It was time to have a proper lunch, instead of all the café meals or meal deals, so I stopped at The Cross Keys for a proper Sunday lunch before tackling the aforementioned hills.
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| Royal Wootton Bassett |
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| For John |
The final fifteen miles from Royal Wootton Bassett can be summed up as hills. Three ridges to be climbed, fairly steep up, and gentle, long and lovely on the way down. I think much of it was the route we rode to the Cheam & Morden Easter Tour in 2017, but in reverse. In sunny, cool weather with a brisk headwind, it was invigorating and enjoyable.
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| Climbing over the Ridge Way, with white horse |
Sweeping back into sunny Marlborough was most unlike my last frozen visit in January. I had completed the loop after ten months. I've very much enjoyed cycling in Wiltshire. A combination of the open rolling hills and great views in the east, sand smaller scale, intimate valleys and woods to the west. Plenty of beautiful towns, and masses of grand manor houses and stately homes. And hippos. Add a bit of seaside, and it would be nearly perfect!
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| Marlborough: lovely place, huge market place spoiled by a car park |
But that's the beauty of cycling in different areas. Every part has different geography and so the terrain, the roads, the hills, the towns and the views are different from cycling near home. Every county seems to have its own cycle routes, so it's easy to plan a route.
Home from Marlborough involved a ride to Hungerford to get a train. Not the A4 this time (which was perfectly OK last time, but a planned route on small roads to the north of the canal, much quieter and scenic. It may have been the predecessor to the A4.
At Reading, I discovered that there were no trains from Ascot, only buses. I didn't fancy a ride from Ascot, so I caught the Elizabeth line to Ealing Broadway, which worked out fine.
Home by 7pm: nearly 200 miles and 3,000 metres of climbing on the clock; 7% left in the Garmin, 17% in the phone and 3% in the legs. Roll on next time.
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