Crickley Hill; 25 June 2010

Today's ride could have been a very dull 3 Km very flat from Brockworth to Hucclecote then a reasonably staid 8Km home.  But that's not the way I operate.  That first 3 Km became a 20Km hilly ride.  You can see the route  here.


Allow me to set the scene.  This afternoon was Vic's sports day at school in which she came 3rd in her races with her house group winning overall so congratulations to the yellow team.  I was a spectator (and ran (poorly) in the dad's race).  Afterwards, I was to meet Tina at work for a joint bimble home.  However, I now have an hour or two spare so best not let this go to waste, this calls for a trip up to Crickley Hill - a one stop ride today.


Leaving Brockworth, I could easily ride straight up Shurdington Road but today is about avoiding the obvious so a lap of Bentham is in order before eventually heading up Shurdington Road and turning onto Leckhampton Lane.  Past St Peter's church and uphill through Leckhampton.  So far so good.  Almost a carbon copy (without stops) of this ride here.  Towards the top of Leckhampton Hill though, I turn off to Crickley Hill Country Park.  If the climb thus far hasn't killed you, the little access road into the country park probably will.  First, cross a wide spaced cattle grid, then up the 45 degree (or so it feels) slope and you will realise why the cattle grid as you ride through herds of cows before cresting where you are greeted with another cattle grid (sorry fillings) and one of the most stunning views across Gloucester.  If you live anywhere near Gloucestershire and haven't been to Crickley Hill, shame on you.  Apart from offering stunning views and good walking countryside, the country park is a site of nature conservation, geological & archaeological interest.  There is a well equipped visitor centre on site manned by keen and knowledgeable staff.  The site has been occupied since approx 3500 BC and excavations from 1969 onwards exposed an Iron age hill fort, wooden posts have been used to identify the location of the buildings and the embankment that would have circled the site is still very much in evidence.  I shan't write any more about this, rather here are a couple of pictures that don't do justice.

You don't have to go further than the car park to get this view.

 Looking across the valley with Chosen Hill in the middle distance

 You may just be able to make out the markers in the ground that show the location of post holes from the iron age settlement.  At the rear of the picture is the defensive bank.  Far left would have been the entrance.

 This is my bike parked at the entrance where the gatehouse would have been.

Before we leave the country park, I must regale you with a quick story from the recent history.  One winter when my daughter, Victoria, was very young and just started talking, I took her to Crickley Hill as it had been snowing and I hoped there may be proper snow at the top of the hill.  I was a little disappointed to find nothing more than a reasonably hard frost.  Undeterred, Vic ran around the site of the settlement like a loony in her spotty wellies.  Coincidentally, my brother and his wife were also on the hill so I had stopped and was chatting to them.  Excited to see Uncle Daz and Aunty Shaz Vic came running back in that slightly awkward way 18 month old kids do and put her arms up to me and said 'Daddy, carry, knackered'.  I really don't know where kids get these things from sometimes.

Leaving the country park, that access road is as scary going down as it is hard work going up.  Right at the end to the Air Balloon pub and in to Birdlip.  It's all downhill now through Witcombe, into Brockworth and on to Barnwood where a meet Tina from work and we take a jolly civilised bimble home.

Total distance - 34 KM

Average Speed - 25 KM/h

Weather - about 26C, Dry and sunny, wind from SW, about 10 KM/h

Painswick, Pitchcombe, Whaddon; 23 June 2010

From today's route and profile you will notice that I have eschewed the simple flat routes in favour of some of the local hills again.  And a delightful sunny day for doing so.  Also, after my last ride, I strongly suspect you are suffering from 'Russ visits church' withdrawal symptoms.

Leaving Brockworth, I head for Painswick where I have circumvented several times and promised a visit sometime.   That time is now.  My preferred route as I am sure you are aware is straight up the A46, Painswick Road, passing Prinknash Abbey, through Cranham and past the beacon.  Once you pass Painswick Beacon, there is a very satisfying downhill into Painswick until you realise that at some point in the near future you will have to go back up.  Right at the start of Painswick Road, some 4 Km ago there were signs warning that the road into Painswick was closed.  I took the risk that the footpaths wouldn't be and I would be able to use them.  The gamble paid off.  

