Bad news everyone, not only is it nearly the end of August, but that’s also the last Bank Holiday until Christmas, so I hope you all made the most of it.
I’ve had a bit of a mixed bag this weekend, with a bit of pottering around wrapping up odd jobs, a little bit of walking, and a bit of cycling, so there should be plenty to talk about. So where should we start? Well how about in the order things happened for a change. I spent most of the day on Saturday, catching up with odd jobs, and trying to wrap up a few loose ends before I start anything else. There seems to be quite a list that never seems to get any shorter. But, amongst other things I have finally cut back and polished the paintwork on the Bangernomics Peugeot where I treated a few (or more than a few) rust patches that were starting to appear around the rear wheel arches and lower sills a few weeks ago. One thing that is for certain, is that I’ll never make a bodywork repair guru. Whilst the rust’s gone and hopefully it won’t come back, it’s hardly a seamless paint match, a situation that’s not helped by it being rattle can paint and done outside during the great British summer. But, it’ll do, and however it looks, it’s better than the dreaded tin worm eating it away! More within my skill set, I’ve also taken the opportunity to change the oil and all the filters on the van before it goes for its MOT on Tuesday. I’m cutting it a bit fine on the MOT this year as I normally get it booked in and out of the way well in advance, but I’ve needed the van for the last few weekends, and whilst I don’t expect it to fail, you never know. If next weekend's blog is van repair related, you’ll know that it wasn’t good news, so watch this space. The Plums that I mentioned last week have continued to ripen through the week too, so Saturday morning I picked 2KG of the ripest fruit to make into jam. That’s only a fraction of the fruit that’s on the tree, and it made 7 Jars of beautiful jam, so I’m either going to have to start thinking of other things to make with Plums or eat nothing but Plums for the next couple of weeks if they’re not going to go to waste. They are delicious, and so juicy, so I’m already eating as many as I can manage, the biggest problem though is that they don’t travel very well (or at all) so whilst I tend to get through a load of fruit through the day at work, there’s no way that I’m going to load my panniers full of plums for the ride into work, I can just imagine the mess when I get there!
Sunday afternoon I headed up to Wantage ready for Monday's Audax fun, and stopped off for a couple of hours walking along the Ridgeway on the way.
Since I’ve not been running and my Knees and Achillies have been playing up I’ve not really been getting many miles in of any sort, and despite the wind whistling over the hills it was great to be out. More positively, whilst I only did about 6 or 7 miles, my knees felt fine, and whilst my Achilles felt a bit tender by the end, I definitely see that as a step in the right direction and feel that things are continuing to improve. Fingers crossed we’ll keep moving in the same direction and hopefully I’ll be able to get back running, before too long.
Which, I suppose, brings us to the main event of the weekend, the Old Roads and Drove Roads 200km Audax. This event hasn’t run for a few years due to Covid and access issues, but it had a good reputation as a popular ride, so when it appeared back on the calendar I’d jumped at the chance to get signed up.
You’ll note that I said one of the reasons that this event hasn't run for a few years was access issues and that’s because the main raison-d'etre is the chance to visit the lost village of Imber, which sits slap bang in the middle of the Salisbury plain firing range. Imber was requisitioned by the Army as part of the build up to the D-Day landings, with the residents being told that they could move back in once the war was over. 80 years later and it’s still under the control of the MOD who delight in allowing the Army to fire their big guns right over the top of what remains of the village on a regular basis, meaning that it’s a bit dangerous to allow anyone to live there, and anyway, there’s only the church left, so there’s not much to go back too. Anyhow, all this Army activity means that the roads in and out of Imber are only open for access a couple of times a year, so tying in an Audax with the few open days can be a bit of a problem. Not this year though, all the stars had aligned and I’d been looking forward to this one for a while. It appeared that plenty of other people had been looking forward to it too, as there was a good turn out at the start, including someone from Cambridge who had bivvied out on the Ridgeway Sunday night and another who’d made the journey from Macclesfield specially for the event (at least I think that’s where he said, either way it was somewhere “up North”.. Luckily the weather appeared to be on our side too and we set off bright and early into the early morning sunshine, with barely a cloud in the sky, although the forecast, which turned out to be correct, was for it to cloud over as the day progressed.
The first few miles set the scene for the rest of the day, with a stiff climb to take us across the Ridgeway for the first time of the day, coming almost immediately. If there’s two things that a good climb straight away does it’s wake up your legs, warm you up, and split the field up, spreading everyone out across the countryside, and today was no exception. A couple of fast riders disappeared up the road, whilst I slotted happily into a nice little niche at an effort I could happily maintain, without undue exertion.
