K
10-09-06, 07:56 PM
Well, one thing and another has had me constantly rearranging a trip down to Wiltshire & the Grandparents since the beginning of July. So when I got both a Sunday free, could afford the petrol AND it was decient weather - kinda had to be done really. 8)
Thought I'd stop off for a late breakfast not long into the journey and started to get the feeling I was being followed.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes1.jpg
Had I gained yet another stalker in Dr Rich?!
Nah, the roads were far too well surfaced for his tastes I figured. Pleasant enough fast dual carrigeway pretty much all the way down to Newbury from Northampton.
Not particularly exciting, but beats the motorway - and you get to look at some really big balls just before Oxford. :wink:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes2.jpg
Told you they were big. :P
So bye bye dual carrigeway and hello picturesque market towns and the A4. View for miles, no speed cameras and blissfully free of caravans. :twisted:
Pulled over by an old childhood favourite. Many was the school holiday spent with the Grandparents and charging irreverantly over this old monument- Silbury Hill.
Sad to say all fenced off now. :(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes3.jpg
Thought I'd take a bimble up to Roundway Hill just before arriving at Devizes (my intended destination). Little twisty side road with a surface that would make Valleyboy cry tears of pain and suffering.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes4.jpg
Then I began thinking back to earlier... would Dr Rich be lurking ahead? :shock:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes5.jpg
Hmmm, more his type of road - but never let it be said that the 'Blade didn't take it all in it's steady stride. :twisted:
And worth it for the view and Ice Cream... only the Ice Cream van was missing. :(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes6.jpg
Anyhoo, bimbled back down into town and popped by to say 'Hi', leave a couple of roses I'd brought from my garden and do a bit of tidying up for the Gramps.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes7.jpg
It's a nice place for a rest, adn lo, there was an ice cream van by the cramer (the lake thing infront of the Church).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes9.jpg
Well, weather was still holding - infact out of the shade of the trees it was almost uncomfortably hot :roll: so I took a bit of a spin to another childhood haunt. Sadly also fenced off and not given the attention it should do in my opinion.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes10.jpg
All this exclusion from places I love and used to play in was beginning to be a bit of a downer - so I headed back to only haunt I knew I could still get down and dirty with - Avebury Stones.
The travesty there being that whilst the stones are as open as ever to anyone who wishes to navigate the sheep poo - I was a tad knackered to be bimbling round on my crutches. :roll:
So I just sat outside the pub and ate heartily of Wiltshire ham and eggs. =P~
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes11.jpg
Though I did stop for a shot back at my favourite stone - the one that always seems to be straining at the fence in some bizarre escape attempt.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes12.jpg
(Yeah, I know it's a bit skewed... but it was just a coke I had at the pub!)
So, bimbling back up the A 34 and was forced to filter through about 5 miles of traffic jam... got to the next slip road to find out why - an articulated lorry had managed to over turn itself! Both lanes being blocked off by the Police as I arrived so up and across country to pick it up again at the next junction.
Well, you learn something everyday - I was diverted past a rather imposing looking powerstation that I never knew existed!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes13.jpg
Uneventfull and blissfully traffic free trip from then on - past the big balls and back home.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes14.jpg
To be honest, I didn't think that I'd be wanting a cool bath quite that much after a rideout in September - gotta thank global warming for something I guess. :wink:
Thought I'd stop off for a late breakfast not long into the journey and started to get the feeling I was being followed.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes1.jpg
Had I gained yet another stalker in Dr Rich?!
Nah, the roads were far too well surfaced for his tastes I figured. Pleasant enough fast dual carrigeway pretty much all the way down to Newbury from Northampton.
Not particularly exciting, but beats the motorway - and you get to look at some really big balls just before Oxford. :wink:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes2.jpg
Told you they were big. :P
So bye bye dual carrigeway and hello picturesque market towns and the A4. View for miles, no speed cameras and blissfully free of caravans. :twisted:
Pulled over by an old childhood favourite. Many was the school holiday spent with the Grandparents and charging irreverantly over this old monument- Silbury Hill.
Sad to say all fenced off now. :(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes3.jpg
Thought I'd take a bimble up to Roundway Hill just before arriving at Devizes (my intended destination). Little twisty side road with a surface that would make Valleyboy cry tears of pain and suffering.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes4.jpg
Then I began thinking back to earlier... would Dr Rich be lurking ahead? :shock:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes5.jpg
Hmmm, more his type of road - but never let it be said that the 'Blade didn't take it all in it's steady stride. :twisted:
And worth it for the view and Ice Cream... only the Ice Cream van was missing. :(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes6.jpg
Anyhoo, bimbled back down into town and popped by to say 'Hi', leave a couple of roses I'd brought from my garden and do a bit of tidying up for the Gramps.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes7.jpg
It's a nice place for a rest, adn lo, there was an ice cream van by the cramer (the lake thing infront of the Church).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes9.jpg
Well, weather was still holding - infact out of the shade of the trees it was almost uncomfortably hot :roll: so I took a bit of a spin to another childhood haunt. Sadly also fenced off and not given the attention it should do in my opinion.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes10.jpg
All this exclusion from places I love and used to play in was beginning to be a bit of a downer - so I headed back to only haunt I knew I could still get down and dirty with - Avebury Stones.
The travesty there being that whilst the stones are as open as ever to anyone who wishes to navigate the sheep poo - I was a tad knackered to be bimbling round on my crutches. :roll:
So I just sat outside the pub and ate heartily of Wiltshire ham and eggs. =P~
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes11.jpg
Though I did stop for a shot back at my favourite stone - the one that always seems to be straining at the fence in some bizarre escape attempt.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes12.jpg
(Yeah, I know it's a bit skewed... but it was just a coke I had at the pub!)
So, bimbling back up the A 34 and was forced to filter through about 5 miles of traffic jam... got to the next slip road to find out why - an articulated lorry had managed to over turn itself! Both lanes being blocked off by the Police as I arrived so up and across country to pick it up again at the next junction.
Well, you learn something everyday - I was diverted past a rather imposing looking powerstation that I never knew existed!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes13.jpg
Uneventfull and blissfully traffic free trip from then on - past the big balls and back home.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/spazmutt/Rideouts/Devizes14.jpg
To be honest, I didn't think that I'd be wanting a cool bath quite that much after a rideout in September - gotta thank global warming for something I guess. :wink: