Warwickshire - Shades of autumn
Overcast but unseasonably mild conditions greeted us at the start of our tour round Warwickshire a quick whip round rustled up the £4.30 needed to park the T5 up for the day. 109 miles of Warwickshire country lanes swathed in Autumn colours awaited us.
Quiet country lanes dressed in the glorious golds and yellows of early autumn featured during the early miles through the villages of Norton Lindsay and Pinley Green and on to Lowsonford where the original plan was to view Anthony Gormleys Iron Man sculpture.
Unfortunately the sculpture has been moved from Lowsonford we therefore vowed to keep an eye out throughout the ride to find a suitable replacement as Warwickshires’ best sculpture.
A short but steep descent brought us down to the outskirts of the popular mediaeval village of Henley-in-Arden where we took a left turn onto a surprisingly quiet A34. Dropping down into Wooten Wawen we quickly encountered St Peters’ the oldest church in Warwickshire. http://www.saxonsanctuary.org.uk/
With energy levels still high and legs fresh we crossed the river Alne and the impressive weir at Wooton Wawen on our way to find the Edstone aqueduct – the longest in England, unfortunately the planned route took a private road through Edstone Hall which wasn’t open to us so we pressed on via a short climb through Snitterfield to Stratford-upon-Avon.
Our first coffee stop of the day was at HR Coffee bar , selected by a google search for the best café in Warwickshire. Located in Windsor street this small coffee bar certainly didn’t disappoint, the caramel oaty slices got the thumbs up, even the hint of coconut didn’t disappoint our cake expert Rock. According to the “cycling experts” my preference for milky coffee such as cappuccino and latte isn’t acceptable so I took the advice offered and indulged in my first ever macchiato as an initial step towards full membership of the cycling fraternity as determined by “The Rules”.
The next 10 miles fairly flew by as we burnt off the recently digested calories, we were soon dropping down into Bidford-on-Avon, a largish village which grew up around an ancient ford, (Byda’s Ford) replaced by an ancient narrow stone bridge recently repaired following damage by a farm truck in 2015.
A short Foray into neighbouring Worcestershire was then required through the pretty little villages of Pebworth and Mickelton to the first big climb of the day up Ebbrington Hill, the highest point of the county. The route up Bakers Hill was certainly the less steep ascent of Ebbrington Hill as the descent down into Ilmington was of tear inducing velocity!
Firmly into the hilliest part of the route we pressed on through more handsome villages of Cotswold stone including Upper Tysoe, Idlicote and Whatcote.
An elongated phone call from my concerned wife Shirley trying to track down my son Conor who had gone out for a two hour ride, four hours ago led to my detachment from fellow pedallers Rock and Pat leaving the ascent of Edge hill described by Simon Warren as a 1/10 climb “never steep but certainly a slog” (#136 in the book Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs) to be tackled on my own. On reaching the castle at the top Rocks’ description of the climb seemed somewhat at odds with that in the book, though I doubt his description would make it past the editors cut!
With the road heading down hill for the next 7 miles even with tired legs we were soon looking up at the final challenge of the day a short ascent of the hills at Burton Dassett Country park offering fantastic panoramic views over much of Warwickshire although like the peloton of this year’s Aviva Women’s Tour of Britain I don’t think Rock was able to focus on the view!
Fenny Compton and the Merrie Lion Pub offered a really friendly welcome, BLT with home made bread and French Fries may not be the food of champions but certainly hit the spot for me with 74 miles complete and a further 35 to go.
A quick running repair to Rocks rear wheel (who needs 32 spokes when 30 will do?) – by the way Rock please see rule #49 below:
The next 20 miles that followed must surely be some of the easiest, most pleasant cycling to be found around these parts with only minor undulations to trouble us we passed through lovely villages such as Priors Hardwick, Priors Marston and Lower Shuckburgh, originally planning to stop at Draycote Water for coffee and a photo opportunity the dimming light convinced us to forge on towards Dunchurch – the result of my Google search for prettiest village in Warwickshire. Google you are wrong!!! how this village could possibly be considered as prettier than the villages of fabulous Cotswold stone in the South of the county I have no idea, maybe the only traffic jam of the whole ride, the drone of the motorway, the fading light, tired legs and niggly drag up to the village clouds my judgement but no, for me Dunchurch is certainly not the prettiest village in Warwickshire, far from it.
With wearying limbs the remaining terrain was still benign with minor drags up passed the impressive looking Princethorpe College and to Cubbington all that stood between us and the busy rush hour streets of Leamington Spa. Much to the derision of my colleagues the Blue Wave Sculpture outside Weatherspoons’ Jug and Jester pub gets a mention as my final sculpture of the day.
With Leamington and Warwick so close together it was no time until we were heading down towards the castle with Rock sprinting in accordance with rule #92
towards the awaiting T5 for a quick change of clothes and a spray of deodorant ready for our final destination The Roebuck Inn – oldest pub in Warwick.
Not normally an Ale drinker I decided that drinking a pint of Carling in every county of the UK was not really in the spirit of my challenge so Roebuck Ale will hopefully be the first of ninety-two different ales tasted and rated over the next four years. I’m giving the Roebuck ale a solid 8/10, I surprisingly really enjoyed it!
On my return home I discovered a rear wheel puncture which must have occurred in the very last pedal strokes into the car park, obviously the cycling gods approve of this challenge even if most of my friends and colleagues think I’m nuts.
The Ride in Numbers:
1 Puncture
2 Great Companions
7 hours 23 mins in the saddle
14.8 mph Avg Speed
42.3 mph Max Speed
175 km ridden
4932 Calories burnt
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