By the time we reached the first checkpoint at Great Bedwyn, we’d made that first crossing of the Ridgeway, slogged up the long steady climb out of Lambourn and tackled the steep sharp leg burner at Ramsbury, all of which are a bit cheeky in their own right, but one after the other, well that’s just mean! From Great Bedwyn, it was familiar roads to take us down to the next control at Pewsey, where a chocolate croissant provided sustenance and a proof of passage receipt, before the next leg which would take us onto Salisbury Plain and eventually lead to the day’s prize at Imber. The first of the day's crossings of Salisbury Plain was a bone shaking affair, as we left the safety of the tarmac and took to the Military gravel tracks that criss-cross the military manoeuvring areas. I’ll happily admit that off road cycling does nothing for me, if I wanted to ride off road I’d buy a mountain bike, and that first crossing of the plain, firmly reinforced my dislike for having my eyeballs shaken from their sockets, backside battered, and wrists jarred to almost destruction. Sometimes though, you’ve just got to suck it up and get on with it. And despite the eyeball loosening surface, the views, quiet and solitude, of this normally inaccessible area, more than made up for it.
A return to a proper road surface as we exited the South side of the plain eventually allowed my vision to return to normal as my eyeballs settled back into their sockets and my pace return from the glacial picking my way around boulders and potholes experienced for the last few miles, to it’s normal not quite glacial pace.
The petrol station attendant at Tilshead, where I stopped for another proof of passage receipt, took delight in telling me most of his life story, whilst I quietly prayed that someone else would come in needing his attention so I could make my escape and get back on the road (thank you leather clad motor biker for replacing me as he started his life story again). Back on the road again, the next leg was the one that I’d come all this way for, but first some more gravel, although compared to the earlier bit this was like riding on a sea of clouds by comparison. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but I think that Imber lived up to my expectations when I got there, although it was probably good that I wasn’t expecting much. The church which is about all that remains of the original village stood proud against the surrounding countryside, and a number of old buildings remain, minus their windows and doors and re-roofed in modern sheet metal. There were plenty of people milling around, taking in the unusual opportunity to visit and enjoying the late summer sun and whilst I didn’t stop for long on this occasion, I’d definitely like to return at some point in the future to have a look around the church etc. But for today, sweaty cycling kit seemed a bit out of place, and the need to plod on won over the urge to stop.
Pushing on, it didn’t take long to make it to the halfway point at Warminster, where a nice man, safely ensconced in the pub, stamped my Brevet card and provided the question for the next “Info control”. That’s an unusual approach as the questions are normally printed on the cards, but in this instance as we were heading back through Imber on the return leg, there would have been the opportunity to get the answer on the way out and cut few miles off the days total and we can’t be having that can we!
A long climb out of Warminster took us back through Imber and beyond, before we turned North West along more Gravel track and directly into the face of the wind which had picked up as the day progressed. More climbing opened up the view of the surrounding countryside and offered expansive views over the flatter ground towards Melksham, which was to be our next destination.
The last time I went through Melksham it was freezing cold and dawn was just breaking over the snow covered countryside. Today though was a bit more cyclist friendly, although I’d forgotten quite how long a drag it is to climb out of town along the A3102.
The turn after Melksham had bought the wind back onto my back, and the flatter roads allowed for a few faster miles as I headed back along familiar roads towards the next big challenge of the day and the climbs up Hackpen hill with it’s famous white horse (one of many in the local area), and a real leg tester! I’ll happily admit that I’ve walked the steep and winding road up to Hackpen Beacon on plenty of occasions, when tired legs have won over the desire to battle to the top. Today though, I’d just caught up with another rider, and we can’t be losing face in front of others can we, so it was an all out effort to to get to the top!
All that effort paid off though as from the top of the climb we turned off onto the Ridgeway, for one last bit of slippery gravel fun (or not as the case may be) and the gradual descent to take us back towards the start.
I’ll admit that I didn’t really enjoy those last few miles of potholed gravel, tired legs and tired bones didn’t take well to picking my way around puddles, and road tyres, whilst plenty grippy enough for the normal road surface aren’t ideal on gravel or slippery mud. That’s all part of the fun though and it wasn’t long before I was back on terra-firma, watching the miles slowly tick down as the afternoon turned to early evening and the days end slowly approached.
Arriving back at the start, tired, hungry and happy, I took the opportunity to take the weight off my feet for a few minutes and gracefully accepted the hot brew that was on offer, whilst I sorted through the days proof of passage receipts and filled in all the carefully remembered answers to the days “Info Control” questions (not really, I’ve got a rubbish memory so it’s easier to just get a photo of the thing in question and then update the Brevet card when your sat down).
Whilst off-roading and gravel aren’t really my thing, it was more than worth the few uncomfortable miles for the chance to visit Imber, and to be totally honest the entire day's route had been a delight. A good mix of testing climbs, fast descents and plenty of easier miles to make the distance up. What a great day out that was, and whilst I’m in no rush to have my eyeballs shaken from their sockets again, there’s no doubt that I’ll have forgotten that by next year and I’ll be on the start line again for more of the same!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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