GHG Premiership Rugby Clubs Charity Cycle Challenge Route
September 2010 - Bruce and his team completed their 653 mile cycle challenge in good spirits on Sunday 5 September, arriving at Tottonians around 3.00pm for a small reception.
An account of the 'journey' is detailed below.
Please help Bruce and Damian reach their target of raising £20,000 to support Wessex Cancer Trust and The Rose Road Association.
28th August - 3rd September 2010
We drove up to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne on Friday 27th August in our van, kindly donated by Abacus Car & Van Hire, and booked into Newcastle Youth Hostel before setting off to find Newcastle Falcons Rugby Club at Kingston Park, where we would be starting our challenge the next morning. We paid a visit to the Rugby Club Sports Bar for a couple of jars before having a good carbo-loading Italian dinner in the Club restaurant.
Day 1 - Saturday 28th August - Newcastle Falcons to York Youth Hostel
We rose bright and early for a 7.30am breakfast at the Youth Hostel and ensured we had the full works of cereal, fruit, full English and toast, before setting off to the Rugby Club to meet up with two of Newcastle's newest players, Gcobani Bobo (S.African) and Filipo Levi (Captain of Samoa at 2007 Rugby World Cup) at 8.45am for a photo shoot before commencing what was to be a very tough first day.
The north east provided a fresh but dry morning with gusty winds and the team of John Mursell (Sat Nav - our erstwhile map reader), Doug Savage, Damian Carter and myself, commenced picking our way through the streets heading south out of Newcastle to reach Blaydon for a photograph before climbing a long hill out. A slow start to avoid any extra miles took us to Durham, where we headed through the city centre to the Cathedral for coffee and cake in the nearby tearooms.
From Durham we headed south on B roads via Sedgefield Race Course to Yarm, south of Stockton-on-Tees and stopped at a coffee shop for lunch. We timed this perfectly as the heavens opened whilst we were in the cafe. The service was slow but the food good and having had the rain downpour we were at least dry and re-energised in time for the big climb up to the north Yorkshire moors in the Cleveland hills. We reached Chopgate before speeding down to Helmsley on the A170 as time was pressing on, and then headed south on the B1363 towards York to the Youth Hostel in Clifton. Total mileage - 98 miles.
Day 2 - Sunday 29th August - York Youth Hostel to Leeds Carnegie (Headingly)
We left the Youth Hostel and headed out on to the York Ring Road to pick up the B1224 due west to bypass Wetherby and the Wetherby Race Course, continuing on minor roads in the beautiful countryside but progress was very difficult due to poor signage in places. We came south towards Leeds, past Eccup Reservoir to pick a southerly route into the centre of Leeds to get to Headingly, and reached the stadium. Although we had a good breakfast at the Youth Hostel we were soon ready for an energy replenishment having done the photo shoot at Headingly stadium and found a Moroccan cafe, where we sampled apple pie and banoffi cake with our coffee.
Getting out of Leeds proved a nightmare as it was quite busy traffic by now. Whilst we were trying to pick up the A62, which runs parallel to the M62, the signs disappeared so we managed to get directions from a police speed check point to make progress to Morley, in order to pick up the A62 towards Huddersfield through Heckmondwyke.
We stopped in the centre of Huddersfield for refreshments before pressing on to Holmsfirth (famous for Last of the Summer Wine setting) before the BIG climb up Holmemoss Peak at 525 metres. The road is very steep and twisting with markers every quarter of a mile downwards from 2.5 miles towards the top. We had fantastic views across Saddleworth Moor in the Peak District.
An ice cream van was parked at the top so of course we had to take advantage of that before commencing our long descent, but Damian had a puncture half-way down and Bruce had a high-speed wobble, so decided to slow down a little. We noticed that the large reservoirs were less than half full.
We came down off the moors to Glossop to head to Marple, just south of Stockport on the A626 to be met by David North with the van. Total mileage 79 miles.
