Three Days Around Lechlade - North Road Trainng and Lechlade weekend, March 23-25th 2007

By Graham Thompson

The Lechlade weekend gives the opportunity to see some new country so Don Smith and I were out and about cycling for three days in some very cold, but dry weather. Friday gave about 20 miles in a round trip south of Lechlade. The National Trust owns much land around Coleshill where the Radnor Arms provided a very welcome lunch. The tentacles of the Borough of Swindon extend this far and after a short spell on a busy main road near Watchfield we took to a bridleway for Great Coxwell. Locked gates, barbed wire and wet fields took us to a mud bath of another bridleway so much so that mud prevented the wheels doing their job. It also reinforced my opinion that bikes are meant to be ridden on roads, but all this was put behind us as we surveyed the wonders of the Great Coxwell Barn, a monument to the builder’s art of the thirteenth century.
The evening was spent in the company of over 30 North Roaders, families and friends at the New Inn in Lechlade. The next day a route through the lanes was planned to visit the valley of the River Windrush. The Windrush was one of many places in England about which I had read, but had failed to visit. The very name evokes a wish to visit – try this along with, say, Lulworth Cove, and working northwards the Trough of Bowland, Cross Fell and the River Coquet. We kept to the lanes, and, after a map reading error, entered Burford by a main road. Burford, along with Broadway and Bourton are honeypots for the tourist even on a cold March morning. After coffee we took to the quiet road in the Windrush valley to halt at The Fox at Little Barrington for lunch. The road along the Windrush valley was a revelation even on a cold grey afternoon. Spring flowers and blossom, woods on the sides of valley, the river and farm buildings were a delight to see. Eventually we came to Northleach, bypassed and now quiet, but still able to provide a welcome hot drink. Having gained the high ground, and with the wind on our backs, it was nearly all easy cycling downhill to Lechlade.
Sunday dawned grey and cold, but it promised a dry morning’s ride to the café at Bibury. Don agreed to make his own way whilst I chose a slightly longer lane route to the main Cirencester road, which I joined between Barnsley and Bibury. Here I met with the Cheltenham section of the CTC and the main North Road party, who had caught up with Don. Afterwards I rode in the direction of Burford to the crossroads at Kilkenny Cottages, where I took to the lanes for another downhill and wind assisted return to the base at Lechlade. A flourish to round off a great weekend!