 



No surprises but arriving at Painswick we stop at St Mary's Church.  The earliest parts of the current church, the North aisle and inner chancel date from late 14th century although they replace a Saxon church that was built on the site.  The main fabric of the church was modified and added to right up to mid 18th century, the nave and tower about 1480, the spire added in about 1632, and the south aisle was built about 1741.  On the 10th June 1883 (I missed the 127th anniversary by a fortnight), the church was struck by lightning, the tower suffering worst and masonry took out large chunks of the roof.  The masonry was faithfully replaced in its original position.  The church is also famous for the grounds.  Many of the tombstones being elaborately decorated by local stonemasons and date prior to 1860, when the churchyard was closed for burials. Subsequent interments took place in the cemetery on the slopes leading up to Painswick Beacon.  The churchyard, criss-crossed by footpaths, is also home to a number of well trimmed yew trees.  Folklore holds that the churchyard will never have more than 99 yew trees and that should a 100th grow the Devil would pull it out.  All the trees now have numbered plaques on them.  I shall leave it to you to do the count yourself although one record shows 103, another shows 100.  For it's small size, Painswick has a long and interesting history.  If you want to read more, you could do much worse than starting here.


Coming out of Painswick, I pass through Pitchcombe.  Let's split the name place up.  Pitch - old English word for slope of a hill.  Combe, again old English, this time for the uppermost part of a valley.  No great surprises then, this is uphill.  I decided to take the steep road through the village.  Not much purpose to that, there isn't much to see except for a cyclist struggling up a hill with his lungs in his throat.
The parish church of St John, Pitchcombe, is a little further North along the main road.  Pitchcombe, in common with Painswick, is a member of the Beacon's benefice which comprises of:
Painswick (just up above)
Cranham
Sheepscombe
Edge (just a bit further down)
Pitchcombe (right here)
Harescombe (passed by, not stopped there yet)
Brookthorpe 

Curiously, Cranham Pitchcombe, Edge and Harescombe all have parish churches called St John the Baptist.  I don't know if there is good reason for this.


The current church at Pitchcombe is early 19th century although stands on the site of a former Church known as the Pitchcombe Cradle which was built in 1376. The present church bell is thought to date from somewhere between 1350 and 1380 so possibly installed at the older church.

Carrying on towards Edge, I pass the Edgemoor Inn.  A quite unassuming nineteenth century purpose built inn, although it is, I believe a free house and last time I ate and drank there it was fine fare.  That aside, you won't find many pubs anywhere with such fantastic views as these offer over the Stroud valleys.


Next stop isn't very far away.  As previously mentioned the church at Edge is the church of St John the Baptist.  There doesn't seem to be so much information available for this church so I shall subtly sidestep my usual history lesson in favour of a bit of a moan.  This a beautiful church with a well kept graveyard and fabulous views.  However, it was like walking in to your houseproud aunt's living room.  There is an outer door that wouldn't look out of place at a correctional institution.  I may be wrong but I find it hard to believe that there is a big crime problem here.  There is also a sign banning anything other than fresh flowers and imploring you to ensure they are removed when they go over so that the grounds are kept looking nice.  I walked my bike around the gravelled path and I'm fairly sure someone will be tutting the tyre grooves soon.  It really didn't feel welcoming.  If the church is serious about encouraging people, this sort of thing must be addressed.  Still, here are some pictures 'cos despite all that, it is pretty.

