Another Wiltshire tour

It's Spring, and a few fine days are forecast, so it's time for a camping trip.   Searching for inspiration,  I thought of Swindon, as you do.  Well, that general area, anyway.

No tent this time, just a tarp and bivi bag.  I plan to wild camp if possible: camp sites prefer you to have a tent.  Train to Reading, and I was off.

Also seen at Southall

Soon I was in wooded countryside splashed by dappled sunlight and waves of bluebells.  Hardly a car in sight.  Woods gradually gave way to the open fields of the Berkshire downs and I made good progress with a decent tail wind at my back.  It was the sort of ride you dream of, only with a much heavier bike.

It was rolling countryside but there was a lot of flat roads or gentle hills, sheer delight with a tail wind.  Before long I reached East Ilsley on the A34, an old lunchtime venue when I worked out that way.  I would have never have believed that one day I would cycle there!  After the A34 there were a few steeper hills, but the same wide open countryside.   

Lunch stop

Tea was in Lambourn, my fourth visit in my lifetime.  Approached up the river valleys, it was a nice ride but a rubbish tea stop, as the only cafe was closed. 

 

For some reason I decided to go through Swindon, following an old railway path around the south, but it was accessed alongside busy roads in and out of Swindon, and I didn't see the nice bits of Swindon, so it would have been better to avoid it.  Around here I heard and saw an American B1 bomber fly over - I hope it wasn't going to Iran.

Tea in Royal Wootton Bassett, and I started to think about where to camp.  Most of the field gates are padlocked, and there aren't many woods, so it was looking tricky.

When I started looking properly for places to camp, there were plenty of options.  In the end I explored a bridleway near Compton Bassett which led to a field, empty except for a few startled deer, and pitched there, using my new Army "middle weight" sleeping bag for the first time.   It's great, except for the size and the weight.  Roomy and warm, but it's massive even when packed up small, and it weighs over 2kg.   Worth it for a good night's sleep on a cold night.  Under a clear, starry sky, it was a very cold night, and I was just warm enough.  With no light pollution,  I could see the Milky Way and thousands of stars.

A funny thing happened in the morning.  I was packed and away by 7am.  I had to go back through another field to get back to the road, and I was spotted by a herd of maybe thirty young cows in the next field, who started trotting towards me - there was no gate.  I rode past the gate and up the rather lumpy side of the field.  When I looked behind me, they were trotting along right behind me!   Luckily they were quite shy and stayed a couple of yards away.   Once through the gate and onto the road, I asked them to pose for a photo.

The sun was just rising through traces of mist, and the birds were in full song.  Breakfast at an excellent bakers in Devizes, and then I turned east into the wind for the ride back.  It wasn't quite as much fun as the way out, but the scenery was still lovely.  It seemed more hilly but it was probably the wind.   

I was sort of following the Taunton to Reading railway, but with extra lumps and bumps.  11s in a craft shop at Pewsey, and then by rights I should have gone to Hungerford and Newbury, but we went that way on the Easter Tour, so I went to the south of them both.   It was fairly sparsely populated but some of the villages are beautiful.   If you didn't have a thatched roof, you would feel you were letting the side down.

Pewsey

Gorgeous off-road

Kennet & Avon canal

Ecchinswell

Lunch at Shalbourne, sitting outside the pub watching the world not going by, and then tea at Kingsclere, south east of Newbury.  I went past Sydmonton, where Andrew Lloyd Webber lives, but I could only see a grand entrance.  I was making good progress but my legs were empty, so I needed to think about where to stop.

Before looking for a campsite, I refuelled at a pub in Heckfield, south of Reading. After passing a lot of padlocked field gates and fenced-off woods, I found a delightful small wood, and just along a path found a perfect place under some trees.  I was just starting to set up when a lady with dog came right past and said a friendly hello.  I decided to move on, as I don't really want people to know where I'm camping.

Anyway, there was another pretty good spot just up the road, in a wood behind some rhododendrons, very sheltered from the wind and feeling warmer than last night.  I slept soundly after just over 80 miles riding.

