Back On The Road…

Tags

bike ride, bridge, felmersham, felt, menu

I ventured out for a bike ride again today after a break of ten days.. My shoulder seemed OK after this ride, unlike the last one when there was no pain before or during the ride but painful for a while afterwards.  There was no pain before, during or after todays exertions  though.

I pottered around my Ouse Valley Ride..

I chose the shortened version today, which is a ride of 35km against the 50km of the longer one.  You can see from the map why I call it my Ouse Valley ride as the River Great Ouse is clearly seen.  Its hardly a ‘great river’ at this stage but I guess it helps to distinguish it from the other Ouse rivers in the country.  This one is fairly great by the time it gets to the sea at Kings Lynn though where it pours into the The Wash.

I even stopped to take a photo of the Felt bike, its first outing since the 30th May according to my Strava records.  I seem to have been favouring the Colnago most of the summer.  Its always a tough choice to make but the Colnago was always nearer the door and the Felt was hanging up and locked up.  So today I released it and now it will be the one nearest the door.

This picture was taken at the bridge at Felmersham.  I seldom stop on my bike rides, especially ones this short so you are especially privileged to see this photo.

I think the Felt was pleased to see the sunshine but just after I took this photo it got a bit of a soaking as I came to a stretch of road that was flooded from various streams of water, well probably torrents would be a better description, pouring down from the ridge on my left, and there were various other outpourings for about a mile.  I thought at first it was rain water from the recent rains draining down, but there seemed too much. I later decided there was probably a very big burst water main somewhere because a little further up the road I came across an Anglia Water van parked up in the middle of nowhere.  Nobody was to be seen so I am guessing the driver was wandering the fields somewhere.

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Ouse Valley Ride Photo Gallery

Tags

bike ride, carlton, felmersham, harrold, menu, odell, olney, ouse valley, stoke goldington, turvey, tyringham

On my ride blogs I often refer my Ouse Valley ride.  Here is a gallery of photos I took a couple of years ago on one of my rides.  I hope it gives you some idea of the type of scenery I encounter in the 30 miles of this route.  I have now put them together in the form of a Gallery in the correct order of arrival using my new found “Gallery Toy’.

Click on the first image and then you can scroll through the full size images.

Heading East along the valley, view towards Harrold

The drop down into Harrold

The view sideways, a touch of Autumn

Harrold Village Green

The Old School at Harrold

The Old village ‘Lock Up’ in Harrold where allegedly they used to put the drunks on a Saturday night

Entering Odell

The Bell Pub at Odell

Up the hill away from the Pub

Odell Church just over the top of the hill

The easterly end of the ride, River Ouse Bridge at Felmersham

Felmersham

Ride up the hill from Felmersham bridge, now heading west.

Looking back across the valley to Odell

Down the road into Carlton

Entering Turvey

Turvey

Turvey, crossing A428

Approaching Newton Blossomville

Newton Blossomville

‘Passing’ the sign to the Pub in Clifton Reynes, too many paces !!

A view to home in Olney as I passed along the valley on the opposite side

And on along the road toward Emberton

Aaahhh… Jersey cows at Tyringham

hmmm nice creamy milk !!, couldnt possibly eat these !!

Tyringham House

River Ouse at Tyringham

Tyringham Bridge, the westerly crossing of the river, back on to the north side now

Tyringham House again

Entering Stoke Goldington

View over Stoke Goldington and the allotments

The road towards Ravenstone, round the bends and up the hill then down again, heading east again now.

Entering Ravenstone

Ravenstone

Ravenstone

Up the Hill through Ravenstone

Entering Weston Underwood, almost home !

Weston Underwood

Anybody want a tandem ? been here for years..

I think the riders were taken prisoner by the Pub, the Cowpers Oak at Weston Underwood

Almost Home, Olney in the distance…

Home Sweet Home ….

On The Seventh Day He Rode….

Tags

bedfordshire, bike, bike ride, biking, bridge, felmersham, flood, menu, rivergreat ouse, weather

Today marked the first bike ride for a week, the last one being the club ride last Saturday, exactly seven days ago.  Hence the title, a bit of a pun on a biblical quote, I hope I will be forgiven ?  It was also the first one under my new regime and very pleasant it was too.

