Father and Son

With a hastily mended bike, my son Nick and I cycled to Canterbury today for lunch with the family. As usual, Ali and Abi met us in Canterbury with our change of clothes and more importantly, a bike rack.




We set off at 0910 for our 33 mile trip. Nick's bike is a mountain bike and with his little legs (he is 12) and mountain bike tyres offering additional and unwanted friction, he did incredibly well. The route took us up on top the Downs before having a pleasing and welcome 10 mile gentle descent towards Faversham.






In the background of the photo below is the Swale which separates mainland Kent and the Isle of Sheppey. An old cricketing pal of mine said that if the Thames estuary is the ars#hole of England, then Sheppey is the haemorrhoid! That was bit of a harsh statement, but quite amusing all the same. I hope none of our followers are from this part of the land as I would not want to cause offence!




Crossing the M2, we then had another fairly challenging climb up to Boughton before taking the country lanes and entering Canterbury via Blean, where Ali and I lived for 6 years.


Poor Nick was clearly knackered but he didn't once complain - just gritted his teeth and got on with it. The last 10 miles was conducted in persistent drizzle but this did not put us off.






I managed to keep my mouth shut on this trip so cannot offer any saddle scores on anymore interesting bugs and the like which passed my lips last week!

Lunch on the go!

Headed off towards Stalisfield but the first attempt was aborted. My son Nick wanted to come with me but after two miles his chain had come off three times and therefore is was soon apparent that his bike just wasn't in good enough condition for a ride. I guess for a 12 year old cycling to school everyday and purposely aiming for mud and puddles, I probably should not have been surprised.








The reason I chose Stalisfield for a destination is that having traced the Vant family tree back over 17 generations, the area around Ashford, and Stalisfield in particular, is a hotbed of Vants. Every Vant in Kent can be traced back to one man who got married in Plymouth in 1596 before moving to Lenham to undertake some restoration work on the local church. The churchyard in Stalisfield (about 6-7 miles from Lenham) has a few Vants buried there.




I decided to take Nick's bike straight into our local bikeshop and on giving my name, the owner then stated that his wife was best mates with a Vant in Stalisfield!! Small world!




I eventually set off alone in the afternoon and having got to the top of the Downs, I headed eastwards towards Stalisfield. A wrong turn led me back down the hill into Lenham and in the heat I made a quick and wise decision not to head back onto the Downs but instead crossed the A20 and headed towards Sutton Valance, my destination a couple of weeks ago. I'll save Stalisfield for another day.


















Whilst I did not stop for a pub lunch I did unintentionally have a few snacks along the way. I will award the fly and gnat a miserly quarter saddle however I did take in something else (not sure what) that may get a half saddle award! I must learn to stop cycling with my mouth open.





With Frances having passed llamas a couple of weeks ago, I too found some in Sutton Valance. They looked a damn sight more appetising then flies!







After a quick refuelling stop at a new farm team room just passed the llamas, I headed home taking this shot of our village church.

In the end, it was an interesting but hot 31 mile ride which on the back of my 11 miles on Friday and cricket on Saturday left me feeling quite weary by the evening.

After work dash

Just a quick 11 miles after work on Friday which followed the same formula as last weeks ride, which was another quick one after work. The routes were largely the same, following the Pilgrims Way from Detling into Hollingbourne and then dropping down across the A20 (our route to France I believe) and up around the back of Leeds Castle for a very pleasant but short ride. The only thing worth taking a piccie of was this Kentish scene from the Pilgrims Way, most notable for the fact that with oil seed rape to my left, right and behind, I managed not to capture any of it in the photo.

Last Sunday I played cricket in Etchinghill just on the outskirts of Folkestone so I used the route down there via the A20 as a scouting mission. I think we shall have some fun with the hills but it didn't look quite as bad as I had it in my mind it would be. I am sure it will feel different on a bike though!

Tims turn

This Tuesday was Tim's turn to choose the ride, so we all met at his house and he had drafted in a friend, virtual professional Pollyanna, and I believe she did all the hard work choosing the route. Tim didn't even bake the cakes, he bought them but they were Marks and Spencer so we may forgive him.
I had a flat tyre as we set off so it was duly pumped up and we continued hoping that it wasn't a puncture.




I must apologise because I have no idea where we went except to say it was around more lovely villages in Oxfordshire. So here is a Castle that we passed, probably a Church actually, if only Tim or Sally would write the blog you might get to know the truth.




Here is our professional guide Pollyanna, passing some oil seed rape fields, the bluebells seem to have given way to the rape this week.



Here is a short cut that Tim decided to take.





And after just 10 miles we stopped at this weeks pub The Boot. The girls give the drinks a 3 saddle rating, and Tim gives the chips just 2 saddles.




















As we set off after lunch I discovered that I did indeed have a puncture, and its a good job we had Pollyanna with us as she is very good at puncture repairs and was the only one with the correct type of pump. My usual solution to a puncture is to phone home and get a lift.










Another 10 miles or so and we stopped at the top of a hill to get some pictures of the view.
We were promised just one hill but as usual that was a lie.











