many times, usually coming the opposite direction.)
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| Trenchards Lane. |
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| Junction, where today a right turn towards Steventon (Jane Austin birthplace) |
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| Tree colour as we arrive in Steventon with a white cottage ahead. |
Next we use Waltham Lane to drop into Overton, and where the Buffalo would have been on our left had they been there today... but they weren't. We decided to try the cafe on the corner where we had once sat outside in a very strange "courtyard". It's called Emporia. All a bit quirky, but we left our bikes in the back and sat indoors today. Even more weird!
There is "stuff" everywhere, and apart from the cafe its also a pet food shop and "4 candles" kind of place. Very friendly couple who run it, who said very happy to book a table for a group another time.
The River Test runs through Oakley, although its well hidden behind trees etc, but basically we leave the village at river level, and with "coffee legs" immediately need to gain height to get over a railbridge with is fairly high up. And that's just for starters. 😖
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| View once had climbed over the rail bridge. |
Quite a bit more climbing, but not too steep, but all my gears used. oh dear! Then a bit of a drop down which is not good. This area is Ashe Warren, near where we once saw fields of poppies, which are no longer grown.
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| oh no, a bit of downhill. Not good! |
We take a left turn and continue to climb, heading to North Oakley, then notice a few splashes of red at a gate, so decide to stop.
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| John about to remove a second layer. He was overdressed. It's now 19 degrees. |
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| On my old Specialise road bike today. |
The climb goes on and on, and I still don't recognise the approach to Hannington, which I have done a few times. Then realise we are arriving up the hill we normally whizz down. (Have come from Wolverton direction before)
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| Haninngton centre. Made it to the top. No views from up here though. |
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| John waiting. The flag has a little movement now. We will now leave on the road behind the flag on Ibworth Lane. |
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| We waited for horse, dog and rider to pass on Ibworth Lane. |
Ibworth Lane is very easy, and flat! We have ridden this once before, and I stopped for a photo apparently at exactly the same spot as I did last time.
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| Ibworth Lane, all nice and flat.... but thats about to changfe around the next corner. |
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| Heading into the corner where the climb starts. A lot of gravel at the bottom, so need to take it slowly. Then even slower on the climb which is 13% gradient. Only just made it. |
One more turn into Hook Lane, and another cheeky climb before it all heads downhill on a familiar route now, across the A339, towards Charter Alley on Ewehurst Lane.
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| Farmer our preparing the soil with gulls, and Kites following. Too small to see. |
From Charter Alley, past the Priory School, a climb through Little London, right into Frog Lane adn arrived at Silchester up Church Lane. 33 miles.
A lovely route, with quite a few climbs but most are 6-10% so doable without ebikes. I plan to take a Breeze ride here so good to know that I can do it! 😂
