Chilterns Beech Woods Off-Roader
9 April 2005
9 o'clock and a bright and sunny start at the Green Bridge with me and ride leader Steve waiting to see if there would be any more takers. There weren't and straight off I'm afraid I'll have to say you all missed out on a great day's riding!
Off we pedalled to Marylebone to be quoted £81.50 for a cheap day return to Saunderton - errr, that's Saunderton in Buckinghamshire? ah, a similar sounding town exists in Wales.....nope we want the Buckinghamshire one please! £12, yes that sounds more like it thanks and the next train is at? damn, we had just missed one (we shouldn't have waited for those non-existent late comers!)
The wait did mean we got some more breakfast on board before heading out west to Saunderton (England) a few miles west of High Wycombe and just a mile or so from the YHA that Wheelers took over for a weekend last November. Approaching midday we set off out on the road and being in the Chilterns we naturally straight away had a leg burning hill to grovel over.
With pulses nicely raised we headed off south for our first off-road section. A seemingly innocent grassy track lay ahead of us rising up over a hill. The gradient steepened sharply and it didn't take long for our back wheels to be slipping and our legs not being up to spinning the lowest of gears. "Off and walking this early?" I thought - this could be a long day!
No need to worry though, it turned out overall we came across 'only' about four inclines that were too much for us to pedal over. The rest of the off-road sections 'just' needed plain hard riding plus a good amount of concentration to keep the bike following the best route along the muddy tracks.
So after a couple of hours and grinding our way along a few bridleways we were a mile or so from Christmas Common - it was time for lunch and, as hoped for, there was a nice pub waiting for us (the Fox and Hounds or something similar).
After an hour in the sun we set off west refreshed but into the wind aiming for the village of Eweleme. We followed various well-signposted tracks passing quite a few walkers out on long distance strolls. Reaching Eweleme meant at least one thing, we'd be wind assisted for the rest of the ride. My legs were happy to sense this as we bumped downhill into the village to turn a sharp left and start sailing east.
We were now on the longest off-road section of the ride. No idea of the distances of each of the sections we did throughout the day - none were probably that long put it seems an equivalent amount of energy used up during a fast paced 10 miles on the road was need to get to the end of each of them. Very hard work but in that enjoyable kind of way... This section was a slog, gradually uphill through slippery mud tracks. No time to freewheel otherwise you'd just stop - a really serious 15 minute workout! Not at all what the legs were up for after already being asked to pedal for 4 hours...
But as was always the case, a hard slog was rewarded with some downhilling. Not that the downhill bits were relaxing but at least we got cooled down with the pleasant breeze generated by plummeting down some narrow rocky track :-) Managing to avoid the larger rocks of this bumpy section we entered the Warburg Nature Reserve. Definitely looks like a good place to visit for a peaceful wander in the woods.
Talking of peaceful, throughout the whole 6 hours of riding we probably only came across about 10 cars (on the road sections that is...) - this part of Buckinghamshire is seemingly deserted! Perhaps everyone just flocks to High Wycombe on a Saturday afternoon.
After one more pushing stint up a hill it was then a speedy drop down into the Thames valley and onwards to Henley. A pub on the river beckoned and we ended up spending far too long in there...sleepily we trained it to Paddington and hazily pedalled on back east.
Admittedly the next day I was completely knackered and was comforted to hear that Steve was too. It's certainly no cruise through the woods this off-road business. We reckoned we did about 40 miles but the effort needed felt more like a 100 miler on the road! Great fun though and you get to take in some gorgeous countryside views.
Steve's mid-week description was spot on: "The picturesque chocolate box scenery, off-roader, up hill and down dale, in sunny Chiltern Hills shaded by intermittent beechwoods is still on".
I'm looking forward to the next bike ride that will be as good as this one.
Owen
PS and thanks to Gary for the loan of his mountain bike - I'll get it cleaned and oiled asap!
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which way now?
looking back up a fine downhill section
trail through Warburg Nature Reserve