The long break had been caused by the seemingly continuous rain we have had for what seems a lifetime.  I understand its the wettest January since records began.  As I am now being more relaxed about all things cycling though I didn’t have to force myself to go out.  There were a few other things going on to keep me well occupied in meant time.  My car had to have some attention at the garage, there were shopping trips to undertake and even a trip to Milton Keynes Theatre to see a performance of Swan Lake on Wednesday evening.  The Mathew Bourne version for those in the know.  I am no aficionado were ballet is concerned, I was more on escort duty so to speak, however I did find it quite entertaining and quite spectacular nevertheless.  I am sucker for live entertainment of most kinds anyway.

Today promised a rainless window all morning so after the Friday chores were done I set off on ride around my Medium Ouse Valley route, a total mileage of just over 20 miles to Felmersham on the northern side of the River Great Ouse, as it is formally called, and back along the south side.

Nothing of real note occurred today but I did wonder if the causeway to the bridge at Felmersham might be flooded as it was a month ago as shown in the picture below.  On that occasion I had to ride along the raised footpath on the right hand side to get through.  It was put there for just such occasions.  I didn’t have to ride but I always welcome a bike control challenge, especially if failure promised a good soaking, it gives it a bit of an edge.  It was made even more challenging as I met some pedestrians coming the other way but we managed to pass each other without anybody falling in.

Approach To Felmersham Bridge

Despite all the recent rain it wasn’t quite flooded today but the water under the bridge was very high.  Maybe as the authorities release more water from upstream it will become so in next day or so.  Anglian Water control the water coming downstream by a series of adjustable weirs all the way to Kings Lynn on the east coast.

Felmersham Bridge 31/1/2014

In line with new regime I had hoped to take some more pictures, both there and on the way home.  I did wander over to the bridge to take some more pictures but when I raised my iPhone there was no picture.  Not to self, ‘Always make sure phone is well charged before leaving home‘.

You can see the water level is perilously high, almost reaching the top of the arches.  I would say its a good four or five feet higher than normal.  I was also going to take some more pictures at the bridge on the Carlton too Harrold road.  We have had yet more rain this afternoon and still more forecast for tomorrow so its probably going to still be flooded when take my next ride along that way in a few days.

Ups And Downs In Beds….

Tags

bedfordshire, bike ride, biking, bletsoe, felmersham, melchbourne, menu, milton ernest, newton blossomville, souldrop

Or..  A Bumpy Ride In Bedfordshire..

Some would say thats a contradiction in terms, but on the side of Bedfordshire nearest to me, which is only about 2 miles away, it isn’t at all.  The other side of the county around Sandy and Biggleswade and on to Cambridgeshire it is very flat and open with plains full of vegetable growing farms.

I live in the north east corner of Buckinghamshire, and very close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.  Just a couple of miles away is ‘Three Shires Wood’ which envelops little bits of all three counties (shires), the clue is in the title.

Click Map For Ride Stats

However, I digress.  Yesterdays ride was one of those that kind of developed as I went along.  It was going to be around thirty miles when I started to get my legs going again after a week off the bike.  However I kept adding little bits on and slowly moved up to 35 miles and the final 37+ miles.  These additions happened mid ride as I kept pushing the turn around point a little further away.  Despite the lay off I was feeling pretty good, the weather was nice and I was enjoying myself so I just kept pressing on.  Feeling good halfway is all well and good but you still have to get home in reasonable shape.

It was a nice sunny day for the ride and not much wind.  A shorts and long sleeve top kind of ride.  I rode out via Harrold and Odell to Sharnbrook,

Sharnbrook High Street. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Up the hill into Souldrop then across the A6 and up another hill to Knotting (Notting Hill ?)

St. Margaret’s Church, Knotting, Bedfordshire, England. (Photo credit: Wikipedia

Then it was through to Melchbourne.  After that I swung round and accepted the offered tailwind and rode back through Riseley and Bletsoe which is a nice little village I haven’t been through before and back on the A6 south to Milton Ernest.

