And so it came to pass on the Saturday that I had difficulty in rounding up the ford addicts intent on buckling their wheels, but eventually we were humming along through the other three Duntisbournes to Cirencester, which is a hectic but interesting town with a fine cathedral. A Roman Watch was taking place with men dressed up in centurion costumes parading through the narrow streets behind colourful banners. Our camera shutter buttons were clicking!

We threaded our way out of town onto the quiet Akeman Street (a Roman road) heading for the lovely villages of Quenington and Coln St Aldwyns, thence a climb which affords superb views of Bibury Court. We dropped into the village of Bibury and continued the quarter of a mile to Arlington with its row of old weaver’s cottages. The pub across the road attended to a dozen hungry and thirsty cyclists, and we lingered long enough by the river to get more than our feet wet.

The hot sun soon dried us as we rode on through Ablington, turning on to the Salt Way to Northleach, followed by a hilly ridge road via Farmington to Bourton-on-the-Water and its crowds. Just like Torbay in summer. Ugh!! It’s an interesting place with a lot to see though, and we had tea in one of the quieter cafes before moving on and climbing steadily through Little Rissington, going from Gloucestershire into Oxfordshire’s gentler but still undulating country eastwards to Charlbury.

Charlbury hostel was positively groaning under the weight of bikes leaning against everything! There are seven pubs in Charlbury but it took us a while to find one. We quenched our after-dinner thirsts in the warm night air, and the walk back to the hostel finished us off.

(Rob Spence)

Monday, the last day. Vertical rough stuff over the golf course and across West Down to reach a metalled road to Brockhampton. Our general direction was Chedworth Roman Villa and Compton Abdale seemed a good place for coffee, except that the village hall had been turned into a “save the church bells” café with good food at unbelievable prices. I could write ten pages on the hilarity of the next hour as we all ordered more and more food and drink and caused chaos! Our hosts kept their cool, though the bit of old railway track they suggested we use to get to the villa may have been their last laugh!

I was disappointed that we could not negotiate a party rate, and in the event only three of us had a look at the mosaics etc of Chedworth before we got stuck into the task of getting to Cheltenham in time for our train home. Dropping off the escarpment through Dowdeswell was fast and exciting, and traffic was surprisingly light as we rode to the station.

We had enjoyed the best weather in fine scenery, only the three hours of rain on Sunday; and four days had gone in a flash, more the pity. On the train home, thoughts were turned to future tours.

(Rob Spence)