The Crimble Bimble

Truth be told, when I rolled in from my Xmas Party just after midnight last night, I had visions of trying to make excuses for myself to not go this morning but as it happened, despite going to bed pretty wiped out, I had a rather solid sleep and woke feeling pretty refreshed at 7.15am. I tip-toed downstairs and had some breakfast while staring out at a murky looking garden shrouded in fog. The forecast said sunshine so I expected it to lift shortly to reveal the glorious sunshine we’d been promised.

I left the house about 8.40am for the 40 min drive to the Stratford Greenway car park. The fog finally broke as I approached the Warwick exit on the M40 before finding my way through a quiet Stratford-on-Avon town centre bathed in bright sunshine. As I entered the car park there were already a few riders milling about getting ready. Car parking done on the app, I rolled down to Bobby’s Cafe in the railway carriage and met some familar faces and had a pre-ride coffee.

At about 9.50am I peeked out the window and saw a nice big group had turned up. Some had trained it into Stratford, some had driven and some had even ridden upto 20 miles to get there. I rode back to the car park to do a final sweep before my normal pre-ride introductions. I even remembered to take a group photo this time too. My GPS played up again so no map this time only recording but the course was pretty straightforward to remember and then just after 10am we all rolled away.

I had asked if anyone wanted to do any Geocaching on the way and people seemed a bit indifferent about the idea but it was so cold early on I decided to sack it off quietly. No one mentioned it again so shhhh!

With 50+ riders in the group it was always going to be difficult to keep them all together so when it did inevitably split I decided we’d regroup at the end of the Greenway first then at the top of the climb. Everyone seemed in good spirits chatting away. It was great to see so many Gravelton newbs on this one with a few extra ladies too. Conditions were pretty good considering the rain on Friday. There were plenty of puddles to splash through but on the whole the first section held up well.

After we regrouped at Long Marston at the end of the first sector, we continued around the lanes into Mickleton and then began the climb up Bakers Hill initially, then there was a brief bit of rest before we turned right for Hidcote Boyce and continued to the top of Lark Stoke on a testing, steep track. The views from the top were awesome. Everyone waited but it was cold so I told everyone to carry on while I waited for the last few to get up the climb.

They insisted I carry on and were happy so I decided to get a lick on, firstly nearly riding past the next sector. A punchy little climb gave way to a nice wide trail that dropped quite sharply at the end back onto the road. Here a couple of riders were mending a puncture. They said they were fine too, so I dropped into Ilmington and picked up another couple of riders who, like me, had GPS problems so I brought it up on my phone.

The next sector across the edge of a field was the gloopiest. I had cyclocross flashbacks as I kept the gas on while my tyres squirmed left and right in the mud. Great fun and not too long a section it became too hard or laborious either.

From here I opened the taps a bit now and caught another rider, Suzanne, in Lower Quinton and we rode back together. She admitted she was a roadie and wasn’t particularly feeling the mud, which was fine. She was tired though as she was one of the riders that had ridden 21 miles to the start! and it is a pain to have to clean your bike afterwards. We chatted though and decided it would be a much better route dry, so I said we’ll do it again in the Summer but she’s got to come. So you heard it here first, The Stratford Solstice, the name we came up with, will happen next year!

After Lower Quinton, crossing the B4632 took a while and then it was short bit of road before right onto the Greenway and back to base.

After chatting with the riders enjoying some post-ride coffee and cake, I rolled back to my car, then a random chap approached me asking if I knew who took the group photo of us outside, as he wanted to use it for Instagram. It turned out he was one of cafe owners. I told him I’d taken the photo, arranged the event and I hoped he’d done some good business today. He was really chuffed, he said he would have been screwed unless we’d turned up. So I’m really pleased that worked for them as I had visions of them maybe moaning because we’d all rocked up at once and overwhelmed them.

It was a great turn out today. The events are getting very well supported now which is marvellous and with so many new riders too, it proves 2025 has been great but 2026 looks even better!

Thanks everyone for your support this year. If you keep riding, I’ll keep planning!

Have a great Christmas.

I’m off to Fuerteventura now for a week of MTB in my shorts.

Adios!