I was in the vicinity of the old Roman settlement of Silchester and riding round some of the lovely roads Graham Hill has led rides on. Next morning I found a road I hadn't been on before, and then I found out why.   The Cycle.travel website had included a short section of bridleway in my route, which I was happy with, but it crossed a river and there was no ford.  Not to worry; I rerouted to a nearby road that crossed the river.   Unfortunately that too had a wide, deep ford with no bridge. The next detour was longer but worked out well, and I threaded my way through Wokingham, dodging loads of cycling schoolchildren, to get back to the countryside between Reading and Windsor.

An omen?

Ford 1

Ford 2

It was 24 miles before I found a breakfast stop, but by then I was on familiar roads back to Windsor and home. Just another 25 flat miles, a bit of a slog against the wind, to get back home.

In hindsight, train out, ride home was not the best strategy with an easterly wind.   But it was a very scenic trip, and I'm sure my legs will forgive me eventually.

Wednesday: Reading to Compton Bassett

Thursday: Compton Bassett to Heckfield

Friday: Heckfield to home

C&M Easter Tour 2026 - Mountain bike rides

Some of the Kingston Phoenix mountain bike riders came to join the Easter Tour, as they have done in many previous years.   Simon M provided a few words to go with the photos:

On Saturday Andy H took us south east where we had a view of the rather skinny Uffington White Horse.  Sadly some bridle ways were impassable due to fields ploughed up or fully planted with crops.  After coffee/snack at a village shop we enjoyed a strong tailwind back via Little and Great Coxwell.  27 miles.

Somehow they managed to get to the pub before
the road riders to celebrate with Dawn

Barry took Sunday's ride north east through Langford and Holwell taking in plenty of tracks, dry but bumpy.  We looped around westward for refreshment in the welcome sunshine at the 'New Inn' - yes, another one! at Coln St Aldwyns - then Lechlade-bound on the road and into a strong head wind. 25 miles ridden - quite enough in for most of us.

Simon also bought a fascinating album of cycling pictures from 1940, showing various trips of a club that seemed to be somewhere in between CTC Kingston DA and the emergent Kingston Phoenix road club.  Here's one, from a trip in the Towy valley (Wales).

Index: Riding to the Tour · Saturday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Sunday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Mountain bike rides · Riding home

C&M Easter Tour 2026 - riding home

We planned to ride back over two days, stopping overnight at Reading.  The route loosely followed the Thames.  Monday was forecast to be warm but with very cold start, so the intrepid six set off from Lechlade wearing every bit of warm weather wear we had.  After a few miles a long steady climb into Faringdon had us reconsidering our attire.  The sun was out and it was already warming up, as were we.

Elevenses, or not as it turned out, was at Stanford in the Vale, closed for the bank holiday, so we carried on to Abingdon.   It was no major sacrifice since we had been eating fulsomely for the last three days in the hotel, where the food was excellent.   Also, the vale (as in Stanford-in-the-), seemed to keep us on flat roads all the way, with light winds and very smooth roads, so it felt almost effortless after toiling up the Cotswold hills.   We were surrounded by birdsong, notably plenty of skylarks up in the blue sky.

Abingdon

Abingdon was a nice place for an outdoor lunch, and then we continued down the Thames and through a few beautiful Oxfordshire villages, notably Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, to get to Wallingford, where our planned tea stop was also closed, so we improvised at Greggs and sat outside the church.

Brightwell-cum-Sotwell

Crowmarsh Gifford, just outside Abingdon

So far, so flat.  But after we crossed the river out of Wallingford we were confronted by the hills of Reading, gentle at first, then after stretch of lovely road through the open fields, a fairly fierce climb in the woods, poor timing as it was approaching the end of the ride.    

Still, the climb was worth it as we went to a lovely pub, the Black Horse in Checkendon, to celebrate our weekend.   Unfortunately that was closed too.   At least I was consistent in planning our stops.   I later learned that Keith, who had followed a similar route but ridden faster, stopped for a pint at the Black Horse on the way home.   Well done Keith, we are not envious at all.  Instead we were treated to a long lovely descent through sun-dappled woodland all the way into Reading, if you ignore the occasional bits of uphill.

The Wetherspoons in Reading was very much open and we spent some considerable time rehydrating before retiring to the Premier Inn for a good night's sleep.   The next day's ride home was a shorter flatter affair, and started along the Thames towpath for several miles to Sonning.   After elevenses at Wargrave in the new-ish cycle cafe, H'Artisan, Steve and Ann left us for their next activity trip.   We rode more familiar roads to Eton for lunch and then on to Shepperton before departing on our separate ways.  It was a very enjoyable few days riding to and from the tour, with a great bunch of cyclists, nicely bookending our time in Lechlade.

