Sunday 14 June marked the 90th day of my self-imposed lock-down after returning from South Africa (after the Cape Epic was cancelled, a whole different story), and 12 weeks since lock-down was officially started in the UK. It seemed like a good day to do something different and to have an adventure on the bike, especially as Lillian and I would have been riding in the Megève Mont Blanc cyclosportive had the Covid-19 pandemic not occurred. So when Martin proposed riding the Ridgeway, I was up for it.
The Ridgeway is a 139km path running from Overton Hill over the North Wessex Downs, across the River Thames at Goring Gap, and onwards along the escarpment of the Chilterns to Ivinghoe Beacon. Cycling is only allowed on the first half of the trail to Goring. The trail has been in use for 5,000 years or so and along the way one can see Neolithic burial mounds as well as the earthworks of several Iron Age castles. More information is here: Ridgeway Information Leaflet, Ridgeway Geology.
Knowing it was going to be a long day, Martin and I met at 8am in Streatley, a village on the opposite side of the Thames from Goring. The village looked and felt a bit different from my regular cycling destination of the Surrey Hills and the pleasant feeling of discovering somewhere new only increased as the ride progressed. Martin had grown up in the area and as we were getting ready he mentioned that he had been to a barn dance in the meadow by which we had parked and it had been the first time he had got drunk. Further revelations did not follow, but it seemed apt that we should agree to have a beer there on our return.
Our bikes by the above-mentioned meadow.
Martin’s route plan was to ride south of the Ridgeway, mainly on roads, but including a section along the Kennet and Avon Canal, to get to the western end of the trail at Overton Hill.
The dotted sections were off road making up about 60% of the route.
The roads were quiet and would have been an enjoyable riding route in and of themselves. However, the morning was made more interesting by a scavenger hunt challenge that London Dynamo had organised in lieu of riding the Megève event, which had been the 2020 club sportive. It was a great idea and added an extra dimension to the ride, particularly as we found everything on our planned route apart from the brewery, which required a short diversion. Actually, two short diversions with the first one leading us by a brewery that was on google but just appeared to be someone’s house.
The photos below tell the story of the scavenger hunt.
A red phone box
We had to take selfies at each place. This was the first thing we found.
A cockerel
My iPhone does not have a decent camera on the front so when I took these selfies I was unable to see the screen. Usually several attempts were required.
A war memorial
This was in Newbury.
A rainbow
As was this.
A brewery
The brewery worked out well in the end. We found two objectives in one place. One could saying we killed two birds with one stone.
A pill-box
We found this as we joined the Kennet and Avon Canal.
A railway crossing
A railway line ran parallel to the canal giving us this photo op.
A thatched roof
After worrying that we weren’t going to find a thatched house we passed several in the towns after Hungerford.
A union jack flag
We found this fine union jack mid-way along the Ridgeway, outside The Burj Indian restaurant in Foxhill.
The last town we were going to pass through was Marlborough where we stopped for some more scavenging, this time for some food. The main street, which would have been the old market I imagine, was empty but there was a Caffè Nero open where we bought £16 of coffees, cakes and water and sat outside on the pavement to eat it. There was no seating inside presumably due to social distancing… I was pleased to observe that everyone queuing and the staff serving them were behaving sensibly. It started to rain so we had to rapidly shift down the road under the porch of a Holland & Barrett which surprisingly was open; only essential shops were allowed to be open though the regulations were loosened to encompass all shops the day after our ride.
After Marlborough, there was a section of busy road as we climbed up Overton Hill where we reached the start of the Ridgeway. We’d ridden 69km which had taken four and half hours (elapsed time).
The path is well signed and one could follow the trail by just looking at the signs, although as one on a road junction was broken it would be best not to count on them all being there.
As its name suggests the Ridgeway runs along.. the ridge, or more accurately several ridges, with some short dog-legs on roads to link them up. The path is mainly rideable gravel but in places became narrow single track running through long grass. The first section was a bit slippery due to the rain and required some concentration. Thankfully it was like this for only a few kilometres. Just as we were finishing this part we saw a rider on a gravel bike coming in the opposite direction. It was a pleasant surprise to see it was Jessica, who Lillian and I had met this March on a week long cycling break in Spain (in the Caple/Denia region).
Jessica lives in Swindon so I had though there was a remote possibility that we might bump into each other but we were very lucky that it happened.
Thereafter the path then became more gravel rather than mud as we progressed eastwards it was dry and technically easy, if somewhat bumpy, riding. Had it been wet and muddy it would have been hard work particularly as a lot of the underlying surface is chalk and clay. I also think that had I been on a gravel bike with drop handlebars my hands would have got very tired. However on a mountain-bike it was fine.
The first of two punctures, not far from where we met Jessica. This one was caused by an arrowhead shaped piece of flint.
A lot of trail was along grassy uplands, the Wold of Wessex… if one can call it that.
Our final planned stop was with about 30km left to ride, above the Uffington White Horse, for the sandwiches I had been carrying in my new Apidura frame pack (which, based on this ride, gets a thumbs up from me).
However, 10km further on Martin had another puncture, this time from a small thorn…
We eventually finished just after 6pm, having ridden 138k over 9 hours 40 mins. About 80km was off-road and about 60km of that on the Ridgeway itself. The total ascent was 1400m. With just over 7 hours riding time it felt like a big day out but a memorable and unique one.
Whilst up on the Ridgeway we saw of different perspective of the area, one that I had never appreciated whilst zooming through it on the M4 motorway, as well as some spectacular views. One word of caution though would be to avoid it when it is muddy at it would have taken a lot longer and would not have been enjoyable.
We finished the day back in Streatley Meadows with a low-alcohol Brewdog beer. It was very refreshing although I can’t imagine that the young Martin would have approved.
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