Thursday 4th January: Ashton to Congresbury. Report from Bill Balchin: I can usually cycle from home to the Ashton start comfortably in an hour, despite Bristol and all it's traffic lights. Not today though, with a fierce south westerly wind directly in my face I needed all of the extra quarter of an hour I had allowed. Not only that, our destination of the White Hart at Congresbury is in the general direction of into the wind and I'm already worn out. It was Julian's first time for leading today so it was no surprise that his route was a big circle around his home town of Nailsea. I think I counted twenty riders before Julian led us out on the Festival Way. For the second time in recent months a kind motorist waited as we crossed over Yanley Lane, and waited, and waited. One of the cars behind was not so patient and gave a few blasts on the horn. There goes his new year resolution to be calmer and more tolerant down the drain. He must have waited for the best part of a minute. Wriggling through the houses of Long Ashton we passed some guys cutting trees and feeding the branches into a chipper. I did not think much about it at the time but later sitting next to Pete at lunch discovered that he picked up a large pointed stake in his rear tyre. As expected the magic goo in the tyre did it's work and sealed the hole but Pete had to wait for it to harden and ended up making his own, more direct, way to lunch. The rest of the group headed towards Flax Bourton but instead of taking the railway path followed the Clevedon Road for half a mile then turned right to climb Belmont Hill. This is my usual route home when we come back through Claverham. Would I have to climb it twice in one day? Will I go a different route? No point in thinking about it now, just get up there. The wind was actually in our favour now so the climb, while by no means easy, was not so bad. Forking left at the top towards Failand we crossed over the upper Clevedon Road into Oxhouse Lane. Oxhouse Lane is just the sort of lane we like to cycle on but today it had something up it's sleeve - a completely flooded section right across the road several bike lengths long. I trickled through pumping the pedals but Andy Short on his fixie had no option but to keep pedaling. Luckily the water was not deep enough to do worse than catch the bottom of his shoes. Aiming for Failand church we descended on the lanes of Lower Failand taking care to leave a safety space and avoid the numerous puddles and patches of road rubbish as we dropped into Portbury. Julian led us over the bridge that crosses the M5 and leads to the Sheepway. Normally this would be no problem but the howling wind being funneled along the motorway had a good try at blowing us off. At one point I though that I would have to run down and pick Shirley up from the motorway as a gust pushed her towards the barrier but she managed to unclip quickly and avoid disaster. Into Portishead now and we started the climb towards the Windmill. I tried to look through the trees to see the state of the channel but all I could see was a muddy, ploughed field with a mass of grey murkiness behind it. Hang on! That is the channel. It was really tough battling the wind along Nore Road and when we got to the top with a some up and down sections we had to pedal on the downhill bits. I was ready to apologise to Guido who was back marker and riding like a slow bicycle race as I ground my way along. I was planning on a short cut to Congresbury as we approached Clevedon but Julian had already decided that our (my?) slow progress dictated that we took the most direct route from Walton in Gordano. Going along the straight road across the Kenn moors it was impossible to ride in a straight line as gusty crosswinds wrenched at your handlebars trying to send you into one of the water filled ditches. Luckily nobody took an early bath. Reaching Yatton we headed towards Congressbury and took the left fork to cross the A370 at the foot of Rhodyate Hill where other kind motorists stopped to let us across. Perhaps they thought we must be lunatics being out on bikes when the wind was now hitting it's peak strength. Hallelujah, we reached our destination. I guess they call it Congresbury from the postcode although it's actually between Congresbury and Wrington. Either way it was wonderful to get inside out of the wind and sink a pint of Badger Best Bitter that was like nectar, although that may be because I needed it so much. This was our first visit here as we would normally stop at the Plough at Congresbury. However the Plough made it so difficult by insisting on food pre-orders but then not supplying a menu that we switched. And from the look of the contented diners and drinkers we will be back. After the customary "new pub" photo we retraced our route back to Yatton then took the usual way through Claverham and Backwell. Strange how you notice a wind in your face but not when it is on your back. I was expecting to be blown home, hardly turning a pedal but it never works like that does it? On the railway path into Flax Bourton I spoke to Nick and we decided that Belmont Hill was still the best option for home being both direct and away from Bristol traffic so up we went for the second time that day. I can tell you that it is harder after you have cycled an extra thirty windy miles. See the route but not the wind here. Message from Bill 4th January 2018. I was pretty exhausted for most of the day on our windy ride to Congresbury. I got home OK still in the light but it would have been so much easier on an electric bike. Many of you know that I have one in my sights - a Giant Road- E+1 Pro. I'm not sure what the Pro bit means as it is obviously an electric bike so could not be smuggled into a pro race. The 2018 models are still in transit to the UK and expected by the end of January. I have arranged with the Giant store at Bradley Stoke that I can pick up their demonstrator on a Wednesday, ride it on a Thursday and return it after our ride. It can't arrive soon enough. You can see the details here Opens in a new window. If you are good I may allow a few goes on it. Thursday 11th January: Amcor to North Nibley. Report from Bill Balchin: Days sometimes develop their own themes I find. Today the theme was "closed roads". My favourite route from home to both the Amcor and Bitton starts is called Shellards Lane - and there it was this morning with a big red sign declaring that the road was closed. Nah, I don't believe you. Riding the short distance to the Old Gloucester Road there were two more clusters of signs but not a hint of roadworks. Now on the OGR I reached the Trench Lane turning to find another set of road closed signs blocking the way to the start. This looked a lot more serious with cones, trucks and guys in high viz gear, but when I explained that a bunch of cycling seniors would need to ride that stretch of road just after ten the boss lady was completely amenable. Joining up with the group I counted twenty six eager riders, happy to swap last week's wind for today's dull skies and mist - maybe it would brighten up later. Setting what I thought was a reasonable pace, but some may have found a bit slow, we negotiated a whole army of high viz litter pickers and hedge trimmers in the direction of Tytherington. A lorry was stopped in the middle of the road while another gang filled a pothole. That left us enough room to pass but meant that we did not get a single car behind us until after we had turned left into Hortham Lane. Descending Fernhill into Tockington both Andy and Keith riding fixed pedalled like dervishes as the rest of us coasted down nudging 30 mph. Through Olveston we took the right fork to Elburton where we rode a half a mile towards Alveston before turning left into Sweetwater Lane. I don't know how many are familiar with this lane, it is my default option for home after the Severn Bridge. There was a mucky section until we passed the bridleway where a tractor had been driving up and down, but after that it was just damp and a bit dirty like all the lanes today. The steep drop down Mumbleys Lane took us past the mansion belonging Aaron Banks with his collection of Grommets (as in Wallace and Grommet) grazing on the lawns. Turning right into Kington Lane we passed Thornbury Castle and wriggled through a housing estate before we got back onto the lanes at Morton.