Leaving Reading

Sonning Lock

Index: Riding to the Tour · Saturday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Sunday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Mountain bike rides · Riding home

C&M Easter Tour 2026 - John and Carolyn's Sunday ride

The Lechlade Lakes’ ride

Forewarned by Pete that Bourton-on-the-Water would be a most unpleasant destination for cyclists during the Easter weekend, due to the large numbers of cars and campervans and people who regularly overwhelm the town on bank holidays. After our experiences of this phenomenon on Saturday when we stopped in Burford and Bibury we knew to take this advice seriously.

So, instead of the planned round trip through Bourton-on-the-Water Carolyn and John decided to lead us on their ‘Lechlade Lakes’ ride, which they had planned but not recced, and on this sunny day with its brisk and gusty wind from somewhere in the West we set off towards Fairford then across a landscape of gravel pits, ponds and nature reserves around the Cotswold Water Park.

Just beyond Whelford we stopped outside the high perimeter fence at the eastern end of the RAF Fairford main runway. We observed and heard the bombers (B-1B Lancer and/or B-52 Stratofortress) preparing for take-off, then off they went with a sky shattering roar and disappeared into their own clouds of black exhaust, leaving us to our own sombre reflections about what we had witnessed. Fascinating but sinister; we knew they weren’t just popping over to Biggin Hill for a jolly air show or delivering Easter Eggs.

Spies at the perimeter, RAF Fairford

We carried on through Kempsford and John was pondering a possible Elevenses stop in Cricklade which could have been ideal except for the difficulty we would have had getting to the south side of the A419 which is something of a motorway. So, near Latton, we joined the Roman road heading NW and navigated through a pair of roundabouts to cross the A-road and just before crossing over a disused canal, which is now the Thames and Severn Way, we found ourselves turning off to Lake 86 to find portaloos and the Ohana Coffee Hut, a modest kiosk under a canvas awning serving excellent coffee and cake.

Martina, Peter S, Carolyn and John at Ohana

We headed out along Spine Road (East) towards Minety and bypassed Ashton Keynes eventually heading north and again through the Water Park towards Somerford Keynes and our Lunch destination, Cirencester. Around a quarter past one John’s instincts lead us very quickly to the Café Mosaic, in the Woolmarket precinct, off Dyer Street where after sitting in the courtyard and ordering our lunches we flocked inside to find a little warmth from the air outside which felt a little too fresh and bracing now that we had stopped riding.

After lunch we knew we could look forward to tailwinds. Looking at the map and planned route we saw that there was a Roman Road, Akeman Street which would take us most of the way back to Lechlade, a great alternative to the busy A417 (London Road). And indeed this leg of the day’s ride was a breeze despite the gentle undulations which took us up to an altitude over 600 feet affording great vistas of the rural landscape. We arrived back at the hotel at 4 pm after another excellent day’s riding.

on the Roman road, Akeman Street

Thanks again to John and Carolyn for their planning and leading us around this interesting 40 mile course. Carolyn, John B, Pat, Steph, Dawn, Angela, Daghni, Martina, Peter S and Tim C comprised our team for the day.

~ Tim C

Index: Riding to the Tour · Saturday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Sunday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Mountain bike rides · Riding home

C&M Easter Tour 2026 - Pete's Sunday Ride

Sunday's ride was quite a contrast from yesterday's ride, heading east instead of north, which means we avoided most of the fierce hills and the tourist hot spots.    Instead we were treated to more gentle undulations and faster cycling generally on high ground, with great views into the distance of the surrounding countryside.  It had rained overnight and after a cold start the air was very clear, but the sun soon came out.

We passed to the north of RAF Fairford, a US air force base, and saw a few bombers taking off on their missions.   A sobering moment.

Pete warned us that no stops were planned and we would just take our chances.   Luckily, our chances were good and we found a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere, just the other side of Cirencester.  It was pretty busy but why everyone had come there on Easter day was a mystery.   We enjoyed good coffee and a snack, mindful that this might be our only stop of the day.