Bletsoe. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After that it was back home via Radwell, Felmersham and Carlton,

Felmersham Bridge. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Through Turvey, Newton Blossomville and I skipped past Clifton Reynes, turning left and declining the invitation to the pub at this sign I rode back to Olney.

Clifton Reynes turning – 359 paces to pub Turning off the Newton Blossomville to Emberton road. Below the Robin Hood pub sign is a distance of ‘359 paces’. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Despite my opening comments it wasn’t exactly hilly in the strict sense of the word having just spent a few days in Devon.  However lots of ups and downs, not a lot of ‘flat’ and making good use of most of the gear combinations available.  Also I guess that adding bits on to the ride is better than knocking them off a planned route.

Suffering From A Touch Of Wind..

Tags

bedfordshire, bike ride, felmersham, iPhone, met office, newton blossomville, weather

Back in the saddle this morning after another break from biking having been deeply involved in Blog building over the weekend.  The weather was looking good outside this morning after a rather un-encouraging start to the day.  Monday is put the rubbish out morning and has to be out by 7:30am.. I always think about doing it the night before but by the time I remember in the evening I am usually settled down and can’t usually be bothered to go out and do it.  So it was still dark when I ventured out at 7:15am and I could feel rain.  Not what was forecast at all but it soon cleared up and by the time I got out the sun was shining in a  clear blue sky.  There was however the forecast winds.  There was a Met Office warning of strong winds with gusts up to 40mph for this morning.

Felmersham Bridge

I did my Longer Ouse valley ride of about 30 miles so the first 25%, heading east, was with a tail wind and then when I crossed the river at Felmersham bridge I was heading west and into the wind.  The water was lower at the bridge than the other day but still quite a way above normal level.

Odell Church

Just before Felmersham I stopped to take a picture of Odell Church as my new policy is to include more pictures in my blog.  We’ll see how long that lasts, regular readers will know how reluctant I am to stop at all on a ride.

Odell Church in the distance

Whilst on the way back I stopped for another photo of Odell church taken from the other side of the valley, while heading in the opposite direction to the previous picture.

I started thinking on my ride which I do quite a lot.  I was doing a mental count of the churches I pass on this ride and in 30 miles there are 16 churches by my reckoning, a shade over one every 2 miles!  A project was forming in my head to get the touring bike out one day and my camera kit and take a picture of all of them.  Plenty of stops there then!

I got almost halfway round and stopped in Newton Blossomville to take a picture of this damaged old dry stone wall.  Just after I took this picture my iPhone went Phuttt! a flat battery.. I should have checked before I left.  I was going to take a close up of the wall cross section but it will have to wait for another time.  It could be of interest to anybody wanting to build one day to see how they are made.  They certainly are not rushing to repair it though as I have been seeing it on my rides since well before Christmas.  It was good job that no emergencies occurred during the rest of my trip requiring a phone call for assistance.

So, with no more photo opportunities to ‘snap up’ I could concentrate on just riding.  I was happy to finally turn around and head east again back to Olney for the last 25% of the ride with a tailwind again.  I could adjust my position from riding low down with my hands on the bottom of the dropped handlebars to sitting up like a sail in the tailwinds.

Ouse Valley Ride

Tags

bedfordshire, bike ride, biking, felmersham, milton ernest, sharnbrook

Click for Details

Todays ride took me up part of the Ouse valley from Olney to Sharnbrook and beyond. I rode out along the northern side of the valley and back along the south side. Passing through Odell, Sharnbrook, Thurleigh, Milton Ernest, Radwell and Felmersham.

I managed a good average of 17.3mph for the trip.  Not a lot of time to look at the scenery but it’s very familiar territory to me.  Little villages and fields and the roadsides are looking very colourful at this time of year.  However the leaves falling onto wet roads can make life treacherous for a cyclist cornering on tyres with  100 psi or more in them at this time of year!

The Bell Public House, Odell

Sharnbrook High Street

Milton Ernest

Start of climb up through Radwell

from River Ouse Bridge