The nicest ride in England

I'm not going to brook any arguments on this one. Whilst I love cycling in the levels, moors and hills around the Mendips and other parts of North Somerset, and I have ridden some great day-long rides elsewhere in the UK, the route of yesterday's ride is undoubtedly the best that the country has to offer. I have also ridden Land's End to John 0' Groats, but there is nothing that compares with the beauty and balance of cycling challenge and plain joie de la bicyletteism (sorry Venners), that compares with riding across country from my house to my parents' place.

This is partly down to the fact that the roads in this country, at least in the south, are so London-centric. Look at a map (which I do on average 2.8 times a day, just for fun, more if you count necessity) of the roads of England and you will see the A1, M1, A2, A3, A4, M2, M3 etc. all radiating out from London like spider's legs from a spider's body. (As an aside, London has many similarities to a big, hairy carnivorous spider, encroaching all across the countryside, but I digress) So in this part of the country the axis of the main roads (concentrate there will be a test later) runs north-east to south-west. The exception to this is the M5 and M4, which like a huge dog-legged drainpipe, take cars from London, Birmingham and South Wales and shovel them down to Devon.

This is a very long-winded way of saying that the ride to my parents rarely has much traffic on it, and yet it's easy to find good-quality roads to make the trip on. If you drive there it would take ages by the route I cycle as all the main traffic goes on the A36.

So, at 7AM yesterday morning I was up with the lark and heading off towards Wells and Shepton Mallet with a slight tailwind. That's another good thing about the trip, as I get a lift back, usually the next day, I don't have to worry about coming back into the wind. I know this can work against me, but it rarely seems to, the weather gods are repaying me for visiting the folks.

The first steep hill is a 15% one, about half a mile in length up above Crosscombe the other side of Wells. This then descends gradually to Shepton Mallet and then to Evercreech. This is the great feature of the ride in this direction. The hills are short and steep going up, and long and gradual going down. Next up is the hill in front of Bruton, before a sharpish descent into the really lovely town, which I hit at about 8.45. You then climb out of Bruton and by-pass Wincanton, before a glorious 3-mile downhill into Gillingham.

I always find the next bit the toughest, a long drag up to Shaftesbury, which gets steeper towards the top. One day I'll do Gold Hill, used in the old Hovis ads, but not today, it was slightly damp and as it's cobbled i didn't fancy it. Shaftsebury was already full of shoppers so I was delighted to get through and hit the best section of all. The wonderfully-named Zig-Zag hill (and it does, 6 times), which has real hairpins on it, although the steepest is only 10%, and the average is a lot lower.

The road then opens up to a climb up to the top of Cranbourne Chase, about 5 miles in the sun, with fabulous panoramic views for miles on end, over fantastically beautiful countryside. The route then descends into the quaint-sounding Tollard Royal, and after a bit of undulation, to Sixpenny Handley. (There is an old road sign where this is shortened to 6D Handley, older readers will know and remember why.) The last few miles to my parents descends through Cranbourne, before a short climb and downhill into their village of Alderholt. But because I wanted to get 75 miles in, I hooked round the towns of Verwood, Ringwood and up a mainish road, circled Alderholt and came in from the West along the official route for the final mile. The weather stayed perfect all the way, and I even managed a sprint finish.

So just under 77 miles at a travelling speed of 15.1, with a fair amount of climbing and although tiring, I felt pretty good. Fortunately my Mum is from the generation when women were expected to cook properly (calm down everyone, I know that is not how it should be nowadays). What it meant for me yesterday was that I was able to fill my boots, have a sleep, eat some more, have another sleep and then come home this morning. We did do some talking as well, and drinking, and it was great to see my Mum and Dad, even though they do think I'm mad for cycling to their house. I think it would be mad not to, don't you?

Charlie loved it too:

http://connect.garmin.com/player/26985501