Your ride today....

[PeteXXX]

T'was grandson's school play, Shrek, this afternoon..
Much easier to ride to the village than drive & attempt to park!
Anyway; lovely weather, mid 20's so a perfect temperature for a pedal anyway..

Moulton village has some pretty houses but narrow streets & pinch points. Yet again, easier to ride than drive.

On the way back I popped into a big charity shop to see what might be had. Two shabby BSO's with flat tyres, but I did get a 700x35 inner tube & a pair of lights that'll do for as backup illumination for £3:50 the lot.

Anyway, just over 11 miles in perfect weather & sensible drivers (though I do try & use bike path routes as much as possible)

 

[sevenfourate]

I’m an upbeat, chirpy, positive guy. But this blustery and predominantly (Strong) head wind all the way home for the last 3 days is eating me up. **See my comment under my Strava ride title 😂

At least the seafront was as gorgeous as ever. Even if I nearly ground to a halt. Going Downhill….. 🤦‍♂️

 

[Shadow]

Sometime during the summer, usually june, a little ennui of road riding settles in my brain and think I should go off-road. This always means just one thing:

What I partially forget is the struggle to get to the top. Firstly, a five minute climb up the road to the crossing of a dual carriageway. Safely crossed, an uphill tarmac drive narrows to a pathway for about 400 hundred metres leading to a gateway, becoming steeper and steeper, so have been in the smallest gear since the path narrowed. From here, the path becomes chalk and flint gravel/stones, although the gradient does ease a little. In the 11 months since I last rode this route, the centre has been eroded so it is about 15cm lower than the sides and is full of rocks. The sides are narrow covered in flinty gravel. Today I had to walk this stretch for the first time.

Twenty metres later I'm back on the bike but still in bottom gear. Fields of gold to left and right, climbing more into the open, sun streaming down but staying cool because of the welcome east/north-easterly wind. As the gradient eases, the view to the right is more expansive and I see a kestrel dart across a few metres ahead. More gentle climbing to the top of the ridge where I stop to open a gate. This is glorious and not a soul to be seen. A little further on, a skylark jumps off a post just in front of me and takes off in full song.

The next gateway opens out to a small parking area from where vehicles may drive up.

(Looking north towards the North Downs in the far distance; the road up following the trees along the split approx halfway across the image).

The next stretch is rolling and am able to use the middle ring to the next parking area where I ride down the tarmac road to the bottom of the hill for a little rest. Because I then ride back up and just manage it, again in the bottommost gear. At the top, back on the hard packed chalk with small loose gravel on top and head back from where I came, stopping a couple of times to take pictures.

(Looking south; where the fields and sky seem to merge is a thin line of different colour, the english channel).

Wild cornflowers along the bottom of the fence, one of my favourites, not abundant, good to see.

Quickly traversing the ridge again, the only people who pass in the opposite direction are one cyclist and one unfriendly walker with a black labrador. Now riding into the wind, am staying cool to the roadway down, under cover of trees cooling more, over the main road onto a sideroad and home. A ride of only about 75 minutes with total ascent of 379 m, good enough for me today. Ultimately a good, happy ride apart from the initial struggle up the rough stuff. Maybe next time I may not have to walk?