Wild Wiltshire

 

Going wild in Wiltshire

A Spring outing for the Fairclough Flyers had been in the planning since the dark days of December.  Getting a suitable date for all participants proved a little a trickier than finding a suitable venue. Richard & Einar were heading to Seville which left Malcolm and I to head to  Marlborough in Wiltshire. We had selected Marlborough as our base due to the variety of rides in the area and also that it was about a 2 hour drive for both us to get to. And so we duly met in the car park of the Premier Inn on Monday 13th April, Malcolm with his new bike (my old R&M Supercharger 2) and me with my R&M Superdelite 5. Following our Fat Lads at the Back Tour in France, which saw Malcolm's Raleigh disintegrate, we were  were hoping for 3 days of stress free cycling!

A short hop down the road into the centre of Marlborough and we found ourselves outside the Castle & Ball Hotel on the High Street.  A suitable spot for some route planning and also to watch the world go by. Marlborough is an attractive old market town on the edge of the Savernake Forest that boasts one of the widest high streets in the UK.  It is also home to Marlborough College, an independent school whose former pupils include Kate Middleton, Jack Whitehall, Princess Eugenie and Ghislaine Maxwell! 

Our plan was to do a circular ride of about 50km the following day - the weather forecast looked promising and so after a hearty Premier Inn breakfast we faffed in the carpark and prepared for our ride. Only a slight health problem reared it's ugly head - I had developed a chest infection which was restricting my breathing and energy levels, so what started with every intention of being a long day in the saddle had to be curtailed at the Red Lion in Avebury for a more direct route back.

Once we had managed to find our way out of Malborough after several wrong turns, we climbed north onto the top of the sweeping Marlborough Downs following NCR 403 witnessing several race horses being put through their paces on the gallops. We cycled along the Herepath or Green Street, an ancient military road which once connected Bath and Marlborough, before descending into Avebury and its stone circles but more important for us, the Red Lion.

Herepath or Green Street

After much deliberation, a couple of orange juices and lemonade for me and a couple of Thatcher's Gold for Malcolm, we made the decision to head back to Marlborough via the Mercian Way so rather than continue to the west, we turned south and crossed the A4 and then turning eastwards to Lockeridge and Manton before stopping for some more refreshments in our old haunt the Castle & Ball Hotel, having completed just 28km in the day with 350m of height climbed!

Can't beat a Greggs!

At this stage I realised that I needed drugs! So after a very helpful conversation with one of the hotel staff I managed to get a telephone call back appointment with a Doctor in the local Health Centre. This was done in the comfort of our penthouse suite in the Premier Inn. I had a long consultation after which it was deemed  that I needed antibiotics and that I could pick these up from Boots in the morning, after one of her colleagues had seen me in the surgery. I was promptly seen the following morning and the infection was confirmed, so off to Boots we trotted, via Greggs for breakfast, to collect the prescription. Alas, the Boots in Llantwit Major had been sent the script which wasn't a great deal of use to me but a swift phone call to the LM branch and the Marlborough branch was able to issue the drugs!  So, the purpose of recounting this rather boring story is to highlight the very efficient and first class service that I received from the Kennet and Avon Medical Practice (KAMP) and in particular Dr Mary Woodward and the paramedic Amy - NHS at its finest.

During that evening we kept one eye on the weather for the following day and decided that in view of the rain prediction, we needed to be back under shelter by around 2 pm so we opted for a trip that took us through the Savernake Forest towards Hungerford before heading back to Marlborough along the Wiltshire Cycleway, a steady 2 hour ride of 33kms.

The first and brief section of our route took us onto the Chisledon to Marlborough old railway track now designated for walkers and cyclists. A short dash along the A4 and a right turn found us on the edge of the Savernake Forest and on a gravel road that runs in a straight line through this ancient woodland for 6kms. The Savernake forest covers 4500 acres and is privately owned by the Marquess of Ailesbury and his son the Earl of Cardigan and its private status is maintained by closing the forest to the public on one day each year. Fortunately for us it was open so we were able to enjoy the undulating ride with either side of our track  displaying swathes of bluebells. The Forest is also home to a number of ancient oak trees, so we just had to get a photo by the aptly named Big Belly Oak, with a little help form AI.

Did you know it's 1100 years old?

At Great Bedwyn NCR 403 connects with NCR 4 which we followed for a short while before heading north through Chisbury before seeking light refreshments in Ramsbury, home to Ramsbury Ales, at the Bell on the Square, where we sat outside in glorious sunshine trying to figure out where and when the rain was going to hit us.

The Bell on the Square, Ramsbury

The route back to Marlborough followed the River Kennet and the Wiltshire Cycle way and just as we approached the outskirts of our destination, it started to rain so we took shelter.... in the warmth of the bar at the Castle and Ball Hotel, where the bar staff were now on first name terms with us. Another taxing days ride (for me at least) but a better nights rest was to come, probably the drugs kicking in.

Our third day cycling was to be an out and back ride - Malcolm was desperate to try his R&M Supercharger II  on a canal tow path and also to see a White Horse?! Greggs in town seemed to be the best place to start the day off but when we arrived we were faced with the devastating news that it was closed until further notice. So we did as any proven adventurers would do, we sought an alternative which in this case proved to be an expensive one - Polly's Tea Rooms for a bacon roll, a sausage roll and a pot of tea for two.  The bill £23.60! It would have been cheaper to have had the unlimited breakfast in the Premier Inn for £22.

An expensive alternative breakfast

The planned route was to head west out of the town and head for Devizes on NCR 45.  We climbed steadily into a head wind so progress was slow even with our power assistance up to a gap between Knap  Hill and Walkers hill on the Pewsey Downs .  The views across the landscape were stunning in the sunshine, yellow fields of rape seed contrasting with the fertile green of pastureland. 

View from the top

After a fast descent we turned off the NC45 Mercian way and headed west towards Devizes.  At this point the Alton Barnes White Horse came into view to the north. Carved into the chalk escarpment it was cut by the request of someone called Robert Pile in 1812. We obviously had to pose for photographs.

We weaved our way through the streets of Devizes, passing the Wadsworth Brewery without stopping and made our destination along the tow path of the Kennet and Avon Canal to the impressive Caen Hill Flight of locks.

The 29 locks rise or fall, depending on which way you are going, 237 feet over 2 miles.  To get a boat up or down, if the locks are in your favour will take you the best part of a day.  We decided to stay at the top and find a suitable place to take liquid refreshment in celebration of Malcolm achieving 2 of his day's goals - tow path and horse ticked off.

The canal side garden of the Black Horse seemed a suitable venue to spend an hour or so, watching the narrow boats blunder their way in and out of the nearby lock - canal boating is definitely a contact sport!

Refreshed and recharged (us not the bikes) we retraced our route and wheezed our way to the top of the Pewsey Downs before the 10km descent back into Marlborough.

We couldn't end our few days of going wild in Wiltshire without a final visit to our favoured haunt, the Castle and Ball for a final couple of OJ's. My thanks to Malcolm for ensuring I remained in the land of the living during our little adventure and putting up with the coughing and spluttering and also to Natalie for her concern and supply of biscuits! The next meeting of the FFCC is scheduled to be in Walton over the May Bank Holiday weekend. On one of our outings, you never know, we may get a full contingent!

Made it!