Cotswold Ride-Out 31st August

As I've already posted in the Senate, I think I've got the makings of a Cotswold ride-out route, probably starting somewhere on the outskirts of Swindon (i.e easily accessible via M4/A419).

I'm looking at a southern loop in the morning, with a coffee stop near Cirencester, then a northern loop in the afternoon including an ascent of Fish Hill with a stop at Broadway Tower.  Not sure about lunch yet, but possibly the Cotswold Gateway at Burford. Whatever, some beautiful scenery, pretty villages in abundance and hardly any 50 limits (unless things change a lot between now and then).

It's just a question of finding a date.  I can only do 11th, 24th or 31st Aug or 1st Sept.  7-8th Sept is ToL and after that I'm committed every weekend until 12-13th Oct.  So do we go for sooner, or wait until the autumn?

Assuming the date fits with plans, I'm up for this.

Assuming the back is together and I'm free I am up for this too, would be nice to see you again

From the dates you have given Bob;

1^st choice 24^th  

2^nd choice 31^st  

Is this intended as a 'Day Trip' or a Weekender

Right, I have the makings of a route.

I'm looking at three stages, each of about 35-40 miles and an hour's riding. Mostly nice open non-major roads that shouldn't be too clogged up with holiday or weekend traffic, with just a few twiddly bits through villages and no blanket 50 limits (at the time of writing).

Start (10:00-11:00) at Esso garage/coffee shop at Chiseldon, junction of A346 & B4005, just south of J15 of the M4. Then via Shrivenham, Highworth, Faringdon, Lechlade, Quenington, to first stop just outside Cirencester.

Second stage (11:30-12:30) Withington, Andoversford, Winchcombe (exact route to be decided), A46, Childswickham, skirt Broadway, A44 Fish Hill, stop at Broadway Tower (need to check if they can do suitable lunches - it was closed when I got there).

Third stage (14:00-15:00) past Snowshill lavender fields (lovely smell at the moment!), B4077, Condicote, Donnington (the one with a brewery, not a track or a castle), Broadwell (avoiding Stow), (exact route to be decided), Chipping Norton, Charlbury, skirt Burford, afternoon stop at Little Barrington.

Little Barrington is just off the A40 a couple of miles west of Burford, so from there folks can go east towards Oxford/A34/M40, west towards Cheltenham (M5 etc.), north back up through Charlbury, Enstone to Banbury (M40 north) or follow me back south (possibly via Bibury) to somewhere near where we started from by about 16:30.

How does that sound?

Just need to agree a date now. Personally I'm thinking the 31st August or 1st September would be best. It's the end of the Bank Holiday week, but I don't think most of the roads we'll be using will have much holiday traffic, just the usual weekend stuff.

0ldcat wrote:From the dates you have given Bob;

1^st choice 24^th  

2^nd choice 31^st  

Is this intended as a 'Day Trip' or a Weekender

I was just thinking of a day trip, though obviously if you're coming from a distance an overnight on the Friday might be a good idea.  Unfortunately my local, which I would have recommended because it has some nice quiet rooms out the back for B&B, and had a decent restaurant, burnt down a couple of weeks ago.

But there are plenty of other places. And if anyone fancies camping there's a site (I think it's just a basic farm camp site) just at the foot of White Horse Hill. That's the original, prehistoric, White Horse, by the way, not these 'ere Johnny-come-lately Wiltshire ones. Actually, that's just given me an idea for another ride-out......

There's a hotel in Chiseldon, although not cheap (Chiseldon House Hotel). Wroughton isn't far away and nor, for that matter, is Swindon.

Looks good; some nice roads and areas suggested. And at the end I can pop in on my parents as they're not far from Little Barrington (I used to go riding there)!

0ldcat wrote:: Is this intended as a 'Day Trip' or a Weekender

bobh wrote:I was just thinking of a day trip, though obviously if you're coming from a distance, an overnight on the Friday might be a good idea.

Day trip it is then Squire  
Only reason I asked was, there was a time when I could do these things inna day and just take it in my stride   , now I gotta pace meself . . . easy small bites an awl that  
Route sounds like a good'un , I'd love to tag on and if the bod is up for it I'll be there

31st August would be my preference, got work on the 1st!

I should be good for any of these dates at the moment

Dates: I am currently free for all proposed dates, but things change on a daily basis!

I deffo cannot do the 24th, I'm up north that weekend the 31st would be the best for me

11th or 31st is good for me,
Deffo not 01 Sep as will be at MotoGP..wooohoo!! 

If you can cope with a newbie joining in, I'd be up for the 31st Aug.

Stephanie









OMG, that means I'll have put the 'cat through the wash; that's twice in the same calendar year - not good.

31st it is then. Title updated

Bob

I was hopefully going to be coming along to this but work has had other ideas! now working all weekend so going to have to miss this one this time round... hopefully next time though.....

MrNutt wrote:I was hopefully going to be coming along to this but work has had other ideas! now working all weekend so going to have to miss this one this time round... hopefully next time though.....

Aw, shame, we'll miss you, Dave.

Did a recce on Sunday of the bits of the route that I wasn't sure of, so now it's all in place.

Only thing is, there's some evidence that they may be about to top-dress some of the roads I'm planning to use. But I'll do a final recce a couple of days beforehand to check and adjust if necessary (as it says in the handbook).

The weather was good, so the view from Broadway Tower was crystal clear - Breedon Hill in the foreground, the Malverns beyond and the Brecon Beacons in the far distance. I just hope it's like that on the 31st.

gutted i canne go, though sounds like your sorted for every eventuality there bob! fingers crossed for the weather for you

Just bumping this up as a reminder. Weather forecast's looking good.

Did a recce of most of the route today. All seems OK - there's a very short length of road that's been top-dressed but as it's slow single-track it shouldn't affect us at all. Hopefully the various county councils won't do any more surfacing work this week. The ford (did I mention the ford?) is only a couple of inches deep at the moment, so if we don't get more rain there should be no danger of anyone being swept away or having their engines drowned.

I'll go over the rest of it later in the week if I have time. But there are plenty of alternatives in the unlikely event of us needing them.

I'll confirm the start time and place later in the week when I've finally checked them out.

Any Q's - post them here.

All dependant on whether I can get my new rear tyre fitted in time for this. Just waiting for it to be delivered now.

In all my years  of riding,  I've never done a ford but at least it should get rid of any residual diesel I managed to get on my tyres at Kington this evening  

See you soon

SEK wrote:In all my years:alt: of riding,  I've never done a ford:dp: but at least it should get rid of any residual diesel I managed to get on my tyres at Kington this evening  

See you soon

I was nearly 4ft deep once, it was by accident and I was in the Land Rover

Right, confirming the start is at the Esso service station/coffee shop at Chiseldon on the A346, about 1/2 mile south of J15 of the M4.

Meet up at 09:00 for a briefing at 09:45 and departure at 10:00 prompt.

See you Saturday!