News for June 2016 Thursday 2nd June 2016. Ashton to Lower Langford. Report from Bill Balchin: Those from the northern side of Bristol had no trouble being on time today with a steady northerly wind helping us to the Ashton start for Arnold's ride to the Langford Inn at Lower Langford. And with the route in a generally southern direction the wind should be helpful to all the twenty strong peloton. We will worry about the return trip later. Arnold outlined a mainly flat route taking in Nailsea, Tickenham, the moors and one climb of 150 metres over a couple of miles...and a moderate pace to boot. Despite a forecast of a warm afternoon there was a bit of a chill in the morning air as we set out along the Festival Way on our way to Nailsea. The sun played hide and seek as Arnold led a wriggling group along cycle paths, through a park, round the shops and into no-through-roads that allowed bikes through. Over the moors and past the church of St Quiricus & St Julietta Tickenham we headed through Tickenham proper before turning left past the Clevedon Craft Centre and towards Claverham. Another left turn gave us a taste of what the homeward journey would be like as we turned into the wind. Oh well, the sun is out, who cares. A turn into Meeting House Lane was the sign that our climbing was getting close, although many would have missed it as the sign board was overgrown. Once over the A370 it was up Cleeve Hill. Up and up. Steve was a bit put out when he rode all the way but Keith hopped off to walk and went faster . The descent into Wrington (now called Wrington Hill) was pretty rapid, bringing us to within a couple of miles of our lunch stop. Apart from Des, on his first ride with us who managed to get detached and ended up in Yatton. Luckily he found John Upward and Jim Boylan drinking coffee there and all three of them made it the Langford Inn. Despite this he enjoyed the day and will be back after his holiday. We know the Langford is a fine pub because we only visit fine pubs and today it was on top form. Meals, drinks, service all good - even with the added complication of the group being spread inside and outside. As usual I could not resist the bargain offer of the two course lunch so had to put up with some sarcastic comments as I scoffed down my apple crumble and ice cream. Mike Chouings set off on a lumpy ride back to Keynsham but the rest were in favour of flat so we took the usual Congresbury, Yatton, Claverham lanes back to Backwell. Another nod to "the usual" was to stop for ice cream at Amiee's Wine House. After stopping to take a photo I pressed on without one. Well even I have limits to the amount I can pack away. Touch here for the route and elevation to see how steep Cleeve Hill really is. Thursday 9th June 2016. Severn Bridge to Magor. Report from Bill Balchin: Crikey, why is there such a large crowd on the Severn Bridge cycle path? Our Thursday ride to Magor had coincided with a ride for the Thornbury U3A riding a loop through Shirenewton, Devauden and Crick. Although our route also took in Shirenewton we did not see them again after the bridge and it now became possible to do a headcount - twenty again. A short section of the Wye valley road from the Chepstow roundabout took us to the left turn for the much quieter Mounton Road. I remarked to Peter Ralph that I remember most lanes by BTOTC incidents. This particular one was the scene a couple of years ago of a bloke in a jeep faffing about pulling into a driveway as we rode past causing him to dish out a bit of verbal. The early morning cool gave way to a slightly overcast but warm day as we got well warmed up on the climb into Shirenewton and on through Earlswood. Steve was reprising a route of Keith's which was well received the last time. Climbing up into the Wentwood forest we crossed the Usk road and climbed a bit more pausing to regroup at the summit. Den Harris was climbing strongly although not as well as wife Annette with her electric boost. Now the descent into Parc Seymour, what a little beauty! With no cars, a dry road and good visibility you could let it rip. Over the A48 into Bowdens Lane by the Groes Wen Inn we reached the end of the lane at twenty to twelve. To our right the bridge under the motorway with the Golden Lion about five minutes ride away. Hmmm. What to do? We don't want to arrive early and hang around wasting valuable cycling time. Well we haven't been doing this for years without learning a few roads. I wrested the leaders baton from Steve and took the group left away from Magor. To our right was a large wooded ridge that we were somehow going to have to go either over or around. A couple of right turns took us onto a small lane past a farmhouse that is also recorded in the mental incident book. This is where John Crinion had a crash after colliding with a cat. Remembering to take a right turn onto a track we crossed the motorway, took a right and dropped into Magor a few minutes after twelve. Distance requirements satisfied. The Golden Lion is one of, if not the very first lunchtime pubs visited by the BTOTC thirty odd years ago. It seems to have managed to avoid the pub curse of going downhill and only ever seems to improve. The menu is probably the most adventurous of all our pubs with items like pan seared black pudding and Tagliatelle King Prawns as well as the regular pub classics. Andy Short was in raptures about his Hot Beef Chilli Chocolate - he would have eaten two if were staying longer. Top quality stuff, the prices reflect this but if you want the best you have to pay for it. It was great to see Malcolm in the bar looking a lot better than you might expect. Not allowed to drive or drink alcohol on doctors orders he intends to visit our lunch-stops as often as he can arrange a lift. Many thanks to Phil Hodgson for doing the honours today. By one thirty the call of home would not be ignored so we took the back route through Undy and along the gravel tracks. They are not my favourite but were on their best behaviour today causing no problems and keeping our unwieldy large group off the main road. Back over the bridge and the sun even put in a late appearance to round off another first class day. And the route up to Wentwood and down again - touch here. A Message from Malcolm: Some of you will have noticed that I have managed to get to the last two Thursday pubs thanks to old timers kindly driving me there. For a long time I was in too much pain for this to happen but thanks to the local nurse from St Peter’s Hospice, who has now taken over my palliative care, I am pain free and have enough energy to get out and about a little. I hope over the next few weeks to come as often as I am still able and share a lunch and a drink with as many of you as I can; you all mean a lot to me. Thursday 16th June 2016. Bitton to Shoscombe. Report from Bill Balchin: Sunshine and showers - the dreaded forecast. That was what we had yesterday and it meant that you could be dry all day or you could have flash floods, thunder and lightning or anything in between. So with the same forecast for today it may have had a bearing on the fact that there were only ten starters for Chris and Shirley's ride from Bitton to Shoscombe. Although there was also a clash with a cycling holiday in the Isle of Man, babysitting, holidays and a certain Euro 2016 football match between England and Wales. Which was a shame as team Hume had put in a lot off work on today's route, riding it three times before deciding the final version and even working out the regrouping points. Mike Chouings appeared at the start but only to check who was around before riding home again. This weekend he will be off to Bakewell for the Eroica with Sean, Catherine and Alex, so hope it goes well for you. After riding down the track to Saltford and turning up to Keynsham Manor, Mike waved goodbye. Just as well as he was on a fixie which would have been hard work today. We dropped down into Chewton Keynsham on that pretty little lane that we usually ride in the opposite direction leading on to Queen Charlton via Redlynch Lane. Just after Queen Charlton we had a Shirley special when we took the left fork on a lane, little more than a track, which I have always wondered where it went. It cut off a bit of a corner and dropped us into Publow before we crossed the A37 and left Pensford under the viaduct. After a dry start we got our first spots of rain but it came to nothing as we headed for Stowey.