After the short-lived heatwave the previous week, it was cooler with a north easterly wind blowing as the group assembled at Portsmouth on the Bank Holiday Monday evening for our day ride in Brittany. Twelve of the group were taking their bikes on four cars onto the ferry – David, Sue, Lin, Mark, Brian, Peter, JohnR, Helena, Carol, Rod, Mick and Ray whilst six were just riding their bikes onto the ferry –Gary, who had ridden from home, and Alistair, Vanessa, BrianC, Graham, JohnH who had left the cars in the port car park. As usual, the bikes were boarded first, and it was about 45 minutes later before the last of the group in the cars were on the ferry.
This was our first trip on the St Malo, the new hybrid ferry that only came into service at the end of February, so it was nice and modern with improved cabins and public areas and very quiet and smooth underway. Once settled in, we met up for our evening meal then most retired to the bar for the evening entertainment.
This ride started from Frome in Somerset with Clive, Mick, DavidB, Siobhan, GrahamB, Vanessa, Martin, BrianC, Carol, Lin, Mark, David, SueC and Alistair. The ride took us up a steep hill through part of the old town to Cottle's Oak, then down and up another steep hill to join the S&DR rail trail that took us to Radstock. We continued on the NCN24 as it followed the valley of the Wellow Brook to Wellow where SueC's pedal had worked loose - it had partially stripped the thread on the crank. We bodged it up as best as we could but about a mile further on as we had just entered the first long tunnel it had worked loose again and could not be repaired. So Mick with his ebike pushed SueC up the gentle slope through the tunnel to the top of the climb so that Sue could mostly freewheel down to the end of the cycle path into Bath.
This tour was originally intended to be Oxford to Cambridge and back but lack of long-term car parking in Oxford meant this was less practicable and the Bicester start in fact made planning a four day tour with convenient overnight stops easier. The ROUTE followed the NCN51 to Cambridge and returned via the National Byway, promoted as Britain's secret cycle-touring network of a meandering signposted route following the quietest lanes through the sleepiest villages.
This cycling holiday was chosen as the main summer tour at the planning meeting in January. David planned and organised the holiday that was based at Hotel Spa du Beryl in Bagnoles de l'Orne that combined day rides with sightseeing in some of the historic and interesting towns in this area of Normandy. The elegant spa town of Bagnoles-de-l’Orne became particularly popular in the late 19th century, a period in French history known as the Belle Epoque. Some grand period buildings still occupy prime positions.
The hotel had a swimming pool and spa to relax after each day's ride and secure storage for the bikes. There were rides each day, some direct from the hotel and some started further away by driving with the bikes to the start. To make transport arrangements simple there were two choices of route each day, one longer and one shorter, with all routes starting and finishing in the same place and meeting up at the town for lunch and sightseeing.
There were 14 participants for this trip,travelling in five cars -David with Sue and Vanessa, Rod with Carol and SueP, Michael with Ray, John with Helena and Graham and Mark with Brian and Gary.
The final tour plan for the Dreilandergiro, German for three countries tour, was based around the Munich Venice Cycle Route, with us starting from Holzkirchen in Bavaria, riding across the Alps via the Brenner Pass, then through the Dolomites via Passo Cimabanche to Belluno before diverting onto the SxPiave cycle route to Feltre. From there the route ran down the valley of the Torrente Cismon to its junction with the Brenta and then the Valsugana Ciclovia to Trento. The four participants, Mick, Vanessa, David and Alistair were reduced to three when Mick suffered a slipped disk a couple of weeks before the off.
It was our annual day trip to France last week for David, SueC, Lin, JohnR, Helena, GrahamB, Mark, Brian, PeterH, Gary, Mick, Ray, Vanessa and me with nine taking the ferry in three cars whilst five just took their bikes. It was light rain on and off on the Monday as we headed to Portsmouth to meet up at the ferry terminal – a bit wetter for Gary as he rode all the way. The bikes were first on the ferry and as a result first to relax with a glass of wine in the restaurant. It was the usual lottery for the loading procedure for the cars, so it was about 40 minutes later before the last of the car contingent joined us for our evening meal. After eating we headed for the bar for the evening’s entertainment – this time an underwhelming singing duo and a magic show.
On Friday 6th October, to take advantage of the good weather that week, we visited the Isle of Wight again. David, SueC, Rod, Mick, Gary and I travelled down to Southampton by car with our bikes on the back, arriving in plenty of time for the 10:00 ferry. We took the Round the Island route out of East Cowes to Wooton and branched off at Havenstreet heading due south on the back roads to Newchurch before picking up the Round the Island route again. We passed through Wroxall on the way to Ventnor where we zoomed downhill on the Zig Zag Road to the seafront.
Strangely, there were only three takers for this ride. On 6th September, David drove to the start of the ride in Abergavenny with Vanessa and Alistair for a loop of the Brecon Beacons. After a coffee in the cafe in the park adjacent to the car park, we headed to Llanfoist to pick up the NCN46. This was a rail trail that climbed steadily at about 3% up the side of the valley to Brynmawr, though there was a steeper bit at 15% linking two sections of the former railway. The early part of trail was picturesque, particularly where it was cut into the cliffs giving views across the valley to the Black Mountains. At the end of the rail trail, the cycle path wandered through the suburbs of Brynmawr and Rassau, crisscrossing the Heads of the Valleys Road on bridges.
Mick organised and led this late summer tour that started in Tunbridge Wells and looped clockwise, to the coast at Pevensey Bay, following the coastal NCN2 to Folkestone then returning inland via Ashford and Tenterden. Originally there were 12 riders but last minute problems with knees, pelvis and covid meant four regretfully had to pull out leaving Carol, Graham, Mark, Mick, Peter, Ray, Rod, Sue P for the tour.
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