Inside at Sweetapples Teashop
Saturday's ride is to Sweetapples Teashop, located in the High Street at Marshfield. We were due to pay them a visit on 14th May, until we discovered that we weren't the only cycling club in town that day. This time I've checked, and Chippenham Wheelers' Social Group are stopping elsewhere.
There's plenty of storage for your bikes at the back where the seating area is. There's no rear entrance to the teashop, so you'll need to walk around to the front to place your orders, which will then be served at your table.
The Sporting Group's 42 mile course is ready to be viewed and downloaded.You can take your pick between the two formats below.
There's only 1,800 feet of climbing, a chunk of which, is the ascent from Ford up to Colerne. It's a good road. The elevation is gradual, but it does last for about 1.5 miles. If it's clear, there are glorious far reaching views.
We could bypass Colerne, but as it's somewhere we don't normally cycle through, it would be a shame to miss the attractive High Street, with its war memorial, public houses, post office and shops.
For the Social Group, Howard has come up with the following course:
Clarions gathered at the top of Horsley Hill
The photograph shows members at Horsley Hill on Wednesday 10th September 2014, to watch the Tour of Britain.
On Wednesday we welcomed Simon Hillman for his first ride with us. The course involved a steep technical descent of the 'W' off of Minchinhampton Common, not made any easier by the wet road surface, quickly followed by an ascent of Horsley Hill. We failed to break Simon, so hopefully he'll be back to see us again soon.
The other riders who took part were: Chris, James, John (Steve K's friend), Jonathan, Peter C, Steve K and me, Tim W.
On our way back to Malmesbury, after a couple of postponements due to the weather, we finally got to stop at the Cat and Custard Pot in Shipton Moyne. There we met up with Malc and Mike G. Malc had been riding with the Flying Monk Tri Club and Mike G was keen to see his cycling chums again following his recent operation. The good news is that Mike was able to ride over. The not so good news is that his recovery has been set back by a secondary infection.
A tasty looking ploughman's lunch served at the Raglan Castle Cafe
The 96.8 mile course has 5,925 feet of elevation. It can be viewed and downloaded here.
Departure will be at 8.00am. The ride will be going ahead as scheduled, regardless of numbers, but if you are intending to ride, it would be useful if you could send me a quick email. The only reason I ask, is that if for any reason you're running a few minutes late, and I know you're coming, we won't leave without you.
Flexibility is the key, and we can always tweak things on the day to meet members' needs, but initially, please have sufficient food and water to last until we reach the cafe at Raglan Castle (45 miles).
There are convenience stores at Raglan and Usk, and we pass a small Budgens supermarket on the edge of Chepstow twice, but there isn't much in between, so do stock up when the opportunities arise.
The real climbing begins on the way home after Usk. The scenery is stunning though and there's a great descent into Chepstow.
A fairly economic lunch break at Raglan Castle, a couple of roadside stops to refuel in the saddle, plus some fine weather, could see us back in Malmesbury around 4.00pm.
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