Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
I had today planned as my last chance this year to chase the Severn Bore, as a good one was due in daylight hours ... but as soon as I saw the weather forecast last night I changed my mind. Instead of getting out early to catch the tide, I left it until about 10:15 and headed off out in my sunglasses, shorts and short sleeves to make the most of the last day of this brilliant Indian Summer we are having. Got my Metric Century-a-Month Challenge ride done early this month as a result.
I headed off out pretty much without a plan, except to avoid the A38 as much as possible and to weave about exploring bits of the Severn Vale that I don't often go to. Left the A38 for the first time at Whitminster, stopping off at Whitminster Church, which is actually about a mile away from the village, and nearer to Saul. I've always liked this church:
After Frampton, I got back on the A38 for a couple of miles before turning right across the main road (after waiting 5 minutes for a chance) and heading for Slimbridge via Ryall's Lane and then cutting across towards Berkeley via Moorends Lane. Lovely quiet lanes today in glorious sunshine. I hung a right towards the river, stopping off at the canal bridge at Purton:
The roads gradually became slightly less flat around there, with one or two nice little winding, lumpy bits:
.... before carrying on round to Sharpness docks, where I stopped for a moment at the picnic site at the dock gates:
I quite like this place, but the docks always seem a bit sad and neglected. There were plenty of trucks coming and going, but I can't remember the last time I saw a decent sized ship there.
From there, I headed off through Berkeley, where I decided against stopping for lunch, as I wanted to get some more miles on the clock and get as close to the Severn Bridge as I could.
I went past Rockhampton and Hill, again ignoring lunch opportunities , stopping for a snack on a bench in the hilltop churchyard at Cowhill (another of my favourite places). It was a bit hazy today, but you could still easily see one of the Severn Bridges from there:
I made a point of taking every little side road, turning off to Whale Wharf near Littleton upon Severn. I had hoped there might be a cycle path along the river bank there, but I found only a footpath with a tight little turnstile gate, so I didn't hang around:
I eventually got to within two miles of the Severn Bridge, before turning for home and picking up a familiar road with a nasty, never-ending hill up to Alveston (that anyone who has ever done the Severn Bridge Loop anti-clockwise will be able to picture). I grabbed myself some provisions from the Alveston Stores .... an ice cream, a soft drink and a packet of wine gums .... a balanced diet if ever I saw one. They got me home, which was an uninteresting main road slog, almost entirely on the A38. That's another 63.7 miles (102.5 km) done .... at a leisurely tourist pace of 10.5 mph door-to-door. That ride was a bit of a bonus. Unexpectedly great weather. I can always do the bore-chasing ride next Spring. You can't waste days like these.
Cheers, Donger.
I headed off out pretty much without a plan, except to avoid the A38 as much as possible and to weave about exploring bits of the Severn Vale that I don't often go to. Left the A38 for the first time at Whitminster, stopping off at Whitminster Church, which is actually about a mile away from the village, and nearer to Saul. I've always liked this church:
After Frampton, I got back on the A38 for a couple of miles before turning right across the main road (after waiting 5 minutes for a chance) and heading for Slimbridge via Ryall's Lane and then cutting across towards Berkeley via Moorends Lane. Lovely quiet lanes today in glorious sunshine. I hung a right towards the river, stopping off at the canal bridge at Purton:
The roads gradually became slightly less flat around there, with one or two nice little winding, lumpy bits:
.... before carrying on round to Sharpness docks, where I stopped for a moment at the picnic site at the dock gates:
I quite like this place, but the docks always seem a bit sad and neglected. There were plenty of trucks coming and going, but I can't remember the last time I saw a decent sized ship there.
From there, I headed off through Berkeley, where I decided against stopping for lunch, as I wanted to get some more miles on the clock and get as close to the Severn Bridge as I could.
I went past Rockhampton and Hill, again ignoring lunch opportunities , stopping for a snack on a bench in the hilltop churchyard at Cowhill (another of my favourite places). It was a bit hazy today, but you could still easily see one of the Severn Bridges from there:
I made a point of taking every little side road, turning off to Whale Wharf near Littleton upon Severn. I had hoped there might be a cycle path along the river bank there, but I found only a footpath with a tight little turnstile gate, so I didn't hang around:
I eventually got to within two miles of the Severn Bridge, before turning for home and picking up a familiar road with a nasty, never-ending hill up to Alveston (that anyone who has ever done the Severn Bridge Loop anti-clockwise will be able to picture). I grabbed myself some provisions from the Alveston Stores .... an ice cream, a soft drink and a packet of wine gums .... a balanced diet if ever I saw one. They got me home, which was an uninteresting main road slog, almost entirely on the A38. That's another 63.7 miles (102.5 km) done .... at a leisurely tourist pace of 10.5 mph door-to-door. That ride was a bit of a bonus. Unexpectedly great weather. I can always do the bore-chasing ride next Spring. You can't waste days like these.
Cheers, Donger.
but also lots of mist about so not much in the way of views today. The legs didn't seem to have much energy in them today so I was slower than I'd expected and I had a scary moment when a wasp hit me in the face just below the left eye (one time I'm glad of having glasses). I managed to flick it away without getting stug fortunately but it left me rattled for a bit.
Sprained and dislocated my left thumb and slight sprain in right thumb.
