29th October 2009

The plan was to have a pleasant cross country ride on the Dawes Hybrid, I didn't want to push myself to hard but I also didn't want to sit on my arse and do nothing all day...

What I had forgotten was.....OFF ROAD MILES ARE BLOODY HARD WORK! when you stop pedaling you stop! to go in a straight line you have to work at it, the harder you pedal the more the back wheel spins.....and...the Dawes has no suspension and every undulation in the surface is felt.

I started out on NSN 403 (It used to be 4 but was stealthily relabelled during the summer), It starts out as little more than a farm track.

The goes through some nice woodland

And eventually pops out along side a part of the Wilts Berks Canal

Because the stretch of water isn't joined to any other bits of water and there are no boats on it, there is nothing to stop the weed growth, hence it looks a lot green!

After a short bit of road through Calne the cycle way heads back out cross country, some of the cycle path can barely be called a cycle path at all!

Just after the Sand works the cycle way has been diverted through a boggy field...It used to at least be gravelled and hard standing (I think a complaint letter is going to Sustrans)

I terminated the cross country muddy puddle as soon as the cycle way came parallel to the Compton Bassett road, I nipped through a gap in the hedge :-)

After a few moments of de-clogging the wheels and brakes from the mud I was off again :-)

The next trail stint was much better :-)

Then onto a short stretch of tree lined and very quiet road...

Then it was back across fields....(And yes this is still the same cycle way NSN 403)

At Avebury I joined the road system again, I joined the A4 for a short stint then turned onto the quiet rural road at West Kennet, then I backtracked my route yesterday to Alton Barnes (Back up the long drawn out hill and down a quick descent)

I arrived at The Barge Inn at HoneyStreet to meet up with Wifey for lunch...(It took 2 hours 14 to do the 23 or so miles)

After a nice Ham, Egg n Chips lunch (including a couple of pints of my favourite Cider) I started on the home journey, the plan was to follow the Kennet and Avon canal back to Melksham, I off course started of in the wrong direction, after a little on road detour I managed to rejoin the canal and was heading in the right direction :-)

The canal path was very slippery and very bumpy - probably better suited to proper mountain bike tyres instead of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres I had fitted (They were also inflated to a good road pressure....perhaps that wasn't wise)

After a few interesting moments I made it to Devizes and the Cane Hill Locks, as it is a more popular area the cycle path became much smoother and faster :-)



After a few more miles I turned off the canal paths and headed into Melksham and re-joined NSN 403 - This time along the bank of the River Avon

I followed the cycleway through Lacock and along another part of the disjointed Wilts Berks Canal

Then it was just a short ride back home...

The Garmin had the ride as 49.43 miles in 4 hours 8 mins with an average speed of 11.9 mph, route here...

I really enjoyed today's ride, it was much harder work than I expected, every mile had to be worked for! but it was nice and I managed to stay away from traffic and other people for 90% of it :-)

I followed some very historic routes, The Calne Branch Line, The Wilts Berks Canal, The Ridge Way, The Kennet and Avon, The River Avon... It was great :-)