well Maddy this week!

On Monday I decided that i should get off my bony arse and do something more than walk to the shops, i was hankering for a moorland hike but in lieu of any suitable moorland within at least fifty miles i decided on at least a walk in the South Glos. countryside. I decided to take a bus out to the edge of civilisation, well the Brizzle ring road, to start proceedings so at a little after 11, armed with my trusty Ordnance Survey sheet 172 i departed for my adventure.

By the time i departed the bus terminus, now armed with a light lunch, it was heading towards midday and a plan was hatched, first to follow the 'Dramway' north wards before making my way to the River Frome which i would follow back into suburbia. Let me explain the Dramway, its actually the local iteration of a tramway, no not those people carriers on city streets but the original horse drawn, railed, wagonways from the early 19th century. This particular line ran from Coalpit Heath pretty much due south to the River Avon near Keynsham (https://www.southglos.gov.uk/documents/The%20Dramway.pdf for more information).

I made my way under the M4 motorway to pick up my 'offroad' route and the Dramway path near Henfield. It's fairly easy going, afterall you don't want your waggons running away or conversely making it too difficult to return to the top, whilst much is essentially a narrow lane there are some stretches that are barely a path across fields. The end of the line is at Rams Hill Colliery, next to the modern London - Cardiff railway, i took a few minutes to explore the remains, well worth a visit if you are interested in such things. The path then heads across the actual heath, currently kept as meadowland, to reach the modern village of Coalpit Heath.

Back to the road for the next leg across the village and into Frampton Cotterell where i joined the River Frome path to start the inward leg. I had 8km in the legs at this point, time to look for a picnic spot! Well i'd walked two more before i reached a suitable spot at Winterbourne Down close to the mainline railway that i crossed at Rams Hill. I was starting to get a bit warm, a bit foot sore and most certainly tired but my egg mayo sarnie and twenty minutes sprawled on the grass helped some and i set off on what i expected to be another 5km down the river,

It has to be said that some of the path isn't great, the river not very pretty but there was still a bit of wildlife, dragonflies, butterflies, ducks, a heron even. After the Folly Brook joins, things change, the Frome valley becomes deeper, wooded and with the sun now beating down, some welcome shade. i'd now been walking for over three hours as the river cut back and forth under the M4 and the ringroad, the path taking brief diversions past a couple of watermills before reaching Frenchay Bridge.

I really was getting quite sore around my good knee for some reason but i was on the home straight, nearly 15km covered in 4 hours. Up through the Oldbury Estate, a quick stop at Lidl to get my tea then i was done, 17.4km and ten minutes shy of 5 hours, tired and that knee now complaining vociferously. No idea why that should be, i hadn't done anything to cause it, it wasn't swollen or tender but it hurt like hell - oh well, stuff happens.

On to Tuesday then, another bright, warm day here in Brizzleland. The knee was still not happy which i'll admit did influence my choice of destination, my regular burger stop in Clevedon. As i was going to be on a bit of a meander anyhow i thought i'd incorporate some more exploration of 'lanes' i'd not previously used, a plan was made and i set off. The first stretch took me from the Nailsea bike path across the Land Yeo river valley to Tyntesfield, a fairly well maintained path with a couple of river crossings before a kick back up to tarmac.

The next stretch i had on my radar meant climbing up to the top of the Failand Ridge to descend Old Lane to Tickenham, which, whilst downhill, not much was maintained and i resorted to walking a couple of particularly gruesome bits. In hindsight, this is probably where my later issues originated. Anyway, sector 2 complete, sector three was back in valley bottom, a loop along the North Drove which is a fairly wide dirt/gravel route through the levels.

All great stuff, the knee was, well okay and a mucky burger was calling my name! i was glad to sit in some shade to eat my gooey delight, despite the non linear route i only had 30km clocked so i decided that the return leg would incorporate more unexplored lanes. So, once fed i headed back towards Tickenham before taking the turn that suggested Cadbury Camp was somewhere above me. Yep, it was back to climbing, once again making its way up onto the Failand Ridge but mostly on a fairly easy slope.

But something wasn't right, there was a regular rubbing and bump but only on the tarmac. I pushed on, literally on the rocky climb up to the Neolithic hillfort, a place i've wanted to visit for a while. The views from the top are some of the best and most extensive i've seen in this neck of the woods, the far horizon taking in the Quantocks with the Severn Estuary stretching away, further round, the bridge into Wales with the Brecon Beacons beyond. I will return for a better look but today i decided to push on. Another stony descent and i was back on tarmac, i hadn't identified the bike issue but it was back.

So that was four new lanes covered, should i go for five? What the heck, why not so i followed the ridge through Failand and up towards the Avon, heading for Leigh Woods, the local MTB playground. I picked up the NCN route at the end of the tarmac and was delighted to find the roadway, whilst gravel, well graded for most of the couple of kilometres down to the river. Back towards Bristol, the bumping and rubbing seemed worse again so prudence dictated a more direct return to base than i might otherwise have used, the clock stopping with 71km covered.

Of course i needed a more thorough investigation now, i had my suspicions which were born out. It was a tyre casing rupture, the otherwise perfect tyre now sporting a huge twist and bulge, the cause of both rubbing and bumping. That's £30 i'll not see again, think i'll be pressing a part worn tyre into service until a replacement is sourced.

So that's it, a week of exploration by foot and wheel, a sore knee for no apparent reason and a bgrd tyre to boot. Yep, such is life. What will the rest of the week bring my way? Guess we have to wait and see.

I'll be back at the weekend but for now though,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid