I didn’t really want to ride my bike today with my new friend Graham (see photo). He had left a note under the door last night saying the plan was to ride 50 miles with a group today. First, that distance is not really interesting to me—maybe 30 miles, or possibly 40, but not 50. Second, riding the ups and downs of the hills in the Cotswold is repetitious grinding up a hill and then flying down it. I just didn’t want to do 50 miles of up and down today. Lastly, the roads are terribly narrow and the vehicles go very fast. I just didn’t want to battle the cars, or fear of getting hit by a car or truck.
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| no bike lanes, barely room for cars to pass! |
However, not wanting to chicken out, I made up my mind that I’d ride with the group for about 10 miles then turn around and come back by back tracking (so I wouldn’t get lost). I met Graham out front and we took off thru the main traffic light at Stow, and dropped off the hill to the little town of Broadwell where we waited for the other guys to arrive. After a few minutes they all gathered (see picture) and we introduced ourselves. They were a chatty bunch, joking and generally having fun Then we rode east out of the village. We traveled the back roads thru Churchill, down to Chadington, the Wynchwood Forest, Ramaden, near Witney. It was great fun talking to various men at different points on the ride. I may have been the slowest in the group, but they were always kind to hang back with me. See photo of one point on the ride where we had just crossed a main road.
One highlight of the trip was passing by the home of the Prime Minister, David Cameron, in Oxfordshire. We whizzed right past the house, which was rather amazing that we could get so close. After 20+ miles we came to the Hilltop Garden Centre, which offered great coffee, tea, cakes, and breakfast. I had the Five Piece meal with egg, beans, sausage, bacon and mushrooms (see photo). That and a cup of hot chocolate were all I needed to energize me for the ride back to Stow. After the stop we split into two groups, the faster group going on out further, and the slower group heading back toward Stow. I followed the slower group.
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| typical English breakfast (minus tomatoes) |
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| Ronnie with new biking buds |
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| our neighbor Graham, age 69 (50-60 miles per week) |
We took a rather straight road back from Ramaden to Leafield and on to Shipton under Wynchwood, Kingham, and the B4450 thru Bledington to Maughersbury and into Stow. All the while the views of the Cotswold farms and villages are stunning. The weather was superb and my only disappointment is that Jan cannot go with me on bike rides such as todays. She likes the countryside, but cannot see it up close for long stretches at a time without a bike. I hope to learn to drive here and rent a car and take her on a slow drive thru the hills.
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