Finally made it out to Richmond after a few weeks of crappy weather.  The roll call of riders was a short one, consisting only of me and Bob.  Paul M continues to insist that it’s too far to come from Singapore for a ride out, Mike was hanging out with his young ladies, Paul T was suffering a lack of interest attack and Andrew was in an iron lung or something.

The view from Applegarth back towards Richmond.

We started out from the car park at Round Howe and started up the first climb of the day to Whitcliffe Farm which was about 120m up in 600m.  After this the road levelled out a bit and we went through Whitecliffe Wood, the track looks pretty good but this time of year its been cut up soft by the 4 x 4’s going through there.  After Whitecliffe Wood you get out onto Applegarth which is a nice smooth run on grass down to the farms.

Once we got past the farms at Applegarth, we got back onto the road which led up to the main road.  This was a ballache of a climb but at least it was on road. I arrived at the top of the hill completely knackered to find Bob waiting for me not even breathing hard – Bastard!

A little damp underfoot here.

We rode along the main road for a while before turning off into Beacon Plantation or, as we like to call it, the frigging swamp.  If it was warmer you’d expect to find alligators in there.

It was all downhill through the swamp but that didn’t really help much because the mud was so deep we ended up pushing the bikes downhill most of the time.  This will probably be a blast in the summer when the ground is dry and solid but this time of year its a bit of a trudge.

Look, no hands.

You didn’t have to worry about dropping your bike in here, you just got off it and it stayed where it was.

Bob’s hill

It was as we got to the  bottom of the swamp that Bob had an attack of falloffitis.  I’m afraid I didn’t get any action shots as I was laughing too hard to get the camera out.  I’ll try and give you a mental picture of what happened; At point A on the picture below, I was around the corner so only heard Bob shout “Yeeeoohhhhhhgg!”.  “Oh dear” I thought to myself, “what could possibly have transpired there” Bob later told me he’d found one of the softer rocks to land on.  At point B, I arrived on the scene to see Bob, after his second trip over the bars, rolling down the hill with the bike following him.  “Are you OK Bob?” I called through the tears as he quickly jumped back into the saddle and set off for point C.  “Yes, fine thanks” he called and then proceeded to fly over the handlebars for the third time.  Oh my sides!

The road out of Gilling Wood

After the bottom of Bob’s hill it was a climb through swampy forest and swampy fields until we reached Black Plantation.  After Black Plantation, we went through Gilling Wood which is a blast!  Its nice and fast, wide and downhill.  I’d forgotten to put my glasses on at the start so it was even more exciting not being able to see where I was going.

Out of Gilling wood there is a good downhill path across fields.  I managed to get one wheel in each of two tyre tracks and come down the hill sideways on like a speedway rider.  After this it was a bit of up and down before getting back onto the road at Washton.

We took the road through Washton and Kirby Hill. We’d planned to climb across the fields to Swallow Hole but were so sick of pushing the bikes through swamps we decided to take the road; what a good decision.  The road up to Swallow Hole – how do they think these names up? – was a complete ballache, one of those roads where you think you’re about to reach the crest of the hill only to find there’s another bloody great hill just beyond this one, so the off road option would have been awful.

The army firing range

The view from Swallow Hole.

From Swallow Hole we went downhill to the main road then turned onto Green Lane, past Green Lane Farm and on through the fields back to Beacon Plantation (home of the swamp).  After reaching the plantation, there was a bit of downhill singletrack to a gate with a sign that always fills me with joy “Beware of the bull!” oh lovely!

Just what you want to see when you’re knackered.

This was when I started thinking that my bright orange cycling jacket wasn’t such a good idea or wishing Andrew was with us as I reckon I could outrun him.  All the way through the field I was looking at that wall on the left and wondering if I could clear it in one bound; think it would have been no problem if Bully had turned up!

Anyway we made it through the Bull’s field without seeing him and enjoyed a smooth ride down to High Gingerfield before crossing more bull’s fields – no-one at home though – until we reached High Moor.  From High Moor to Whitcliffe Farm is steep downhill, but the ground was so boggy that we were having to pedal hard just to move forward.

From Whitcliffe Farm its fast downhill on farm tracks for about 600m to the car park.  In all it took us about three hours to get around the route.  I reckon you could do it in two hours in the summer when you didn’t need to carry your bike across the swamps.

Cheers – Ian

Fatboy not so slim