A few more miles and hills, a stop at the garden centre for a call of nature, past more rape seed fields, over a toll bridge, past a Church with a pointy bit on top, over the motorway and back home for more cake. We have absolutely no idea why we aren't losing any weight with all this cycling.




Once again, apologies for the lack of geographical facts on this blog but I was merely a follower this week.
Many thanks though to Pollyanna for her route plan, hints and tips on cycling and particularly for mending my puncture.

Meet at Thame with the Snowdens

It's Saturday morning and Sally and I met David and Ann Snowden in the cattle market car park in Thame.
David and Ann had chosen the route.
We started by going through Long Crendon and Chilton then a long drag up hill to Brill.






We stopped half way to photograph the view, and then carried on up to the windmill.




















So here's David posing in front of the windmill.









After that we went through Borstall and past this Llama farm, I think it was in Horton-cum-Studley.












After that through Worminghall and Ickford where we passed this pony out for his daily excercise.



It remained fairly flat or at worst undulating as we passed under the M40 and turned right to Great Haseley where we stopped to read the map.
I must say there are some really beautiful villages around Oxfordshire and we have certainly seen lots of them during training, it makes me glad to live in England.
Here's a lovely cottage in Little Haseley.









Now we travelled for a while until Sally and I started complaining that we had not yet stopped at a pub, and we were just not used to traveling so far without a pub, so we persuaded David and Ann that although we had a packed lunch we should still use the facilities of the next pub and buy a beer while we were there.




Ann and David are clearly experienced picnickers as they produced these marvelous self inflating cushions to sit on while we ate our sandwiches outside the Lamb at Chalgrove, watched over by this donkey and his friend.



Now quite a long stretch up hill through Stoke Talmage, and towards Postcombe, where I spotted what looked like an ancient stone monument across this field just in front of the tree, but you can barely see it as all the pictures are taken with my phone, sometimes on the move, so the quality can be poor.





Back under the motorway now down a lovely long hill, across the a40 and through Postcombe to Sydenham, another lovely old village, and another lovely old cottage.
Sally looks a bit pooped here.






Finally a rather hellish 4 miles slightly up hill along a very busy road, into a headwind back to Thame.
We measured this at 39 miles, and afterwards Sally and I visited an old friend of mine in Chinnor who had baked a cake just for us and it was very welcome I must say.
Next ride for the 3 Amigos is Tuesday, its Tim's turn to choose the ride and bake the cake, no doubt Tesco will bake the cake.

An everyday workday

On Friday this week I had to go to work at Windsor. I dont normally work from there but the Queen had a team of horses competing in the Coaching marathon at Windsor horse show and I was asked to help plait them before the show, so as there is no parking at the Castle during Windsor horse show I was dropped off in the morning with my bike so that I could cycle home.






So heres me following the Coaching team down to the showground.
I watched them go into the ring and then headed home, just about 11 miles but thats enough for a workday, and off to meet the Snowdens with Sally on Saturday.

Not a pub crawl !!!

This weeks Tuesday ride for the 3 Amigos totalled 35 miles over the beautiful Henley and district hilly, yes hilly countryside.
I decided to try to photograph every pub we went past, but after the first 4 or 5 Sally and Tim got a bit fed up and kept leaving me behind, but before that we passed, the Horns at Crazies Hill,






The Flower pot at Aston,














then after following the river through Aston we crossed the Thames at Henley, past the Red Lion Hotel and the Angel on the bridge.




After walking through Henley due to being scared of the traffic we headed off towards the Assendons, past 2 pubs which I was not allowed to stop and photograph, then gradually up hill through Lower and Middle Assendon, and a mile up a very steep hill through the woods to Maidensgrove Common where we stopped for lunch at the Five Horseshoes.
















At the Five Horseshoes we ate a very splendid lunch which included the best chips so far on our training trips, and possibly a little too much of the liquid refreshment. We are thinking of having a kind of star rating system for pubs and chips, but instead of stars we will use saddles, so we duly award the Five horseshoes 5 stars for chips, hospitality, and a great view.






















After lunch we headed off through Chrismas Common past the Fox and Hounds, then down hill for several miles, what a relief, through some spectacular Bluebell woods which stretched for miles,










through Turville Valley, where Tim bravely cycled past The Bull and Butcher, another 5 saddle rated pub as tried and tested previously by Sally and I.










A quick look back over the hill to Ibstone where lies the Windmill which was featured in the film Chitty Chitty bang bang.
By now we were quite tired, so bearing in mind this was originally to be a 40 mile ride I decided to cut out a hill which even my car struggled to climb, by taking this brilliant short cut, which turned out to be a river, but we made it through safely.








Next through the beautiful village of Hambleden which is very unspoiled and sports 12th century church St Mary the virgin,a very good pub,the Stag and huntsman, an old fashioned shop which acts as a coffee shop, Post office and Butcher too, and a garage which looks like it is still in the 1950's
A couple of horses passed while we were there, and again I demanded we stop for sweeties to give energy for the last leg of the journey.

















We soon had to cross the busy Marlow to Henley road but then back into the countryside as we crossed a spectacular wier back to Aston, where we re-traced our route back home, unfortunately mostly up hill again.
















My next ride will be from Thame, meeting up with Sally and also David and Anne Snowden, so a few different faces for the blog next time.