At least i'm not going to bore you with it!

Of course the weather earlier in the week did have a knock on effect, ergo i wanted to get some riding in, i had ants in my knickers and needed my fix!
Well Thursday is a regular bike day anyhow so i set off for what i intended to be a decent ride down into Somerset, i had a lunch stop in mind and all was good with the world. I seemed to get to the cafe far too quickly, indeed i'd only got 40km on the GPS when i stopped, a bit early ride wise to halt but i didn't really have an alternative without delving into the grockle zone of the south Mendip edge.

Eggs on toast, tea and a dodgy phone signal later i topped off the climb and descended to Cheese Town where i headed through the tourist traffic and on up the Gorge. I tapped my way up, the steep bit seems less so each time i come this way, then followed the quieter route through Priddy to traverse the length of the Mendip before joining the Fosse Way towards Bath. I didn't fancy the long climbs on the main road so instead i followed the bike route out of Radstock, through the tunnels and into Aquae Sulis before taking more bike lane back to base.

The numbers were looking a bit sad, it was a nice ride but only 106km and under 1k metres of climbing - so much for a longer ride.

Which is how i ended up Friday morning back out on the bike. The forecast was looking a bit westerly so i headed for the Severn Bridge to tackle some Welsh roads, something i've not really done this year. Over the river and instead of heasing north straight back into England i took the road towards Usk, a route with a big lump of hill to cross to reach my destination. Its not a hard climb but its fairly relentless but the road is pretty quiet and you are rewarded with seeing the alpacas at the top then several miles of fast descent into the Usk valley.

I found a cafe and stopped fpr a cuppa but once again i hadn't come as far as i thought, i resisted cooked food for cake with my tea and debated my onward route. One option was a loop down to the coast but i didn't really fancy that so instead i headed more northerly up through Raglan then across to Monmouth. I missed my turn at Raglan which meant a short stretch of busy dual carriageway but then it a pleasant rode along the old road to reach the Wye valley.

The Wye road is a fairly easy route back to the bridge not flat or even close to all downhill but reasonably free of traffic even in tourist season - oh and the attraction of a cake stop at Tintern too. Whilst not hot is was quite pleasant sat at the Old Station with more tea and cake, a short respite before the final couple of hours back to the fishing hole. Just like the gorge the previous day, the multi mile climb from Tintern Abbey out of the Wye valley seemed, well less than it used to, once over the water i took a fairly direct route to finish the ride.

A bit better, almost 1100m of up and 132km of distance, not a bad day at all.

Now i mentioned i was having a day out on Saturday, down to Salisbury Plain but not exactly what i'd be doing, well i've mentioned Imber, the lost village previously and that was the focus of the trip. The MOD only allow public access for @ 12 days each year which generally coincide with Easter, Christmas and Rememberance Day plus usually August Bank Holiday weekend. For 2022 the last of those was replaced by the Jubilee weekend back in June which left just the one day for folk to visit in the summer, the popular Imber Bus day. you can get more details here.

What started out as a bit of a lark by some London based bus enthusiasts13 years ago has become a popular attraction not just for enthusiasts but for a wider audience keen to get a look at this corner of the immense MOD training estate, so rarely accesible. I had planned to go last year but the weather was chronic and, well it didn't happen and with a programme of railstrikes it was looking that i'd miss it this year too. However the PSV world were keen to make the day a success and to encourage fewer cars for the fairly limited parking opportunities, a host of excursions and special services were arranged from destinations across the south of the country, one of these was from Bristol!

I secured my seat and so yesterday i set off for a day of cream teas and queuing! Imber sits some 6 miles east of Warminster at the north west corner of the Plain, the services, based on pre WW2 routes, start at Warminster before crossing the plain via Imber village then serving several villages to the east. It might be a bit of an ebthusiast day but it's run as a proper service with a timetable and fare structure to encourage its use. My transport to the western hub was itself over 40 years old, young compared to some of the buses running, a couple started plying Londons streets in the late 1940's!

The plan was to cover the whole network during the day which wasn't difficult but stop offs for tea and cake and waits between buses to specific destinations meant the day was filled. It was close on 7.30 when i got back after leaving over 12 hours before, a long day but enjoyable, everyone seemed to be having a good time, riding on open top buses across the military zone is quite surreal but so is threading your way down lanes more used to the odd car or horse, for this one day they get buses old and new at least every half an hour, some much more than that!

The downer for this end of the week is the head 'cold' i've picked up, the symptoms are like hay fever with a vengeance, streaming eyes, sore throat and so on, its more annoying than debilitating.

So today, i'll go for a short ride after lunch - and i do mean short this time, but of course i've already been busy putting up the next Gaby chapter, Snow Road. They say fact is stranger than fiction, well this chapter, apart from its dramatic element, is based on a ride i did myself up the same roads on December 24, 2018!

Yep thats the bus shelter with Foxy stood collecting snow and the road on the downhill side of Dalaas - it was clear when i rode up, twenty minutes later the plough was on its way up! Real life adapted fpr your entertainment!

So there you go, i'll be back with more musings on Wednesday but for now lunch is calling and so is that bike ride!

Tschussie
Madeline Annafrid