Leaving Edge, I travel downhill.  This is a very fast 3Km or so, nice and twisty with some quite severe drops to add a bit of interest and would probably be a quicker route if the surface of the road wasn't quite so teeth-rattlingly rough.
At the bottom of the hill, at some 70 KM/h the brakes are called into action as I get to Whaddon where there has been a church since around 1200.  Curiously, the parish used to belong to the diocese of Worcester until 1540 when the diocese of Gloucester was invented; although at this stage nothing changed until some squabbling an fisticuffs in 1784 when the two diocese went their separate ways.  Very little is recorded of what was probably little more than a turetted hut until 1315 when the church was dedicated to St Maragret of Scotland (local lass then) when a big building project was initiated, being completed in the 15th century when the tower was built.

Also rather pretty just a few yards from the church is, what I presume, an old water pump that would have served the locals in the past.  On the subject of which, the water bottles on my bike are now empty and the pump non-functioning so a quick detour through Tuffley and home to refill.  From here, I still need to get back to my car which is in Hucclecote.  No problem, you might think, that's just a couple of miles away.  Oh dear reader, do you not know me yet?  A quick detour finds me riding through Upton-St-Leonards and up Nuthill, a short but sharp climb back on to Painswick road.  A quick photo stop at the top (photo at the bottom) before a quick descent into Brockworth and Hucclecote where the car is waiting for me.

Total distance - 38 KM

Average Speed - 26 KM/h

Weather - about 25C, Dry and sunny, wind from SW, about 10 KM/h

Elmore Back 16 June 2010

Today's ride was a little more than just Elmore Back but most of the rest of the loop we have seen before but the other way round. Not that I have cycled it backwards you understand, that would be foolish; I mean previously I took an anti-clockwise route, this time, clockwise. However, today, being a bright, sunny, warm day and I haven't been out for a couple of weeks, I thought it would be nice to have a relatively un-hilly bimble by the river and, surprisingly, didn't stop at any churches.  You can see the route here.

I left home and rode along Cole Avenue towards Quedgeley and crossed the canal at Rea bridge.  Turning left, the road is a gentle, near flat, well surfaced road.  If you look at the elevation, it is quite misleading and looks like a stonking great hill. The difference is actually only about 20 metres but this is as high as we go.  Riding conditions here are absolutely perfect, blue sky, warm but not scorching hot and just a hint of breeze so a reasonable pace is quite easy to keep.  This road leads to Longney and we pass the parish church of St Laurence.  Continuing on our clockwise route, the breeze is now gently blowing from the right.  4Km later and we meet the first turn off at a couple of houses known as Farley's End (honest) towards the river and the first dead end.  This road leads to Elmore Back.  The 'Back' isn't derived from 'Back of beyond' as you might expect but from ye olde English word 'Bec' meaning ferry.  It seems that for several hundred years there was a pub here called the Salmon Inn from which you could get a ferry across the river to Minsterworth.  It is the church at Minsterworth that you can see in this picture.  The ferry stopped in May 1941, I believe.  The route to the old ferry terminal (I presume) is now accessed along a stretch of footpath which I walked along but provides a bit of a pet hate of mine.  Apart from riding, I also enjoy walking and use these marked public footpaths and I am mildly irritated by the obstacles that farmers introduce.  In this case, there are a couple of stiles to cross (which I hoiked my bike over), the farmer whose land these footpaths runs alongside has run electric fencing and/or barbed wire around the perimiter fence and right up to the gates and stiles that provide public access.  Not preventing access but it would take just a wee slip and you'll be a bit uncomfortable.

The only way to go now is to retrace my path back to Farley's End and a left hander through Elmore before reaching my second and final dead end road leading out to the river.  Signed as Weir Green, this is little more than a farm track that again leads to the river which the Severn Way waymarked path follows.  Although there appears nothing of any great note here, it is a very pretty place and you could just sit by the river and soak up the sun.  A pub would go down well here so long as not too many people were allowed as it would ruin the peace.

Returning to the main road leads back to the road back over Rea bridge but I turn right back to where we started the loop in order to cross the canal at Sellars Bridge where the bridge is open to allow a narrow boat through.  From here, it is a quick run through Hardwicke and Quedgeley back home.





Total distance - 38 KM

Average Speed - 27 KM/h

Weather - about 23C, Dry and sunny, wind from NE, about 10 KM/h