Game: Name that road!

[Sea of vapours]

I wasn't sure about Great Dun - the Streetview I was looking at didn't extend far enough up and lower down it doesn't look such a wide road, but the contours on O/S looked about right.

That view, as with the Streetview images, is misleading, in part due to the lay-by it was taken from. The road is a narrow single track all the way up. Narrow enough that a bike and a small van type thing can't comfortably pass. I know this since I've encountered such vehicles most times I've been up it and the lay-bys are definitely useful !

 

[All uphill]

I wasn't sure about Great Dun - the Streetview I was looking at didn't extend far enough up and lower down it doesn't look such a wide road, but the contours on O/S looked about right.

Here's my next offering, from a memorable ride a few years ago, part of a notable sequence:

View attachment 540899

No idea, but that is lovely!

The rocks in the field make me think it is an area where there were glaciers in the last ice age.

 

[Aravis]

No idea, but that is lovely!

The rocks in the field make me think it is an area where there were glaciers in the last ice age.

The rocks, unsurprisingly, are the big clue. They have a very particular name, which I'm pretty sure everyone will recognise.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

The rocks, unsurprisingly, are the big clue. They have a very particular name, which I'm pretty sure everyone will recognise.

Is it Stonehenge ??

 

[MontyVeda]

No idea, but that is lovely!

The rocks in the field make me think it is an area where there were glaciers in the last ice age.

So somewhere north of London and Bristol then

 

[Aravis]

Stonehenge is a better lead than glaciation, I think. But it's not particularly close to the Wiltshire monument.

 

[ColinJ]

I know this since I've encountered such vehicles most times I've been up it and the lay-bys are definitely useful !

Blimey, you make it sound like something that you ride up once a month! How many times have you tackled it?

I'd like to do it at least once, but only if I can get my weight back down below 80 kgs, sort my back problems out, and get plenty of riding in for a few months beforehand. I'm not prepared to make the effort to travel there only to have to half kill myself to get up the climb.

 

[Sea of vapours]

Seven I think. I know someone who's done it twenty five times at last count, and he lives fairly close to me. The trouble is that the summit is 80km from home, so it's not entirely casual. You'd make it fairly comfortably at your normal fitness levels. It doesn't get disastrously steep; it just goes on a long time. Admittedly, the hard bit is about 1,5km long and at about 2/3 of the distance and then the last few hundred metres is needlessly steep all of a sudden, after a bit of a rest. A forum ride up there would certainly be entertaining

 

[figbat]

I wasn't sure about Great Dun - the Streetview I was looking at didn't extend far enough up and lower down it doesn't look such a wide road, but the contours on O/S looked about right.

Here's my next offering, from a memorable ride a few years ago, part of a notable sequence:

View attachment 540899

This is the first one I have recognised by sight. It‘s the B4000 from Lambourn to Ashbury, by the Ashdown House. Those are some of the sarsen stones that are scattered about this area.

 

[robjh]

This is the first one I have recognised by sight. It‘s the B4000 from Lambourn to Ashbury, by the Ashdown House. Those are some of the sarsen stones that are scattered about this area.
View attachment 540982

I worked in Swindon for a while a few years back and used to stay out near Ashbury - I loved riding that road over to Lambourn.

 

[Aravis]

Absolutely right, @figbat. I'm glad it was recognisable. Your choice now.

It seemed amusing at the time, so here's a link to that day's entry in Your ride today...

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/your-ride-today.173254/page-979#post-4941663

I also nominated that road as my choice in a "Your favourite road" thread a while back. A little bit of perfection, and it keeps it up most of the way to Newbury.

 

[figbat]

Trawling my meagre photo bank - hopefully this works:

 

[Trickedem]

Trawling my meagre photo bank - hopefully this works:
View attachment 540990

Is this is Oxfordshire? is that a mast or a pylon?

 

[figbat]

Is this is Oxfordshire? is that a mast or a pylon?

Most of what you can see is Oxfordshire but I have worked out that the bike is not parked in Oxfordshire. It is very close though.
The mast is a "wireless station".

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Most of what you can see is Oxfordshire but I have worked out that the bike is not parked in Oxfordshire. It is very close though.
The mast is a "wireless station".

So... from the sun's direction you're probably heading north into Oxfordshire, with mast visible and woods both side of the road.

B4494 heading towards Wantage?