Thursday 5th April. Amcor to Hawkesbury Upton. Report from Bill Balchin: It must be really difficult to write an original song without upsetting somebody who claims that you have copied some elements of their lyric or music. Many copyright claims are settled with large sums involved. Famous examples include George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and the Chiffons' "He's So Fine"; Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up". (OK Bill we get the picture - Ed). And more recently Ed Sheeran's "Photograph and Matt Cardles "Amazing". (Just get on with it NOW - Ed). Luckily we have no such problems in the BTOTC with making up routes otherwise I would owe Martyn a double whammy. First for the technique of using regular homeward routes for the outward section and second for reminding me about Winterbourne Down (which Mike Sennett also used successfully last month but with all different lanes). There was a crowd of well over twenty assembled at the Amcor start under blue skies, having ridden there on dry roads with light winds. A fantastic turnaround in the weather and looking good for today's cycling. There was to be an easier route led by Steve and Don but the plan for my lot was to ride up to Winterbourne and then drop down Dragon Road, over the Frome and around Bury Hill. Many may be unaware of a hidden gem at Bury Hill - an iron age hilltop fort. You know what a fort is - big square construction of vertical timbers with a gate in one wall and towers at each corner. Well that is what Davy Crockett calls a fort. An iron age fort just looks like a bit of a clearing in a wood. You can see more detail by clicking here but I did not consider it to be worth eating into our cycling time. Martyn gave me some minor grizzling as we followed the route that he had used to get to the start a few minutes earlier. We circled around the lanes, squeezed through a cycle sized gap in a road closure, where my attempt at a photo was spoilt by sunlight on the lens, and popped out on Down Road at the Damson Bridge. Similar to our last Amcor departure but without an exact repeat. On now over the Badminton Road into Coalsack Lane and up to the Westerleigh Road where we crossed straight over to approach our first named climb of the day - Coxgrove Hill. Steep but short and near the start of the ride so not too bad. We then climbed our way into Pucklechurch to regroup next to a roadside display of daffodils - Spring must be on it's way at last. We then continued in an easterly direction for the biggest climb of the day - Hinton Hill. Bowing to popular demand we took the "by-pass". I don't know if it is any easier but it is generally less busy - unless you get caught up with a tractor like we did. I had stopped by the big tree a third of the way up that I always remember that we stopped by one Armistice Day many years ago for a minutes silence. Today the group went by me as I took photos closely followed by a tractor towing a trailer full of slurry. I say "full" because as it bumped over the potholes the contents came sloshing out the back - I gave him a wide berth. Once back on the main Hinton Road we met up with Alf who had saved himself a big chunk of distance by avoiding the start. Riding his recently built Dolan bike he was keen to relate how he had tried to outsprint an unfriendly German shepherd but was unable to shift into his big ring when the cable slipped in the clamp, resulting in some super-rapid pedalling in the small ring. The A46 was as busy as I have ever seen it but once across we were on that nice downhill section past the bakery. There was still not a cloud in the sky as we cycled through Tormarton, joined the Acton Turville Road and cut through to Badminton. We have done this many times on the way home with a miserable headwind making life difficult but no such problems in this direction as we turned into the Badminton estate. I would normally do the same as Mike Sennett three weeks ago and turn right then left to come out in Didmarton. But with the final section of road looking as though the RAF have used it for bombing practice we turned left at the end of the long straight. A right turn onto the A433 for half a mile allowed us to turn left onto the quiet of Starveal Lane - once we had waited for the contents of a shed saddlebag to be retrieved by one of our lady riders. Ignoring facetious suggestions that we could include the Kilcott valley we rode straight to the Beaufort Arms to arrive pretty much right on noon. The Steve and Don group had beaten us to it which helped to spread out the rush. Mark the landlord had things under control for ordering drinks and food before we all piled into the skittle alley which had been laid up ready for us. There were too many cyclists for my poor brain to count but there must have been well over thirty. If I had one complaint it would be that my Moussaka was so big that I did not get the chance to down another pint of the excellent Twelve Apostles IPA from Bristol Beer Factory. One of the leader's duties is to declare when it is time to leave, so reluctantly I was forced to get everybody out the door at half past one for the trip home. Still bright and dry with a big downhill section to start with, my group descended from the monument to Inglestone Common, into Wickwar and back via Tytherington. Whichever way you took home today it was bound to be good on the best weather day we have seen this year. Click here to see the official route Thursday 5th April. Report for the more moderately paced ride from Steve Hicks: Our shorter, gentler paced alternative today comprised just five from the large group that had gathered at Amcor. Before we set off it was good to have a quick catch-up with Berry Parker who had arrived early for the ‘Easy Rider’ trip over the bridge. Our small but select band headed out through Winterbourne where a kindly van driver (yes, honestly) stopped and waved us across into Watleys End Road, ”must be a cyclist” quipped one of our group. Into Frampton Cotterell and along Frampton End Road which was muddy as always but certainly not the worst we have found it. At the Iron Acton end we encountered our first hazard of the day, a small family with a bulldog answering to the name of “Nelson” except that “Nelson” wasn’t answering and was determined to maintain his course down the centre of the road and certainly wasn’t going to move for a bunch of cyclists. No problem for us as we just manoeuvred around him and went on our way with shouted apologies from his owner. At the first Yate roundabout, as we crossed to join the Lodge Road cycle path, we were met by half a dozen police officers and their vehicles who had obviously been alerted that a bunch of aged hooligans were on the rampage! On through Engine Common to Yate Rocks (well it may have done once upon a time!) where we faced our next challenge. “Isn’t there a ford at Yate Rocks” said Don, “maybe quite a lot of water at the moment” - there certainly was, fast flowing but not deep enough to cause any real problems provided you missed the sneaky pothole in the middle. We then skirted around the quarry and picked up the cycle path which lead us around the north side of Chipping Sodbury and onto Sodbury Common. Just the small matter of the climb up through Little Sodbury, stopping at the church to lose some layers before we reached the top of the ridge. The view from the top today was superb with fantastic visibility across the Severn flood plain into Monmouthshire and probably beyond. We arrived at the Beaufort Arms at about five to twelve to be met by my old pal the pub landlord, Mark Steeds. Mark was glad our arrival was staggered as it meant less pressure on the kitchen with another group expected to arrive for lunch shortly after us. Return route was fairly direct via Ingleston Common, Wickwar, Bagstone and Tytherington where some of the main group sped past us. Don Ford has offered to provide a moderate paced route and to lead next week as we head for my favourite pub, the Ring O’Bells at Hinton Blewett. Thursday 12th April. Bitton to Hinton Blewett. Main group report from Bill Balchin: Today we were expecting low temperatures and cloudy skies all day. What I was not expecting was mist on top of it - maybe it will clear up later. I took a different route to the start in order to miss out Frampton End Road which would probably be filthy today and make a right mess of my bike, which made me a bit behind schedule arriving at Bitton for Phil's ride to Hinton Blewett. There was a big crowd but no Phil.