Game: Name that road!

[lazybloke]

I'd moved on to Ardingly...

 

[Aravis]

No not Ardingly. Must be running out of reservoirs soon.

I ran out of reservoirs a long time ago.

I may be reading too much into this, but there seems to be a second body of water beyond the first, or more likely part of the same body separated by a spit of land. But with the elimination of Ardingly and Bewl I'm not sure what's left.

It's an area I've rarely visited, so this is all map-based thinking.

I did have one left-field idea, knowing that Mr D once did Velothon Wales; there's an irregularly shaped reservoir near Pontypool which that ride might well have gone past. But that thought was quickly eliminated.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Yes - it would probably be a quick trip over one of the hills and straight back.


That looks very similar to the route of The Cotswold Challenge audax from Meriden. I bumped into @dave r at the start of the event about 10 years ago.

For some reason I can't find my GPX file of the route. It might have been on my old laptop, in which case it has probably been lost now.

It was a nice route.

That was 2014 and the last 100 mile ride I did, I haven't got the time for that long a ride these days unfortunately, I remember the Cotswold audax as hard but fun, I rode that from memory having spent several evenings with Google Maps memorizing the route, I still haven't got a GPS device, I use the phone and Ride With GPS sometimes to record rides.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Bewl and Weir wood were on the right lines. It's not an event btw, those riders just happened to be passing.

You could possibly say the location is High Church.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I reckon it would be quite a stretch to do Coventry to the Malverns and back without going too far over 100 miles. You might find you have to take pretty much the shortest route there and back, and then not have enough time in the hills when you're there.

This might be old hat, but I wonder if the Broadway Tower, the highest (I think) through route in the Cotswolds might be a better target. I've sketched out a route which starts at Warwick University (where else ), and using mostly routes I've used at one time or another, including some good traffic-free stuff, negotiates a couple of seriously steep climbs on the way back, and at the end passes the cyclists' memorial at Meriden:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34366477?beta=false

View attachment 551271

It's kinda the wrong way round for me though.

That doesn't look a bad route, I'd be careful around Kennilworth, they are planning major road works on the A46 which will affect the Stoneliegh road, on the way out it goes past the Hatton Locks cafe which could serve as the first coffee stop? On the way back it goes past the Cowshed at Wootten Wawen a late coffee stop?

 

[ColinJ]

I don't have a clue where @Dogtrousers' latest picture was taken! Looks nice though...

Meanwhile, back at 'The Cotswold Challenge'...

I thought it was odd that I hadn't kept the file. I just found it - I had stored it in the old Memory Map .mmo format rather than as a gpx. This is the 2014 audax route (it may have changed since then).

(Loop ridden anti-clockwise.)

 

[Aravis]

That doesn't look a bad route, I'd be careful around Kennilworth, they are planning major road works on the A46 which will affect the Stoneliegh road, on the way out it goes past the Hatton Locks cafe which could serve as the first coffee stop? On the way back it goes past the Cowshed at Wootten Wawen a late coffee stop?

Thanks - it was intended as an illustration of how much more you can do with the out and back legs if the most distant point is a bit nearer the start. I do think the Broadway Tower is a good objective, and I see the 2014 Audax didn't go there, the route designer clearly having different priorities. The road past it reaches 316 metres, which I feel sure must be the highest through road south of the Severn/Trent axis. There are lots of approaches, some of which even the timidest of climbers like me can take on, and having winched yourself up there you stay a high level for a worthwhile time.

On the return leg, just after Bidford-on-Avon in a seemingly benign landscape there is a vicious little 20% climb on a road called Grafton Lane. I routed myself up it in the latter stages of a long ride early last year, thinking I knew it from a charity ride some years ago when it didn't seem too bad. It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity - oops.

I confess that coffee stops don't naturally register on my radar, so thanks for reminding me that group rides do need to consider such things!

Back to @Dogtrousers's picture...

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Thanks - it was intended as an illustration of how much more you can do with the out and back legs if the most distant point is a bit nearer the start. I do think the Broadway Tower is a good objective, and I see the 2014 Audax didn't go there, the route designer clearly having different priorities. The road past it reaches 316 metres, which I feel sure must be the highest through road south of the Severn/Trent axis. There are lots of approaches, some of which even the timidest of climbers like me can take on, and having winched yourself up there you stay a high level for a worthwhile time.

On the return leg, just after Bidford-on-Avon in a seemingly benign landscape there is a vicious little 20% climb on a road called Grafton Lane. I routed myself up it in the latter stages of a long ride early last year, thinking I knew it from a charity ride some years ago when it didn't seem too bad. It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity - oops.

I confess that coffee stops don't naturally register on my radar, so thanks for reminding me that group rides do need to consider such things!

Back to @Dogtrousers's picture...

I'm sure I've been up Grafton Lane in the past, Billesley road up into Wilmcote is a good one, as is the climb up through Binton and the climb up Croft road from the A46, that one used to be on the Coventry Road Club charity ride, I used to do the ride on my Fixed and usually ended up walking that climb.

 

[lazybloke]

Bewl and Weir wood were on the right lines. It's not an event btw, those riders just happened to be passing.

You could possibly say the location is High Church.

Oh man, that clue's doing nothing for me. My retinas are seared with Ordnance Survey images.

 

[Aravis]

In the area to the north of here there's a lot of commercial fruit growing, often covered with large areas of plastic sheeting which from a distance can look like water. I must get some pictures to confuse everyone in this thread.

There are also places which are frequently really covered in water but you'd never know this from a map, and I do have a suitable picture of one of those. Think of the fun you might soon have.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The picture is quite close (a couple of km or so) from the top of a famous and old hill climb. The cyclists who are pictured are just starting off after refreshments and the opportunity to relieve themselves.

The reservoir is what you might say if you were commanding a show of deference from a sandy shoreline. Imagine King Canute, he may say this on his way to commanding the tide to stop.

 

[Aravis]

The picture is quite close (a couple of km or so) from the top of a famous and old hill climb. The cyclists who are pictured are just starting off after refreshments and the opportunity to relieve themselves.

The reservoir is what you might say if you were commanding a show of deference from a sandy shoreline. Imagine King Canute, he may say this on his way to commanding the tide to stop.

Found it!

That's after seriously wondering if your last clue meant Frankley.

While I await formal confirmation, I have a couple of possibles I could use, but if anyone has anything good, feel free. I'll leave it until about midday, and if no-one's jumped in I'll post one.

 

[figbat]

Aaaargh, too slow. The clues took me to Bough Beech Reservoir but I couldn't nail down the road.

 

[BrumJim]

The "High Church" clue was referring to the fact that Ide Hill has (or is claimed to have) the highest church in Kent.

Surely that's Canterbury Cathedral?
(Ecclesiastical "joke")

 

[lazybloke]

I found it too, an hour too late. Botheration.