Peter Schrammel - Mountains

30. 5. 2021

Peter Schrammel

Weather

overcast and foggy in the morning, sunny towards noon

Interest

***: Nice circuit in the Cotswolds hills

Route

Oxford, 60m - Woodstock, 115m - Middle Barton, 120m - Bloxham, 125m - Banbury, 95m - Broughton, 115m - Tadmarton Heath, 203m - Wigginton, 135m - Little Tew, 165m - Neat Enstone, 150m - Kiddington, 110m - Stonesfield, 125m - Oxford

Elevation gain

1167m

Distance

105km

Timing

6 1/4h (3/4 + 3/4 + 1 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/6 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 + 3/4)

Stamina

F: many little hills accumulate

Difficulty

+-++: varying qualities of tarmac throughout, lots of potholes +; bridleway after Woodstock smooth 0-+; bridleway around Cleveley +-++ (can be avoided when taking the road)

Danger

0: car traffic and potholes

Visitor frequency

c: cycles and walkers with lots of dogs

Comments

avg: 16.7km/h, max: 52.6km/h

Report

I left at 7.15am. The sky was overcast, not quite the sunshine that was announced. I followed the cycle path number 5 to Banbury. After Woodstock it uses a bridleway, which was quite playful to ride on the narrow path between high grass. Towards Glympton there is a fork after a steep downhill. I had to stop because I was not sure which way to take. The road then rises slowly before it falls steep down to the Bartons. After another up and down into a small valley, there is a very steep uphill section before reaching Over Worton. The road down to Nether Worton is gated. Woolly sheep were grazing inside the pasturage. In Nether Worton with its beautiful estate houses and chuch in dark yellow sandstone I reached the public road again. A steep section leads over Hawk Hill and up to the cross road that connects Iron Down Hill and Steepness Hill. The road after Barford St Michael was blocked for car traffic for no obvious reason, except last winter`s floods maybe. Along the fences of an RAF base the road leads into Bloxham with beautiful stone houses in the centre and ugly cheap suburb buildings. I got more and more tired, but Banbury was very close. Via Bodicote and Bankside Road I rolled down into the centre. I took a quick tour around the streets of the old town. In the meanwhile the sun had broken through the clouds. I found a sunny bench near St Mary`s church, where I had my lunch at 10.30am. After 11am I continued to Banbury cross and took B4035 road to Broughton. This was quite a busy road. Hence, I was glad when I finally turned into the road to Tadmarton Heath. Unfortunately, there were also many cars because of the golf club. After having crossed the summit of the hill, a very steep road falls down into Wigginton. A couple of cyclists were fighting their way upwards. After a less steep climb up to Swerford Heath, I had to cycle a bit on A361 before turning into B4022. There were also lots of cars, so I took a detour via the village centre of Great Tew to escape. Via Little Tew I cycled on a relatively quiet road down to Enstone. The A44 road is not suitable for cycling, so I took the road to Cleveley, where I was tempted to take a shortcut via a bridleway along river Glyme, which was a bit muddy, though. The roads were getting narrower and in worse condition to Radford. On a hill up to Kiddington there was already grass in the middle of the tarmacked road. After a further hill up to Over Kiddington, the landscape became flatter with extended woods and large rape fields. A beautiful mansion in the fields near Ditchley was another highlight. From Stonesfield I rolled further down to Combe, crossed river Evenlode and the raillway. A steep hill led me up to Long Hanborough from where I took the usual way back via Cassington to Oxford. I arrived at 3.15pm.