Day 3 - Monday (Bank Holiday) 30th August - Sale Sharks (Stockport) to Leicester Tigers
7.30am breakfast again at the Youth Hostel before David, our van driver drove us north into Stockport in order that we could start the day at Sale Sharks at Edgerley Park, also home of Stockport County Football Club. Another puncture to sort out before starting off but at least we had made good progress to the ground due to being a Bank Holiday, and we were soon on our way as the normally busy roads were quiet. We followed the A6 to Whaley Bridge before commencing a long climb that took us up to Buxton through the Goyt Valley. The weather was continuing to be dry with a mixture of clouds, gusty winds and sunshine and, following a brief coffee stop in Buxton, we headed off on the busier A515 south to Ashbourne picking up some good speed in places. We stopped in the centre of Ashbourne for lunch, whereupon, immediately afterwards we had a steep climb out of the town on the A52 to pick up some minor roads, thus avoiding the now busier A52 towards Derby. The minor roads were running parallel to the A52 and we were soon skirting our way around Derby before heading to Melbourne, which is very near to Donnington Park racing circuit. As the afternoon had turned out warm we decided to take in a pub garden stop before heading south from Melbourne, on minor roads through Breedon-on-the-Hill and then to Coleville to keep on the minor roads on the south west of the M1, and south into Desford before picking up the A47 to take us into Leicester to our guest house, which was only 1 mile away from the Stadium. The owner of the Guest House was very accommodating with tea and biscuits. It transpired he used to play hockey for Trojans back in the '80's and thus provided David North some discussion regarding some players of the past before we walked to the Stadium for a photo shoot before our evening pasta dinner in a local Italian. Total mileage - 90 miles.
Day 4 - Tuesday 31 August - Leicester to Worcester Warriors via Northampton Saints
Yet again a good breakfast before heading out, on a fresh morning with clear blue skies, immediately straight out of Leicester down the A5199. However, cycling had obviously done something to the brains that morning, as Damian had forgotten his helmet and Doug had forgotten his gloves. Therefore, we had to stop 2 miles down the road for a phone call to Dave in the van to deliver the appropriate items. We were soon back on our way and had a good cycle south through Wigston, down the A5199, all the way into Northampton, past Pitsford Reservoir and soon found our way to Franklyn Gardens Stadium at Sixways, which is next to the football and athletic Stadiums. We had cycled 30 miles in quick time and were also fortunate enough to encounter the Stadium open with players milling around, having had a break from training. John and I recognised Shane Garrety, now at Northampton, but previously from London Irish, who also plays for England, and is known by our main Sponsor. Shane happily agreed to have a group photo in the Stadium.
We decided to grab a sausage bap and coffee in Marks & Spencers Wild Bean at the local services, as we then had to pick our way out of Northampton on busy roads around the M1 junctions, which was a bit hairy. Eventually we managed to pick up minor village roads heading in a south westerly direction and, having crossed the M1 a couple of times, we were soon in middle England countryside heading due west through some beautiful villages towards Stratford-on-Avon. Today was a hot day and thankfully no westerly wind as we were now heading immediately due west towards Worcester. We knew we had a long haul today and at times went slow to ensure that we kept immediately west through the villages, eventually crossing the A361 and the M40 near junction 12 close to Gaydon and North End, which is very close to the Jaguar and Aston Martin Heritage Centre.
We crossed the A429 at Wellesbourne and headed through Tiddington, where there was some enormous houses, straight into the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the heat of the afternoon. We had now completed 75 miles and needed our reserves replenishing, therefore purchased tuna and cheese baguettes from the Baguette Canal Barge, together with cups of tea, before heading on our way. We estimated we had at least another 25 miles before we would get to Worcester and it was now 4.15pm by the time we left Stratford. We pushed on west, cycling parallel to the A422 through beautiful country villages, eventually joining the A422 around six miles outside of Worcester for the final stage. We reached the M5 junction at around 6.00pm and decided to get to Worcester Stadium and so had to head north up to junction 6 trying to avoid the motorway and dual carriageway due to the heavy volume of traffic. We took photos at the Stadium as the place was empty, before picking our way into the city centre along cycle paths to our guest house near Worcester County Cricket Ground. We had glorious weather today, which was just as well as we had now cycled 106 miles and, thank goodness, were not heading into a westerly wind!
