Loaded all of the kit in the car then set off to meet Rafe and Matt at the Wokingham Waterside Centre in Reading....Got there far to early as per usual!
Rafe and Matt arrived 5 minutes later, I unloaded the nice shiny,clean bike out of the car, put the last of my cycle kit on, then we were off - just a little bit of NCR4
Before the Start of NCR5
And the first (but not last) cycle friendly obstacle of the day...
We soon got into a good rhythm and Reading started disappearing behind us, Rafe's bike started making some interesting noises whilst changing gear, then on one of the climbs he decided to leave his chain on the road...
As he carries a mini workshop around with him as well it wasn't long before the offending broken and twisted link was removed and the chain rejoined...
The going was better than I had expected, the quiet lanes were ...quiet..
It seemed like no time at all and Didcot was visible on the horizon.
It was a lovely down hill from the Ridgeway, from the first glimpses of Didcot it seemed to take ages to actually get there!
The main roads to and through Wallingford were incredibly quick with the smooth road surface and strong tailwind being a welcome relief.
We followed the cycle route signs and not the GPS through Didcot (I am guessing the cycle route has been re-routed and OCM is out of date)
We followed the Thames into Abingdon then lost sight of the cycle route :-( We followed the one way system around the town centre and turned left back on to it....I still can't work out exactly how the route is supposed to go....Some of the cycle route signs are almost impossible to follow..
From Abingdon it was a very pleasant ride into Oxford...
And then we stopped for lunch...Rafe was very excited about having some vegetarian thing but the words Bacon and Roll had already been used...he had his thing..and I had mine :-)
Unfortunately the threatened rain began....and it started to get very wet and cold :-(
Rafe carried on with me for a few more miles then we headed our separate ways...Thanks Rafe it was fun :-)
I had a fair few very fast but very wet miles following the A44
At Woodstock the cycle route started heading cross country to Banbury...
The rain stopped and the sun came out :-) and I spied the first blue bells of the year :-)
Up-to this point the cycle way had been as I expected, a mixture of road, quiet lane, purpose built cycle track and re-use of byways and paths....Then came the unexpected..
Yes NCR5 crosses a muddy field....what you can't see in the picture is the steep muddy hill...I thought I had gone wrong...but nope all of the signs pointed this way...and when I had traversed the bog for a couple of miles it turned back into a track and the NCR5 signs were ever present...
The poor terrain was very energy sapping, unfortunately it did not stop here.....
By the time I got to the top the bike was covered in mud....and I was knackered!
Even the ford I cycled through didn't clean the bike much. I could have done with a downpour to wash everything off!
Just as I got to the Hotel the heavens opened...but by then it was a little to late, I wiped the main soil of the bike and chain then loaded it in the back of the car for security.
The Garmin had today's ride as 87.76 miles in 7 hours 3 minutes with an average speed of 12.4 mph, the poor terrain really is punishing!...the route can be seen here...
My first impressions of NCR5 are...some good bits, some bad bits and some bits that cannot in anyway be called a cycle path!
2 comments:
John, it was a pleasure joining you on my nice hybrid ;) The chain incident was funny, there was a look of despair on your face till you realised I was equipped to deal with it! Was worried it'd go again but ran as sweet as anything, must have just got a twisted link. Must remember to replace the spare link in my saddle bag.
I thought it was dodgy on the bit we did, but it looks like it got more interesting later.
Will update my own blog over the weekend with a few other thoughts, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures :(
Looks like a great start John, really annoyed and sorry I was unable to join you for the ride through Abingdon and Oxford, I had been so looking forward to it.
Hope the rest of the trip foes well, its definatly a brilliant challenge!
Post a Comment