Forest of Dean ride & bivvy Weds 17th April

[psling]

Reg (RIP) and myself are meeting up for Reg's April BAM in the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean.

The plan as it stands is that Reg will roll into the area by railway late evening Tuesday 16th April then ride with me early Wednesday17th April. Our route will involve a combination of tracks and quiet lanes and take in some of the industrial heritage of the Lower Wye Valley and Forest of Dean. This will involve a scenic 60km and 1350m of ascent and will involve cafes and pubs along the way and culminate in a bivvy at a secret location Thursday morning will see us take a leisurely ride to a café for breakfast and then wave Reg off at the railway station before the rest of us return to our Wednesday morning meeting place, approximately 25km or so via another café..

If anyone can tolerate mine and Reg's company on a (fairly) leisurely ride and can get leave for a midweek excursion then you are very welcome to join us

[middleagedmadness]

Would love to join you guys but have some rather large plans the following week so have to give it a miss but anytime after July and I'm up for a mid week jaunt ,

[NorwayCalling]

Sounds nice. I might be in the UK (or may not depending on opps here) but I would cycle over for this...great part of the world.

I should know my whereabouts about 2 weeks in advance...and will commit (or not) then if that's ok?

[psling]

Sounds nice. I might be in the UK (or may not depending on opps here) but I would cycle over for this...great part of the world.

I should know my whereabouts about 2 weeks in advance...and will commit (or not) then if that's ok?

Will be good to have you along if you can make it
(I owe you some gaffer tape after you helped me on a hillside near Bala at last year's WRT!)

[NorwayCalling]

Sounds nice. I might be in the UK (or may not depending on opps here) but I would cycle over for this...great part of the world.

I should know my whereabouts about 2 weeks in advance...and will commit (or not) then if that's ok?

Will be good to have you along if you can make it
(I owe you some gaffer tape after you helped me on a hillside near Bala at last year's WRT!)

LOL... no its ok, Im good for tape. But one thing that did teach me was...buy better gaffer tape

[psling]

Bit more info (which may either encourage people to join us or put them off!)

My pace is about 8-10kph riding average so there will be no head down, pushing on. There are several café/pub/shop options along the way at regular(ish) intervals and the anticipated bivvy spot is within a mile of a pub that serves food that we will just happen to be passing
I shall be riding a HT (26" x 2.1" if you must know ) but I have ridden all the tracks and trails on a rim-braked cx bike ('gravel' bike ) over the years - just makes them a bit more, erm, 'interesting'

People with a mid-week pass could join us for just the ride on the Wednesday but it would be a great shame to miss out on a warm-up-for-the-WRT-bivvy on the Wednesday night with a gentle warm-down ride on Thursday morning

[psling]

Well, ride completed

No-one suffered through lack of food or drink (approximately 50/50 riding/stopped excluding bivvy!!)
No-one had their photo taken by café owners for social meeja purposes (well, maybe all of us)
No-one got arrested (despite threats by a random female street vigilante)
No-one shared their sleeping bag with adders (despite warnings at our bivvy site)

Hopefully, ride report and possibly photos may appear on BAM or similar...

[RIP]

Good summary there Peter . I had a fantastic time - thank you for showing me round your manor. Will bung up a BaM report this morning hopefully.