A pair of Dobbies
Dobby from Harry Potter . . . . . . .
and Dobby from the Peep Show
Don't worry, I haven't gone completely insane, it's just that when Howard first mentioned a club run to Dobbies Garden Centre, I instantly had a mental image of these two running the show there.
Actually, Dobbies was founded in Scotland in 1865 by James Dobbie and originally traded as a seed merchant under the name of Dobbie & Co. They later expanded and became a seed catalogue business before eventually opening a number of garden centres. In 2008 the chain was fully acquired by Tesco after a bitter legal battle with rival Wyevale.
Okay, now that we've sorted out the difference between a pair of fictional characters and a garden centre just outside of Cirencester, let's get on with the cycling.
This morning we were very pleased to welcome not one, but two new riders in the form of Zoe and Des. It transpired that Des also rode the recent Chippenham Flapjack (I know, I did promise I wouldn't mention anything to do with Audax for a while) and the back of his head was captured on the blog in the picture taken at Kemble Village Hall. We hope to share many enjoyable miles with them in the future.
Seven of us set off this morning on the advertised course, but not to Dobbies! Howard's careful planning involved cycling the route earlier in the week and to his horror, he'd discovered that it wasn't possible to keep an eye on our bikes from the cafe. Relish therefore became the substitute coffee stop.
Just what is all that nonsense about Dobbies then? Well, I wrote that in anticipation of our trip there and as I'm rather pleased with it, it's staying in.
We were blessed with some perfect cycling weather and along the way we came across Dynamo Mike.
Shall we sit inside or out? Sometimes the elements can be very cruel. After a fair bit of dithering we eventually elected to make use of the benches outside. However, a vicious wind soon whipped up from nowhere and sent us scuttling indoors.
Our return leg took us through Ewen. Some of you might remember the drilling Shell carried out during the early 1970's in Minety looking for oil and gas. If you're ever at Ewen and in need of some refreshment, pop into The Wild Duck Inn and you'll find the drill head on display. When I was last there around 1982 they had some interesting photographs of the drilling too, but they might be long gone now.
The final mileage came in a fraction under 40 miles.
https://connect.garmin.com/course/8874829
Okay, now that we've sorted out the difference between a pair of fictional characters and a garden centre just outside of Cirencester, let's get on with the cycling.
This morning we were very pleased to welcome not one, but two new riders in the form of Zoe and Des. It transpired that Des also rode the recent Chippenham Flapjack (I know, I did promise I wouldn't mention anything to do with Audax for a while) and the back of his head was captured on the blog in the picture taken at Kemble Village Hall. We hope to share many enjoyable miles with them in the future.
Seven of us set off this morning on the advertised course, but not to Dobbies! Howard's careful planning involved cycling the route earlier in the week and to his horror, he'd discovered that it wasn't possible to keep an eye on our bikes from the cafe. Relish therefore became the substitute coffee stop.
Just what is all that nonsense about Dobbies then? Well, I wrote that in anticipation of our trip there and as I'm rather pleased with it, it's staying in.
We were blessed with some perfect cycling weather and along the way we came across Dynamo Mike.
Our peloton snakes its way through South Cerney
Shall we sit inside or out? Sometimes the elements can be very cruel. After a fair bit of dithering we eventually elected to make use of the benches outside. However, a vicious wind soon whipped up from nowhere and sent us scuttling indoors.
Leaving Relish for home
The final mileage came in a fraction under 40 miles.
https://connect.garmin.com/course/8874829
I managed a fraction over 40 miles. The section on dobbie wasn't waisted, great blog, thanks.
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