Ride from Midgham
Posted on Friday 14 August 2015 by Scott Fletcher
Fourteen riders enjoyed the warmest day in weeks with a day of roaming the Berkshire Downs west of Reading. The climb up from the Kennet valley at Woolhampton was punctuated by a brief repair station at the top of the hill, where a cycle shop’s adjustment of the front derailleur had to be undone, then it was off to Kate Middleton country around Bucklebury. Passing a ‘Retro Fair’ near the A34, the group finished the morning with the firm-but-fair hillclimb from Hampstead Norreys to the gloriously sunny garden of the Bell at Aldworth. An extended lunch break featured a visit to the worn but evocative medieval tombs in the village church, then a short run up the lane into the downs to take in the view where the paving ended.
The afternoon’s downhill glide took us to Aldermaston Wharf for tea and scones by the Kennet and Avon Canal, which we then proceeded to navigate in the direction of Reading in order to spread the riders over more trains. Reading station is now up to fifteen platforms and feels much grander than it once did.
Pictures here.
