Led by Barry, with me, Maureen and Gordon. Flattish, sheep and cattle and some arable. Dry weather with a little sun later. 7.8 miles.
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| There's a smell of resin from the cut wood |
I meet the gang at East Carlton, and we make out way by car to Walcote once more. We park behind the same vehicle - 6IGEON of clay-shooting fame - as Monday.
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| The rowan berries are bright |
We take the A4304 for a short distance before our path leaves to the left - somewhat hidden by the lushness of the hedge. We cross the field and then walk along the edges going south. We pass a few tiny ponds in field corners and clamber over ten or a dozen stiles. We notice them today - nearly all are slippery. In one field behind Thornhill Stud, there are several horses. A white one is quite interested in us - not just for a fuss though.
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| "Is that all I get?" |
We walk past some old practice jumps , then cross the Lutterworth Road. Near Swinford Corner we take another path southwest - a bridleway this time, so no stiles for a while. This leads towards the M1 - we kept on the bridleway all the time, ignoring a path to our right. When we reach a bridge carrying the farm track over the motorway, we wander out to watch the traffic rushing along, then go back , and leave the bridleway, taking a footpath going south east with the motorway roaring away on our right as we walk. After a couple of hundred yards we turn east, and the noise grows fainter, as we approach the village of Swinford - nothing to do with swine, it seems, according to some online information:
The village of
Swinford is a compact village at the head of a small tributary of the River
Avon. The Anglo-Saxon name would have been “Suin
Heaford” meaning “the head or source
of the Swin Stream”. In time it was shortened to “Swin-ford”, but has nothing to do with swine!
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| 1718 - the photo isn't quite in focus! |
The village is quite big, and provides a seat where we sit a while.
Our footpath heads slightly north of east, past a playing field, over fields (more stiles) and past a wooded area, before meeting a byway heading more or less north. The main features here are power lines and wind turbines, both of which provide background music as we go.
After almost a mile, the byway meets the road between Walcote and Swinford. We promised outselves we'd have a second break today, so we sit on a handy length of wood, even though it's no more than 3/4 mile to Walcote. A bus passes by, but little else.
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| I had to include this photo for the colour that's in it! |
On the roadside there's a stall with plums and veg. Too tempting - I pays me money - but the paper bag's wet and they fall out instantly. They're not difficult to collect and re-bag, and tonight I feast again!
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| I love vegetable gardens - and sunflowers |
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| The Old Post Office |
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| Walks - you must be crazy! |
A pleasant walk, with more than twenty stiles - and no rain until later in the evening. There are still a few swallows around.
Walking around on Christmas day, the streets are almost completely abandoned. This offers a rare opportunity to observe during daylight hours how things are laid out. I cycle past this particular intersection several times a week, but always approaching from the other direction, and it is usually very crowded. So I've never fully processed its design from the opposite direction until now. And the design is really something. I don't know how well my pictures demonstrate this, but there is a bike lane running against traffic that guides cyclist directly onto a brick island at the intersection.
Once the bike lane reaches the island, there is no entry point. But the markings invite cyclists to hop a 4-5" curb, at an angle. Some of you are probably thinking "Well okay, I can take that at speed on the right bike." But wait, not so fast.
There is a bicycle stop sign just before the intersection, so you really don't have that much room to accelerate. In addition, remember that this bike lane is against car traffic, so you also need to watch the blind turn as you make your way toward that 5" curb. I am no expert, but this might be worthy of some sort of "cycling infrastructure fail"award. And it certainly explains why I see confused, flailing cyclists approach the intersection from this direction whenever I cycle through here.
Lately I've been reading Brown Girl in the Lane's delightful rantsabout Vehicular Cycling advocates. She considers these fellows to be the "spawn of Satan" because they are against cycling infrastructure. Of course, their reasoning is that they are against it precisely because the sort of thing pictured here is what cities will do to cyclists when designing said infrastructure. Carving out a middle-ground position in this debate is tricky and I am not going to try right now. I only wonder whether there is a way to put a system in place whereby those who design cycling infrastructure (1) are required to consult with experts who are actual cyclists, and (2) have some accountability over the type of layout they create. We should not have to choose between harmful infrastructure and no infrastructure at all.
Though I knew that the "outer Cape" (from Eastham to Provincetown) is hilly, I did not realise just how hilly until we began to explore it on bicycles. Those rolling hills with regular 100ft elevation changes really begin to take a toll - especially if you are riding the bicycle as a single speed as I have been doing with 
My problems with these shifters were multiple:
So - thanks to the hills, I have learned how to shift gears on 
Honestly, I am finding it difficult to love derailleurs - so many problems compared to hubs. Still, having experienced these hills, I realise that they are a necessity. I have not yet decided whether my hypothetical future custom mixte will have indexed or friction shifters, but the shifters will definitely be placed in a way that does not require me to take my hands off the handlebars.