Honeystone Villages and Steep Hills - The Calm Before the Storm
God’s Country – that’s how an old Cheltenham based colleague always described Gloucestershire to me. So high hopes I had for this ride. I had ridden a fair bit in North Gloucestershire so it was pleasing that my loose route planning criteria, oldest bridge, iconic climb etc was taking me to South Gloucestershire and Cleeve Hill both unexplored areas for me.
With named storms, Dudley and Eunice forecast to bring damaging winds of up to 160km/h to the UK on Wednesday and Friday, the 60km/h gusts predicted for the day splitting the storms struck me as a hard day in the saddle forecast rather than a flying debris dodging, blown in the ditch sort of forecast worth taking a gamble on.
A long day at work followed by a Solihull CC coaches zoom meeting (yes the pandemic is still with us!) left me with the unwanted decision to make of a sensible bedtime or my usual bike clean and condition check before a big day out. I plumped for early shut-eye and crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t be a decision I regretted.
A straightforward 60 minute drive punctuated by a couple of sharp showers and a biting wind in the docks car park convinced me to ignore the advice given by the good folk of the Stolen Goat Herd to wear the Orkaan capsule and instead go for the full winter protection of their excellent Climb and Conquer range, yes there was a chance of overheating on the hills but I decided that was better than getting a soaking and freezing with a windchill 80km into the ride.
After an annoying few minutes faffing about getting prepared for the ride due to lack of preparation the evening before I was finally away. The historic docks, Britain’s most inland port with it’s fifteen Victorian warehouses provided an excellent starting point and direct access to a traffic free route out of Gloucester on Sustrans route 45, the Mercian way.
The River Severn was high but wasn’t jeopardising the paths alongside it however Storm Dudley had deposited plenty of twigs and branches to be avoided.
Heading North away from the river I was soon climbing with a short leg-stretcher up to Hartpury providing fantastic clear views over the Cotswold countryside.
My search for public art on the route was rewarded early with “Arrivall” – Victor and Vanquished commemorating those who fell at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 standing proud just outside the town and named after “the arrivall of King Edward IV to reclaim his realm of England from King Henry VI”
Passing through a surprisingly quiet Tewkesbury town centre it reminded me that this was the turning point for my first ever century bike ride many years ago I recall sitting 50 miles from home the worry I had that day was that my legs just wouldn’t get me home! The anxiety for the ride this time was clearly focussed on the climbs awaiting me shortly after Tewkesbury.
Maisie’s Courtyard Cafe in the old sheep market office provided the perfect caffeine fix in readiness for the battle ahead and also gave me a chuckle as on returning my empty mug I disturbed the young Barista’s or maybe even young owners in an amorous clinch resulting in an hilarious attempt to look like their cleaning duties had just brought them very close together, their red faces told a different story!
Simon Warren’s follow up to his excellent 100 greatest cycling climbs pocket book gives the Bushcombe Lane ascent of Cleeve Hill a 10/10 ranked challenge.
He describes it as the “vicious ascent that stands apart” and “one of the toughest bits of road in the UK” perhaps my tip is don’t read Simon’s descriptions before tackling his climbs unless you want to fret about them for the preceding 20k!
The slopes of Bushcombe lane were every bit as gruelling as I had imagined, as I started the climb I said “I’m not going to enjoy this am I?” to a young couple walking down the wall that confronted me, laughing they replied “not unless there’s something seriously wrong with you!” The lane is narrow with a rough but not atrocious surface, the quad searing pain starts early and is only intensified as the road banks right and touches 30% at its apex. Out of the saddle you risk losing traction where the road surface breaks up, sit too far back and your front wheel is popping up away from the tarmac. As I passed the steepest section at a speed much slower than I could have walked up a car coming in the opposite direction put an end to my slope mitigating weaving ascent, forcing me to attack the now slightly less severe slope straight up and nearly bringing me to a standstill as I lost momentum. With only a few pedal strokes at 25% left in the locker the gradient thankfully subsided and the views opened up. The steep bank faded into a false flat and I wobbled to a halt and completed Rock’s request for a photo at the top and a one word description. It needed no words, the selfie told the full story! Unfortunately stopping where the the steep bank finished and the road levelled out meant I hadn’t completed the Strava segment without putting a foot down but trust me I shall not be rushing back to put that right.
The grin inducing descent on good roads down to Winchcombe was over far too quickly and I was soon heading skywards up Corndean Lane towards Brockhampton on a stiff, but comparatively enjoyable climb blessed with great views eastwards towards Broadway Tower.
A gradual descent along quiet country lanes down to the Coln valley and the villages of Coln St Dennis and Coln Rogers provided some delightful riding accompanied by a couple of friendly Rapha clad local riders taking advantage of the weather window also.
Their destination like mine was the picture postcard village of Bibury, their advice to me was to grab a sausage roll at the post office rather than one of the more expensive tourist cafe’s in the village.
Bibury certainly didn’t disappoint, displaying a quintessentially Cotswold style it is a fantastic little spot and even in the middle of February had numerous foreign tourists exploring its narrow streets and brooks. I would imagine in the summer it throngs with tourists from far and wide. Arlington Row pictured above is often referred to as the most photographed and beautiful cottages in the country. Originally built in 1380 as a monastic wool store it was converted into weavers cottages in the 17th century.
The Post office did indeed sell delicious homemade sausage rolls, once I had devoured it I bade farewell to the two local riders I had shared the last few pleasant miles with and mentally prepared myself for the 60km slog into the promised head wind with gusts predicted to touch 60 km/h.
The deserted, narrow, wooded lane, Welsh Way provided a welcome short break from the relentless struggle into the wind. With villages few and far between I was developing a bit of siege mentality, hunkered down over the handlebars trying to make my not so lithe middle aged stockiness as aerodynamic a profile as possible, I was hardly aware of the countryside around me and time began to pass slowly, ticking off the kilometres to the promised land of Chipping Sodbury where I would turn North and swap a block headwind for a more helpful cross tailwind. Chipping Sodbury common with it’s exposed roads and cattle grids gave the headwind a last hurrah. As I turned North leaving the town the silencing of the rush of air past my ears was as notable as the change in effort required to propel myself forward.
The final two climbs at North Nibley and heading towards Stinchcombe were fairly comfortable affairs offering impressive views over the River Severn, once I had descended the last climb of the day the nature of the ride turned in complete contrast to the hours of idyllic country lanes I had previously enjoyed. The busy A38/Bristol Road headed straight into Gloucester, thankfully, the wide cycle lane meant the rush hour traffic thundering past was annoying rather than threatening.
The end of the ride was salvaged with a short section of hard packed canal towpath bringing me back to Gloucester docks to finish a marvellous days riding with traffic free tranquillity and history all around me.
The ride in numbers
174.07km Distance
1812m Elevation gain
8hrs 21 min moving time (20.8 km/h)
4 SIS Tropical Fruit gels
1 Post office special sausage roll
1 Flapjack
1 coffee stops
5 bottles of water
1 beer – I treated myself to a Kidding Pale Ale from Stroud Brewery (Stolen Goat Beer!) on my return home.
0 punctures
6 categorised climbs
70 km/h Wind gusts
Finally if you got a spare quid in your pocket my justgiving page to raise vital funds for the Midlands Air Ambulance is now live Keith Jones is fundraising for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (justgiving.com)
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