booze and cake
probably out cycling
Ahead of a trip to Wales next month I need to hone my climbing legs, so thought I'd do a quick hill foray and hunt down some impressive and ancient trees along the way.
From my base in Vauxhall I weave through Brixton and Herne Hill, and then in my mind up the first categorised climb of the day, Croxted Rd and over the mountain of Crystal Palace. Then out to West Wickham and onto 'the lanes', the steady climb up Layhams Rd that always reminds this city boy he's more out of practice with hills than he remembers.
From the top its a speedy descent down Clarks Lane, where at 40mph a bug is hoovered into my gaping mouth hitting my larynx with the force of a Big Ben strike, and almost causing a instant gag/vom, which could have been spectacularly messy.
Some undignified coughing and spluttering and I clear the stunned bug, and style out the rest of the descent a best I can
.
I stopped for first photo of the day on Pilgrims Way
Then down through Brasted and along and up and over Star Hill which always gets me wheezing. At Aperfield I stop to photograph a tree with a real wow factor, the Aperfield Cedar, a Great Tree of London.
I'm then on the hunt of a couple of ancient yew trees in the Churchyard of nearby St Peter's and St Pauls's Church in Cudham. Its only a short distance but its down and up the very steep Berry Hill/Church hill, that has me in my most hilly gear of 39-25 and still honking out of the saddle, nose almost on the front tyre like a Belleview Redenzvous charecter. Cor blimey there were some cobwebs blown out of the lungs on that section.
The yews are well over 1000 years old and predate the Churchyard in which they now reside. I am transfixed by knarled and knobbly bark, and the thought these trees have been around since the Romans first arrived. The yew in Totteridge in Barnet is regarded as London's oldest tree at approx 2000 years old, but these are the next oldest I think.
I'm then off down Downe Rd,
which is fast and has the mottled shade sun/combo which means you're never 100% sure of the road surface, so is done while trying to suppress mental images of hitting pot holes, wheels buckling, forks snapping, teeth smashing, bones splintering etc. I get to the bottom alive, and pull into a field for a flapjack break and a bit of a sit in the sunshine.
Then a sharp little climb up Cudham Lane and its a coast to Downe, where Charles Darwin lived and worked for 40 years, as the plaque and sundial on the Church there reveals.
Directly opposite this is another ancient yew, the Downe yew.
photo limit reached, to be continued.....
From my base in Vauxhall I weave through Brixton and Herne Hill, and then in my mind up the first categorised climb of the day, Croxted Rd and over the mountain of Crystal Palace. Then out to West Wickham and onto 'the lanes', the steady climb up Layhams Rd that always reminds this city boy he's more out of practice with hills than he remembers.
From the top its a speedy descent down Clarks Lane, where at 40mph a bug is hoovered into my gaping mouth hitting my larynx with the force of a Big Ben strike, and almost causing a instant gag/vom, which could have been spectacularly messy.
Some undignified coughing and spluttering and I clear the stunned bug, and style out the rest of the descent a best I can.I stopped for first photo of the day on Pilgrims Way
Then down through Brasted and along and up and over Star Hill which always gets me wheezing. At Aperfield I stop to photograph a tree with a real wow factor, the Aperfield Cedar, a Great Tree of London.
I'm then on the hunt of a couple of ancient yew trees in the Churchyard of nearby St Peter's and St Pauls's Church in Cudham. Its only a short distance but its down and up the very steep Berry Hill/Church hill, that has me in my most hilly gear of 39-25 and still honking out of the saddle, nose almost on the front tyre like a Belleview Redenzvous charecter. Cor blimey there were some cobwebs blown out of the lungs on that section.
The yews are well over 1000 years old and predate the Churchyard in which they now reside. I am transfixed by knarled and knobbly bark, and the thought these trees have been around since the Romans first arrived. The yew in Totteridge in Barnet is regarded as London's oldest tree at approx 2000 years old, but these are the next oldest I think.
I'm then off down Downe Rd,
which is fast and has the mottled shade sun/combo which means you're never 100% sure of the road surface, so is done while trying to suppress mental images of hitting pot holes, wheels buckling, forks snapping, teeth smashing, bones splintering etc. I get to the bottom alive, and pull into a field for a flapjack break and a bit of a sit in the sunshine.Then a sharp little climb up Cudham Lane and its a coast to Downe, where Charles Darwin lived and worked for 40 years, as the plaque and sundial on the Church there reveals.
Directly opposite this is another ancient yew, the Downe yew.
photo limit reached, to be continued.....
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The other two had to slow down for me to keep up, we had a lot of wind and a few showers to contend with, but we finished the ride in a time of 1hr 17mins, we could have done a bit better if i had not had the lurgy. but Hey ho that's the way it goes, glad i pushed on when i got dropped.
. Back on the bike heading towards Measham despite doing 23 mph I got passed by another rider 
who proceeded to disappear into the distance despite my best efforts . Turned at the old mine on what is normally a quiet road but the car boot was on so busy today . The next 6 miles of rolling terrain were hard work as it was into a headwind 
. Back at Market Bosworth and a check of the milage and I could take the shortest route home . Newbold heath to Thornton ,Markfield and back to Newtown Linford which was ridiculously busy as there was an event on at Bradgate park and cars were seemingly abandoned everywhere as the park car was full so progress slowed . Back home 62.4 miles in the bag . Nice ride it had been a while since I'd last ride those roads always enjoy the cycling around Market Bosworth loads of riders out enjoying the weather
) and avoiding the only numpty motorist of the day onto Barwick Road and under the railway bridge as a couple on MTB's came off the bridleway - which reminded me that I haven't been off road this year!
