15 June. 14 miles.
It’s been swelteringly hot lately in SE England – near 30C – so this morning while it was cooler out I was feeling the familiar pull to gear up for a cycle ride and get some fresh air and explore more of the countryside. And I had a stack of old egg cartons to return to the farm. But first I said my good mornings to the Scotts Pines and together we did some some stretches in the garden.
There’s something inviting about the early morning calm in the summertime. The lawn is still a bit dewey, the roads are relatively quiet and the birds are twittering about. The sun is just rising above the laurel hedge. Today the wildflowers around the back garden are abundantly colourful and some fragrant, and the tiny wild strawberries are just ripening up.
After some yoga and a small bowl of muesli and banana, I’m off! Having navigated the cars at the Wash Common roundabout, I head down Essex Street and then turn down Cope Hall Lane. At first I notice how tall the hedge growth is now, mostly nettle and bracken well over waist high. It looks like everything is trying to form seed heads in the heat. I pass the farm fields that were planted in tall yellow sunflowers last summer. During lockdown they were a big sensation – locals and tourists alike were posing for selfies as if they were vacationing in Provence or Tuscany. This year it looks like they have planted in broadbeans. I read online that sunflowers are a good regenerative crop to help the soil recover.
Following the lane at the junction, I turn left on to Skinners Green Lane and pass a familiar line of old oaks. Further on outside the old Skinners Farm a sign reads ‘3 goldfish for £10’. I head down Wheatlands Lane under the Newbury Bypass and then down the drive at Stag Hill. They used to sell eggs in an honesty box at the top of the road, but I guess people weren’t so honest. The new owners moved the egg selling business to a square hole in the fence line. And for a year it was like that – you had to reach in and feel around to put coins in the little metal money box. Recently it has changed – a bright red phonebox has been requisitioned and plonked down beside the gates like a Tardis. Now all the various sized egg cartons and jars of honey and bags of flour are neatly displayed on the shelves. I settle on 2 cartons of medium eggs at £1 each, place them in the bottom of my bag and head off.
Riding towards Church Lane I pass the Zippos Circus training grounds. The lot behind the hedge is filled with caravans and huge lorries. You can only spot the yellow circus tent if you sit up high in the saddle. At the school I turn right on to Church Lane and pass a row of cottages, then there’s the protected field that hasn’t been plowed in a century, and then the wild bird sanctuary. Normally it’s loud and squawky with loads of parrots, but today it’s eerily quiet. At the Two Cocks Brewery I stop to return an egg carton. Eggs and honey are kept in a wooden box made like a beehive with ‘Eggs Honey’ painted on the lid. I buy a new blue box of small pullet eggs and notice the full pink blooms of the roses beside the fruit tree. The big new farmhouse was featured in Grand Designs and the gay couple started the brewery (hence the name) as part of living there. They’ve since moved south.
Left onto Enbourne Road and I pass St Mary’s Church, dating back to the 1200’s, and the road through Hamstead Park where the American 101st Airborne Parachute Regiment camped during WWII. I check out Church Farm as I ride by. They have planted grape vines, hoping to capture the benefits of a warming climate, maybe to make sparkling wine.
At the Craven Arms Pub I head right towards Hamstead Marshall and pass a dairy farm with its unmistakeable smell – dairy cow manure is really ‘effusive’. The old farmhouse is close to the feeding barns and I wonder how they have adapted to the barnyard smell. I notice a big bay window has been propped up with a stick. I pass the old Elm Farm Organic research Centre, who have recently sold up. Elm farm has been a pioneer in organic agricultural methods for decades. The new owners have spruced the place up with a lick of paint and a few changes. I’m betting the farm land will have some good soil.
At a sharp bend in the road I turn right and down Old Lane which is really a narrow paved farm track and I enjoy myself as the view opens up for a spell. I can see the fields for quite a ways in both directions, with a few cows out and red kites circling high up. I come upon 2 young people in flouro vests clopping along on horses and I slowly pass and head west along a rolling hedge-lined lane called Irish Hill Road and eventually come into the village of Kintbury. It looks idyllic at the Old Mill house: the roses are out and in full bloom. The Dundas Arms pub looks open again and I stop on the small bridge for a looksie along the canal at the locks and the canal boats moored before turning back.
Outside the little hair salon I spotted a box of tomato plants, free for the asking. I capture their attention inside and get an enthusiastic thumbs up, so I pack one in my pannier bag and head back out of Kintbury along Holt Road. I’m immediately stuck behind a towing lorry and have to go slowly for 5 minutes as he navigates past other cars on the small lane and then finally I can pass and head back home. I pass a farm field where a few years ago they felled a bit of forest. The tall old trees where cut down, and the logs are now stacked and seasoning further on along a small track. Young whips of trees have been replanted and I can’t understand the folly of destroying an established ecosystem in order to plant in new saplings. I’m guessing there is an EU or NFU subsidy involved leading towards carbon reduction credits. I could be wrong but for now it strikes me as a common madness.
I glide through the crossroads at the Craven Arms pub and head towards the rare breeds farm where I stop and quickly check what the exotic animal de jeur is this summer. I count 5 emus in the small paddock – they aren’t a very elegant looking bird. A bit like an ostrich, they are quite prehistoric looking – and I wonder who is buying emus, and why?
Because I’m under a little time pressure to be back for a video call, I zoom off towards home. Past the circus again and after Stag Hill I come across a paddock of young tan-coloured heifers. I stop alongside the metal farm gate and one heads towards me, followed by others. I know they are just curious, but I’m a little intimidated – they have a mobbish youthful energy about them – and I’m guessing they think I have food.
Up the shady lane I have to slow down into the verge to let a car and a walker pass then up the hill and I rejoin Essex Street near the water tower. Back around and into Wash Common I pass the little NuMee cafe, where I spot several people gathered outside having their teas and coffees. Life here is slowly getting back to some sense of normal. I head back into our Close and see if I can spy the old man who lives across the road from us to say hello, but he’s not out. Maybe I’ll see him later. Back into the garage, and sweaty and happy I run into the house for my call.
compost2cosmos 