My alarm screaming at me at 6:00am on sunday morning was NOT a welcome interruption to my much needed beauty sleep, but I somehow made it from my bed to the front of the house with my bike by 7:10. I set off to Pollicott to meet the other Belles and didn't pass a single car on the way which was lovely - not only for the peaceful ride but also knowing that no passers by had been subjected to my miserable morning face heaving its way up the Ashendon hills. I arrived fashionably late to find only Vicky and Sian at the top of Pollicott - had Alex been as enthusiastic about the early morning as I had and was running a little late also? Oh, no. Just me then.. Alex was already halfway to Winchendon!
Myself, Sian and Vicky cruised our way down the hill towards Winchendon and caught up with Alex at the very top by the crossroads where we stopped for a drink, sweet and continued on towards Cuddington. I was becoming increasingly concerned about the noises coming from my rear brakes and expressed this concern to Vicky who agreed that I should probably change the pads soon to avoid having to bail out into a hedge at an inconvenient downhill moment sometime in the near future.
From Cuddington we made our way out onto the A418 via a small country lane, turned right at the main road and then look a left onto a severely overgrown jungle bridleway. Sian's "Oh someone has trodden it down! It's much better than it was. How kind!" baffled me as I looked at the 5ft tall mixture of grass and stinging nettles. TRODDEN DOWN?! Vicky braved the 'trodden down' path first with Alex behind, then myself and Sian followed with our cropped cycling trousers. Halfway through the A418 jungle we had to dismount to leap over a fallen log and right over the top of a badger set. I would be lying if I said I didn't have visions of getting mauled by an angry jungle badger. Ever the optimist. The girls kindly reminded me that angry jungle badgers are indeed nocternal.. so over I went! Many screams of pain came from myself and Sian over the course of the trail due to sever hammering of legs thanks to 'trodden down' grass and ginorma-nettles. Despite this there was a lot of laughter and I actually secretly really enjoyed it.
We emerged from the other side of the angry badger ginorma-nettle jungle into Haddenham where we turned left and continued past the garden centre towards Kingsey (I think! - At this point I had lost my bearings and couldn't tell exactly where we were) But before I knew it we were back on another offroad bridleway which wasn't overgrown but was very hard ground. Around 5 minutes down the track I spotted two horses in a field to our right and seized the opportunity to stop and give them a fuss. This would also give Alex and Vicky a chance to catch up with myself and Sian who had gone full pelt along the rough terrain. After 5 minutes or so we still couldn't hear or see the other two - so Sian made her way back to make sure they had taken the correct route, whilst I stayed and kept the two ponies company. I was in my element for about 15 minutes when the others emerged - and it had seemed that Vic and Alex hadn't taken the correct route and had started off in a different direction altogether! A quick farewell to my 4 legged friends and we were back on track - eventually bringing us out onto the Phoenix trail and into Thame.
From Thame we made our way to Shabbington - past The Old Fisherman (my favourite - cycling past your favourite pub on a sunny day is a HARD THING TO DO) then into Long Crendon for a well deserved and much needed bacon sandwich for myself and Vicky and a teacake for Sian. Alex was putting us all to shame by not having any food whatsoever! Fuelled up we carried on towards Chilton - where we lost Sian as she had to shoot off to spent some weekend time with son Joe which left Alex, Vicky and myself. Without our Mrs Motivator we sneakily stopped at the top of one of the final hills and enjoyed the view of the back of Pollicott, had a 5 minute sunbathe and sit down on a bench. On the final leg up to Brickhill I caught sight of a very attractive runner - I consulted Alex with an appropriate facial expression and she completely agreed. Two quick stops for me up the Brickhill and I was on my way home - where I arrived at 11:50. A long but rewarding ride - highlights for me were definitely angry badger jungle and bacon sarnie - Oh, and the runner! Looking forward to the next.
Amber xx
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