It was with a bit of trepidation I got my bike ready on Friday. I wanted to get another couple of rides in this week but other than one 2hr ride and a 45 min turbo session that was it. It wouldn’t make much difference in the grand scheme of things but it would have made feel a bit more confident given I was looking at 8-9hrs on the bike yesterday.
I set my alarm for 5am. I got up quite spritely and demolished what was, for me, a hefty breakfast. Weetabix, granola, toast, yoghurt, a banana and the obligatory coffee. I got ready and hit the road just before 6am. It was a 45 min drive to the car park in West Malvern where I was meeting up with Ben and a crew he’d assembled.
I got there and rode down to the car parking machine and it didn’t work. Tim, one of the other riders tried too. Nope not having it on a card or accepting cash so I took some pics in case we got ticketed.
Slowly riders arrived which swelled the numbers to 9 and just after 7am we headed off and rode a nice gravelly trail around the edges of the hills tracking some of the ‘official’ MTB route that’s available. With a brief bit of tarmac through the Wyche Cutting we eventually popped out at British Camp car park and headed south skirting the camp reservoir to pick up a bit of tarmac before heading back offroad past Gullet Quarry to Hollybush.
Here the gravel took a back seat as we cracked on through the lanes crossing the M50 and riding through the beautiful village of Redmarley d’Abitot. What was clear at this point was the speed of the group was a whisker above my comfort zone and this was to be the theme of the day for me. I’d felt a bit meh the first few km, probably because of my unusually big breakfast but I was settled in now and enjoying the glorious morning as the heat and sun rose.
At Hartbury it was a brief foray onto the A417 before back into the lanes to cut across to Maisemore to pickup the riverside trail. At the docks I had my first ‘incident’. I’d just ridden over a bridge and we were turning right. A car was coming from the left so I just scooted briefly down the right hand path waiting for them to pass so I could jump onto the carriageway but instead the driver turned right across my path, literally feet in front of me, looked at me and told me to ‘fuck off’. Even a young lad on the opposite side of the road commented ‘What’s his problem?’ Flabbergasted, we laughed it off but inside I was burning up with rage and wanted to punch his fucking lights out.
Anyway, drama over we hit the canal and enjoyed a relatively quiet towpath all the way down to just outside Slimbridge where we decided to stop at The Black Shed cafe. Sadly though they had some issues in the kitchen and there was a 20 min wait so we decided to carry on. At Sharpness we hit the end of the canal and it was back onto some tarmac briefly before we hit the next gravel sector which the first part was a disused lane. We crossed the main road and the next sector was similar but finished on a dry, bumpy bridleway before popping out in Berkley where we stopped at a tea room.
I recommend the Berkley Tea Rooms. Magnificent portion sizes and you can get your bollock bag pierced too. Awesome!
Stopping is always an odd one. You need the food for the ride but getting going afterwards and waking the legs back up always taked a bit of time.
There isn’t really a direct route to the Severn Bridge from here so we had to pick our way round the lanes and enjoy some decent gravel sectors I’d thrown in which turned out to be quite good. Having enjoyed great weather and a refreshing head wind at times, as we neared the bridge we could see ominous looking dark clouds waiting to greet us which made me nervous. I hadn’t brought any gear for wet weather.
When we hit the bridge our chosen route was closed so we had to cross over and ride across on the southern side. I didn’t mind, I’d never ridden across on that side before. It was pretty windy but it was coming from our left hand side which boad well for the ride back home. We would hopefully get a tailwind.
In Chepstow we trundled our way through a housing estate to pick up a path that popped us out onto the main road. We crossed and dropped down through the main high street and seemed to wait an eternity at the bridge lights. Over the bridge it was straight on up a super steep, 1st gear path between the houses and then after all that effort to get up high we dropped back down and joined the Wye Valley Greenway which initially skirted a school before taking us onto the disused railway line and into Tidenham Tunnel.
The tunnel is pretty mad and nothing like I expected. It’s probably the darkest tunnel I’ve ever ridden through. There is very, very dim, low level lighting and bike lights are not allowed (because of bats) and trying to see pedestrians is a challenge. It’s a bit bonkers but I’d recommend riding it for the experience. Glad I did.
Out the other side we began the ride back up the Wye Valley tracking the river and it was raining. It’s a nice wide gravel trail. We climbed off the disused railway and got confused at one junction and went off course sending us onto the Offas Dyke footpath. Garmin’s find it hard to lock in a GPS signal under heavy tree cover and a lack of 4G didn’t help either. We dropped down a steep grassy slope and picked up a track which got us back on track in Brockweir. And it had stopped raining. That’s all we had!
From here we rode riverside. Initially it was pretty rural, peppered with kissing gates and quite harsh and bumpy to ride on. With the worse bit over we crossed the river and picked up the old track bed again and stopped in Redbrook for water and snacks as some of us were getting low.
Out of Redbrook we took a a narrow path up onto a trail which ran parallel to the main road. We skirted Monmouth which was on the other side of the river then it was decent traffic-free route all the way to Symonds Yat where we stopped with the intention of grabbing some food again but the kiosk was closed so we cracked on. The lack of stop here was probably my undoing later on.
At Goodrich we crossed the river again and pushed onto Ross. It was here the draggy roads were beginning to make me smart and take their toll. I had one gel left and I’d told myself I’ll wait to Ledbury. In Ross-on-Wye the town trail was a bit of revelation. A fast gravel path that cut across to the A40 where we were greeted by lights and a long queue of traffic. We hopped onto the path and bypassed it all but at the far end a lady was shuffling on the path. Clearly dazed, her partner said she’d had a stroke. How sad but I thought been on the side of a busy main road probably wasn’t ideal.
I was glad to get off the A40. The lanes were much quieter and took us to Dymock Woods where initally a nice wide, fast gravel path gave way to some muddy singletrack, tree’s across the trail and a bit of hike-a-bike to get back on course. Gravel riding in the UK, isn’t gravel without a bit of walking.
From here the rolling roads did take their toll and just before Ledbury I got detached from the group. I’d resigned myself to rolling on solo, which was fine, but after getting lost trying to find the town trail in Ledbury, the guys had waited for me then I set a top 10 strava segment on it somehow. In town we decided to detour to Tesco’s to refuel but despite a sandwich it was probably too late for me.
The climb out of Ledbury into the Frith Wood was severe and burnt another match. I began to feel a bit better through the lanes to Colwall but Brockhill Lane almost broke me. A gravel section that kicks up steeply at the end. At that point I was yards from the car and could have just rolled over to it but the summit finish was on and even if I had to drag myself to the top I was going to finish it.
We dropped down a little before picking up the path to the top. I slapped it in first gear on lower steep section and just tapped it out. The others cracked on, I was with two others. We gained height quickly but I didin’t feel as bad as on Brockhill Lane.
The path sweeps up in front, below the summit and then swings around the back before you turn back on your self and after a few yards you are there. Job done.
Given how many miles and hrs in the saddle I actually do, banging out a ride like that leaves me thinking how I do it. So despite feeling ropey towards the end I’m quite chuffed.
Thanks to Ben for the route and the boys for the company on a tough day. It made it easier to keep going.
Sally googled it. It’s a piercing at the base where it joins your scrotum. Looking at the list in more detail though I have even more questions 😂
Great ride 👌💪 Passing your car on any part of a ride is much tougher mentally than people realise, especially near the end, the temptation to just stop is immense! I hope you Googled that piercing incognito, your ad feed will be interesting for a few days otherwise 🤣🤣🤣