Hard on the legs

- other body parts are available!

Some things this week have gone to plan - others less so but i think overall, it's been a win.

Thursday i joined Aunty B for a trip to the small Swindon & Cricklade 'preserved' railway, her to explore both the railway and canals around the town, me to do a ride i've been wanting to do for a while. We set off reasonably early for what is about an hour's drive, the day was promised dry and warm but not super hot, i had my sandwiches and a route locked into my Strava app - all looked good. A paucity of traffic had us at our destination somewhat quicker than planned, too early for me to grab breakfast at the railway which in turn meant i had an extra hour for my ride.

The first part of the ride took me eastwards, away from Swindon and across West Oxfordshire towards Wantage, I've rarely travelled in this area, its neither scenic nor does it have anywhere of particular note to see/visit. That is until you reach the edge of the Downs, a distant view of the Uffington Horse an indication of what is to come. I turned short of Wantage and stuff became a bit uphill for a bit as my route climbed to Seven Acre Hill and the Ridgeway, possibly the oldest continually used 'road' certainly in northern Europe, we are talking @ 5000 years!

I'd been to this point previously as part of a ride from Hungerford which covered several kilometres of the Ridgeway to the east, today i'd be linking up with the western, Avebury section i rode last year to a point south of Swindon, Barbury Hillfort. To put things in context, whilst there are some short sections which have received asphalt and to this day are heavily used, most of the day's 30km stretch is unsurfaced chalk and dirt and whilst it generally follows the escarpment, it is not devoid of ups and downs. The views north over the upper Thames valley are expansive the 200m high scarp being as high as it gets for at least 70/80km northwards.

My original intention was to stop for lunch when i reached the Uffington Horse and hillfort, which i did in in fairly short order but you can't actually see the hill carving from anywhere nearby and the hillfort is large and today, very windblown. Instead i decided to push on a bit further to eat. Which was a great decision, i arrived at Waylands Smithy, a Wessex group chambered tomb / long barrow to find it deserted and a fallen bough an ideal seat. And so i dined in tranquil silence overlooking the 5500 year old remains, only joined by other explorers as i prepared to depart.

But I still had 20km of Ridgeway to reach Barbury so no time to dawdle, i pushed on with some vigour, which on this terrain was generally all of 15/16kph apart from the tarmac. Barrows and hillforts were passed until my target came into site, the adjacent pre Roman fields system clear to view on the adjacent hillside. And then i was there, i'd made the connection, i've now covered almost all of the Ridgeway west of the Thames at Goring. The ride wasn't over, a few lanes and use of Swindon's extensive if poorly signed cycle paths took me northwards back to the start point to rejoin Aunty B. five hours of riding, 93km and 879m, not the hardest of days but maybe more enjoyable as a result. Would've still like that bacon sarnie before starting and i missed getting a cuppa when i got back too!

Friday. It was supposed to be a writing day but the words just didn't want to come, i took a walk to Sweden for lunch and still they failed to come. In the end i gave up and made a sausage casserole!

And so to yesterday, Saturday. I'd not had any particular ride inspiration, no events to visit, no calling of archaeology or the sea. My bro is down for work in a week or so, so when he suggested doing some research for him it seemed as good an idea as any. That research meant a visit to Glastonbury, some 50km south of Brizzle over the Mendip and onto the Somerset Levels, what the heck, why not.

With a warm forecast, i decided to set off a bit earlier, 07.47 early, i'm usually still in bed! It was, even at that hour, comfortably warm and i made good time as i crossed the tangle of hills south to the Mendip plateau, by 9.30 i was descending the scarp down to Wookey Hole, that over touristed show cave owned by the Tussuad's people. By 11.00 the research was done and i'd climbed out of the crystal city (the town attracts more than its share of tie dye, pseudo druidic, caravan dwelling tourists) to my lunch stop below the Tor.

The good news was that i'd so far beaten the heat, the bad was a return trip of over 50km back to the Avon across the crumpled hills at the Mendip / Cotswold interface of which there is no easy crossing, just less bad. And some of those climbs are steep. Imagine if you will, a sheet of paper, draw a line from one corner to the opposite one, scrunch it into a loose ball and let it open out, the resulting creases will be quite random, running in different directions, the line you drew no longer straight but bobbling about over the surface, that's what this area is like. from long descents to multiple steep climbs in close succession. It's not easy riding territory, tiring and with no aesthetic appeal, the main towns, Radstock and Midsommer Norton are shadows of their industrial / mining past, at best commuter dormitories for the Avon valley, at worst some of the poorest communities in the region.

Each successive climb took me closer to my link back to the Avon and eventually i pooped out of the Cavendish tunnel back into Bath. An unplanned joining of Aunty B gave some company back along the bike path, with an ice cream stop at the Bitton railway centre even as the temperature continued to climb. Well over six hours in the saddle had passed since my departure, 127km and those crumpled hills pushing the up element to 1500m, a climb ratio i rarely see on rides out of Brizzle.

And today, a more restful day, there will be a walk but it won't be long, i might even get some writing in the can.What i do know is that the final chapter of May Queen has been posted. It is shorter than the previous instalments but that's just how things fell. Can you believe it's a year since i finished this? Anyhow, this isn't the end of Daisy's adventures even if its the end of the book, i am working on Book 2 which will bring more adventures and hopefully answer some of the questions that you've been asking.

There will be a short hiatus in my story posting here on BC, I do encourage you to investigate my back catalogue of over fifty fiction titles that i've written over the past 25 years!

I'll be back on Wednesday, but for now,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid