A Sunday bimble down the backlanes

[MMC]

No drama, no alps, no mountain passes or Moroccan herdsmen. Just a bimble out for the sake of it and to blow out a few cobwebs.

It’s such a beautiful morning here that I just HAD to go for a ride. I mean, we’ve had under two inches of rain, it’s about six degrees, the wind’s at 40mph, so it’s practically summer. I’ve had severe withdrawal symptoms lately as I’ve been off the bike for one reason and another. Sod the rain - it’s always good to ride.

One of the things I love about the GS is the way it matches your mood. This morning I just fancied a bimble - lots of backlanes, byways and B roads. This is where a set of Vern’s boxes comes in handy too. No chance of sinking in one of the roadside lakes with floatation aids this size:

So, suitably in bimble mode I head out of Bampton with a vague destination of Uffington in mind, with Oxfordshire’s own Alpine passes up the side of White Horse Hill. Well, a few cornery bits anyway.

It’s a pretty little village, Uffington. Although I’m a little puzzled as to why there’s a tree on the top of the Church:

Given that I was counter-steering into the wind to stay upright, I suspect it just blew there.

 

[MMC]

Plenty of chocolate box cottages too - and you can see how delightfully summery and balmy it is too:

Oxfordshire’s a strange place. You find all sorts of odd things out in tiny little villages. George Owell (Eric Blair) is buried in the graveyard of All Saints in Sutton Courtenay. Nancy Mitford’s buried at St Mary Churchyard Swinbrook. Here, in Uffington, you can find this place:

It’s Tom Brown's School Museum. Sadly, didn’t see Flashman, just another flashflood.

Thought there might be the chance of a warm coffee and a chance to dry out in the pub, but no luck. Pretty, but firmly closed.

So it’s onward and upward. This bit of Oxfordshire is as flat as Gordon Brown’s poll ratings, so it’s a change to get the odd hill or two. Uffington’s certainly got one of those:

More anon... Off to Oxford to check out out the refurbished Ashmolean, so more rip-roaring excitement later

 

[Mr K]

 

[MMC]

Just a couple of miles outside of Uffington, there’s White Horse Hill. Now, I’m assuming everyone’s seen the White Horse, so I didn’t bother taking a photo. The other reason was that it was now raining so bloody hard that the camera wouldn’t have worked anyway. If you’re really desperate to see the Horse, here you go:

A link to the horse

It’s a cracking road up there though:

You have to dodge the sheep, OAPs in their Metros coming down the wrong way and suicidal red-sockers with proper rambler attitudes, but it’s still fun - and you get 50 points per rambler so it’s worth it.

The views alone are worth having. Here’s most of Oxfordshire:

And the other bit:

And the last bit:

There you go - now you’ve seen Oxfordshire and a fair bit of Wiltshire too.
When it’s not hacking with rain and your Aerostich isn’t filling up with water, you can see even further. Honest.

So I sat on the bike for a bit, enjoying the view and wondering if there was a third setting on the heated grips. Maybe one that said ‘glove drying mode’. But there wasn’t.

No tea van though. Rubbish. Some of the red-sockers had brought their own tea in flasks. I seriously thought about doing a ride-by smash and grab for a flask of tea. But that would have meant going off-road, on a hill, and jumping a fence. Not being made of sterner stuff, I decided not to.

No tea van, but plenty of picturesque village place names:

So I carried on, now completely drenched. More pretty villages:

More wet roads:

And - finally - managed to squelch my way back to Bampton, a sausage sarnie and a pint of coffee. I would have taken a photo of the sandwich, but it didn’t hang around long enough. So here’s a photo of the empty plate instead:

Home - cold, wet and grinning like an idiot. Only did about fifty miles all-in, but absolutely loved it, found some new roads to play on and some new OCC speed limits to ignore. So good to get out and blow a few cobwebs away.

 

[Garry H]

Nice one
We went out for a bimble on saturday cuz the forcast was much better

We were going out for just a few hours... But ended up out most of the day

The heated jacket is king...I might even get some muffs

I still think the moded 100 is a great allrounder

 

[Kenny]

Edge of the seat stuff...thanks

 

[MMC]

Edge of the seat stuff...thanks

Sorry - it was a bit packed with suspense, wasn't it? Hope you're OK - I mean, that level of excitement. Not many can handle it.

 

[MMC]

Actually, you could save a lot of time and just read this:

Went for a ride in the rain. Got wet. Came home. Had breakfast.

Actually - why did I bother? That really was the most tedious ride report ever in the history of riding-kind. Sorry chaps.

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

Actually, you could save a lot of time and just read this:



Actually - why did I bother? That really was the most tedious ride report ever in the history of riding-kind. Sorry chaps.

I liked it

 

[Popeye]

Me too

"Redsockers" never heard it before, perfect

Gary H - where were your pictures taken??

 

[Garry H]

Gary H - where were your pictures taken??

Gospel Pass Hay On Wye
Heres another

 

[Shep]

A nice report, we need a few more local tours just to balance out the more unobtainable mongul madness type threads.



Shep

 

[Keith Chapman]

Is the uffington carving a white horse? I have always thought the uffington chalk carving is more cat like compared to other carvings around the country.

 

[Steady Eddie]

Uffington

Nice one .
I went there in sunnier times , must revisit .

I'm planning a ride to Avebury [ date to be confirmed ] for a bit of cosmic inspiration , fancy coming along ?
Burford , A361 to Swindon , then on over the M4 before turning off at Chiseldon , and heading on through Wroughton , Broad Hinton and some Winterbournes .

Let me know.

Steve
07710 740498

 

[peejay]

Dont have to be a marathon to bring the smiles.
Nice report.

 

[Irishdude]

cool fotos and story to match