Brenda and Pete showing off their Irish tops

We looped the loop around Cirencester and started our journey back home, loosely following the path of the Thames from Kemble, which I'm told is near its source.   We passed many lakes, water-filled gravel pits, on our way back home in very enjoyable varied countryside, now with the bonus of a decent tail wind to help us speed along.

Cerney Wick lock

Pete treated us to another bonus of an unexpected gravel track for the last mile or so back to Lechlade.  Some people quite liked it.  And with half the climbing of Saturday, but a bit more distance at 48 miles, we were back at the hotel after another very enjoyable day out.

It has been a wonderful weekend of rides (a gravel ride and two different road rides each day) and the hotel, food and organisation has been superb.   Just great to spend a few days together with friends, riding and socialising, in a beautiful location.   Many thanks to Lilian for masterminding it and to everyone else who supported running such an enjoyable weekend.   Also to everyone who took and shared photos.

Evening sun at Lechlade

Here's a round-up of the non-cycling activities:

Index: Riding to the Tour · Saturday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Sunday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Mountain bike rides · Riding home

C&M Easter Tour 2026 - John and Carolyn's Saturday ride

The Windrush Valley ride

John and Carolyn had 10 riders with them for their Saturday ride from Lechlade. No sooner out of the hotel we were on quiet rural roads. However one reason for their apparent lack of popularity for the motoring public became evident after we turned up a nameless lane towards Little Faringdon and found ourselves navigating a safe route through a minefield of potholes. There were so many potholes in this road that some agency had painted a line around each one and given it a number, no doubt to record the details in a spreadsheet for the local authority’s Pothole Department. By the time we turned off towards Kencot the number had exceeded 100.

Despite dire warnings of stormy weather throughout the country for the Easter Weekend the rain held off for us all day but the wind didn’t. It was certainly a gusty one. We saw a few discombobulated crows overhead and an occasional red kite, presumably trying to ride the currents generated by our high performance peloton rushing past beneath them. 

We arrived in the Windrush Valley just south of Swinbrook and followed the river to Burford. We were initially taken aback by the vast numbers of parked cars and of people wandering up and down the high street and didn’t quite imagine that we could find somewhere for a Cake and Coffee break without having to join a long queue. However we navigated the parked cars and the crowds and the streetside scaffolding to lock our bikes and settled down in a splendid café called Huffkins for our refreshments. It was a little sad not to go exploring in the town which is a marvel of Cotswolds architecture but the ambience in the café held most of us captive until our agreed departure time.

a detour in Shilton

St Peters, Little Barrington in the Windrush Valley

St Peters, Windrush

Relaxing outside Huffkins in Burford

We rode on through Little Barrington and Windrush where the river itself decided to wander off in a northerly direction for the touristy attractions of Bourton on the Water. What we had mostly forgotten was that the beautiful Windrush River is a main point of focus for the Windrush Against Sewage Pollution campaign to highlight the illegal discharging of untreated sewage into the river by Thames Water. And we passed through Northleach whose Sewage Treatment Works came under detailed scrutiny in Channel 4’s recent documentary, ‘Dirty Business’.

A couple of miles south, after climbing the long ramp out from Northleach, we had become a little too spread out with a result that our paths diverged, some sticking with John and his original plan and others taking a different tack, but all reconverging at Ablington for our parade into Bibury. We were shocked to find this exquisite Cotswold village heaving with traffic and people, the main attraction evidently being the Bibury Trout Farm where they must have been having one of their ‘Catch your own Fish’ days. By the time we arrived it had become very cold and buying a fresh Rainbow or Brown trout at their fish counter would have been far more sensible.

a rare quiet corner in Bibury

At Bibury Helen felt that after 30 miles or so, after persevering with her regular old bike all day rather than her now preferred eBike, that she had had enough. So Paul valiantly rode with the rest of us back to Lechlade via Coln St Aldwyns and Hatherop then drove back to Bibury to pick Helen up.

Despite being buffeted around in the gusty and increasingly chilly wind we did have a marvellous day of cycling. The ride was superb for which we thank John and Carolyn who designed and recced the route, and then led us on Saturday. John, Carolyn, Helen, Paul, Daghni, Angela, Steph, Keith, Peter S, Lilian, Martina and I comprised the crew.

~ Tim C

Index: Riding to the Tour · Saturday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Sunday rides: Pete · Carolyn & John · Mountain bike rides · Riding home