Club Ride Saturday 17th January 2015

Somewhere between Coates and Cherrington
(Click once to enlarge photographs)

As much as I enjoy visiting some of our favourite haunts, I always relish (no pun intended) club rides to new coffee stops. This morning we made our maiden visit to Jack's café in Cirencester.

Five Clarions mustered outside of the Town Hall. I’d grown accustomed to the scaffolding around the front and now that it’s been removed, it’s left the building looking strangely bare. Whilst we waited for any latecomers, Andy Poolman pulled up in his car and making sure that he didn’t allow too much of the heat to escape from inside, wished us well.

With no other Clarions in sight, we set off. Riding up Blicks Hill we passed Ted who looked as though he’d come to collect the milk from his doorstep. Without stopping we exchanged pleasantries. Well, sort of. Ted questioned our sanity and we urged him to jump on the back of our peloton.

I think it’s fair to say that we were all feeling confident about the ride. The sun seemed to be making an excellent job of transforming any lingering snow into harmless slush. 

The ride continued in much the same vein until we reached the roads around Ewen where we encountered long stretches of compacted snow and ice. Safety was paramount and we crawled along at a snail’s pace keeping as straight a line as possible and resisting any temptation to use our brakes for fear of skidding. 

I say we, Andy Parker was actually riding his recumbent tricycle and with much greater stability, he didn’t have to restrict his speed, as we did. In fact Andy took on the role of ‘minesweeper’ and regularly shouted warnings back to us. With an orange light on top and a couple of bags of rock salt in his panniers, he’d have made a very effective ‘gritter.’

About 2 miles out from Cirencester the roads improved dramatically and at long last we were able to get the legs moving properly and generate some worthwhile body heat.

Jack's cafe, Cirencester

Spirits lifted, we all safely arrived at Jack's café. Here, there was a splendid selection of cakes on display. I was immediately drawn to the Victoria Sponge which had about an inch of jam and cream running through the middle, but instead opted for an apricot flapjack.

After the torture of the outward leg, we resolved to find a much safer way home. It’s funny how we say these things and then when we’re warm and chatting amiably over hot drinks and cake, we think everything is well again with the World and promptly disregard the promise we’d earlier made to ourselves.

Clarions nervously negotiate the snow and ice

And so it was that in buoyant mood we took the Stroud road out of Cirencester and then peeled off towards Coates. However, before too long even Andy had to dismount when we reached an ascent made treacherous by the deadly ice. This was by no means the last time we’d have to get off. Walking was unavoidable, but doing so safely on cleats wasn’t easy. The snowfall was definitely much worse than we’d previously experienced.

A Christmas card scene

Eventually we made it to Cherrington and turning southwards towards Tetbury, we found the roads in a much better state. Just outside of the town we parted company with Andy and returned to Malmesbury via Shipton Moyne, grateful that we had done so in one piece.