Author Topic: Honeybourne nr Evesham - 3rd and 4th August  (Read 4367 times)

Re: Honeybourne nr Evesham - 3rd and 4th August
« Reply #25 on: 03 August, 2019, 10:33:23 pm »
What a superb spot! Dinner consumed, teeth brushed and old to bed now.
Reine de la Fauche


bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: Honeybourne nr Evesham - 3rd and 4th August
« Reply #26 on: 03 August, 2019, 11:27:35 pm »
Glad you like it guys have a great ride ;D
YACF touring/audax bargain basement:
https://bit.ly/2Xg8pRD



Ban cars.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Honeybourne nr Evesham - 3rd and 4th August
« Reply #27 on: 14 August, 2019, 10:47:03 pm »
We did have a great ride! Now, only nearly two weeks after the event, is a little report.

Orchard Getaway is simply gorgeous. It might seem a bit obvious to point out that it's in an orchard, but it seems a good place to start because it establishes that in this place, everything is as described. We were camping in an area of wild and cultivated plum trees, I'm not sure what other trees they have. The wild plums were small, dark, slightly tart skins, just falling off the trees when we were there and absolutely delicious. The cultivated varieties were still some way off being ripe (and I'd have to check whether it's okay to pick those as Kirsty did mention they get picked for sale). So we had a quiet area of mown grass with a useful table. Not far away were showers, clean and with very hot water, and two composting toilets, which are not odourless but nowhere near as smelly as you might imagine. The lighting in the toilets was a bit dodgy – the whole site is off-grid, so the lighting is solar, and despite the sunny weather it didn't seem to be charging or storing or something, so do take a head torch. There are also a number of candle lanterns available.

Then there's the cooking area. You could actually camp here with nothing other than a tent, because the cooking area provides everything you could possibly need to cook, apart from food. There's an area under a marquee, with gas burners, a variety of pots and pans, a large amount of crockery and cutlery, etc. There's also free tea bags and coffee (instant and ground). And of course drinking water – the water in the washing up area is not drinkable, see 'off-grid' for explanation. Just in front of the cooking area are two large tables under canvas, with a number of lanterns.

For those who don't even want to bring a tent, there are yurts, bell tents and a converted railway goods wagon for hire. I was able to look in the wagon as it wasn't occupied, and it looks far more comfortable than anything any hobo ever travelled in. Southern Railway, for those who care, though I'm afraid I can't swear to the paintwork being in authentic colours. The site is incredibly quiet and peaceful; we heard virtually no traffic pass on Saturday or Sunday evening, though there was some commuter traffic Monday morning.

The Barnt Green Bash is a fab little audax. A really well thought out route, winding around major conurbations on quiet lanes such that you'd never guess you were so close until you see signposts such as "Bromsgrove 2 miles" or Redditch or Birmingham. The only built up area the route enters, other than Honeybourne itself, is Barn Green, where the half-way cafe is. Quite a decent little cafe, apparently it had opened specially for the ride that day.

The cafe provided a sort of reality check for me. It's quite some time since I rode a calendar event and even longer since I rode a 100, so I was mentally thinking "Ok, cafe at 51km, about a quarter of the way round." But of course we were actually half-way there and it was time for lunch! Late lunch probably, as we'd left about half an hour after the start due mostly to my bungling when putting the bike in the back of JBB's car. With a low minimum speed (I think it was 12.5km/h) this didn't really matter and in fact gave us pleasant company in the form of a couple from Gloucester and two newbies(?) from Derby. Apart from this, there was mutual wheel-sucking in Lickey End, a visit to Twatling Road (in Barnt Green), a diversion so I could ride through a ford (JBB said "This had better have water in it" but then declined to ride through on the grounds of no mudguards), and a monster hot headwind on the last 15km.

After that JBB drove off to look after the grandkids and I spent an hour or more lost in Evesham looking for a Co-op I'd been told was on Davies Rd (it was, but in a rather unexpected location). I meandered homeward on Monday and Tuesday, staying at Arlingham on Monday night and seeing a lot of other cyclists in the rain on Tuesday, including a bloke who was riding from Leeds to Chippenham following a print-out from cycle.travel in a map trap. Old skool!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.