Day 5 - Wednesday 1st September - Worcester to Bath Rugby Recreation Ground via Kingsholme, home of Gloucester Rugby
We had a fast start to the day as we were immediately heading south straight to Kingsholme and clocked up a quick 25 miles whereby we stopped in the Stadium shop, as it was open, for a quick look round, and then grabbed a cup of tea in a nearby cafe, where a couple of younger academy players walked in for breakfast, all over six foot with bulging muscles! We soon headed off, picked our way through Gloucester town centre following the sun to pick up the A38 to run parallel to the M5. We had a good fast road with relatively flat terrain, before turning left to Chipping Sodbury with a big climb to Watton-on-the-Edge where we found a really good garden centre for baguettes, strawberries and tea. After lunch we cracked on to Chipping Sodbury and tried to follow the minor roads on the map, ending up in a field before reaching a small village called Doddington and had some more climbing to undertake before picking up the A46 near junction 18 to Bath. The A46 was horribly busy so we managed to cut across past Bath Race Course up Landsdown, past Becketts Tower, which was an enormous climb, before a steep drop down into Bath centre, straight to Bath Rugy Ground for photos and a quick look in the town before the long climb up Bathwick Hill to the Youth Hostel at the top. It had been a hot day but with no wind we had made good time to get to Bath reasonably early and had completed 70 miles. The early finish at Bath enabled us to have an early dinner at the Youth Hostel before walking down into the historic town of Bath to enjoy a couple of beers in the town centre before walking back up to the Hostel on a warm balmy evening.
Day 6 - 2nd September - Bath to Madejski Stadium - Home of Reading Football Club and London Irish
Due to the heavy traffic in the centre of Bath the van drove us to the outskirts on the A4 and we then set off on the A4 to Box and headed towards Corsham picking up the small historic village of Lacock (south of Chippenham). I believe they used Lacock village for the filming of Lark Rise to Candleford. We then headed up the steep climb up Boden Hill to enjoy the views having had a look around Lacock and on to join the A342 near Sandy Lane to head to Calne, where we stopped for the usual tea and cake. We then headed along the A4 to Marlborough for a brief lunch stop in the town centre, which was busy but very pleasant and had a good blast along the A4 to Hungerford and on to Newbury for another stop for tea and cake at the teashop along the canal. Another good day with the weather; we had certainly had the weather gods working with us.
From Newbury we decided to head to Reading for the last 20 miles via the Kennett and Avon Canal path, which whilst flat was very bumpy and in places over roots and very loose stone, and then fields, which with racing bikes is not too comfortable on the rear end! We stopped for an ice cream before heading through Thatcham and Theale and arrived at the Madejski Stadium just before 6.00pm to meet up with our van driver before driving to Streatley Youth Hostel, where we met Graham High who was joining us for the last day's cycle to Twickenham. Total mileage - 69 miles.
John was quite concerned about the detailed route for the last stage the following day, i.e. to go from Vicarage Road in Watford south to Twickenham. Having talked to the Manager at the Youth Hostel, he found him very helpful and printed us a Google map of streets, together with a walking map, so we were able to use this for our final stage. That evening we enjoyed a very good evening meal at the local public house, The Bull.
Day 7 - Friday 3rd September - Streatley Youth Hostel to The Stoop Twickenham, home of Harlequins Rugby
Graham High, our main sponsor, joined us for the last day of the cycle challenge. Our first destination was 30 miles away at Adams Park, the home of Wycombe Wanderer's Football Club and London Wasps Rugby. We headed east along country lanes to Henley-on-Thames and then on to Marlow where we stopped for the coffee and cake, but not before another two punctures on the way that morning. The Wasp's ground at Adams Park was through the back of an Industrial Estate and there was not much going on at the ground so photos were taken before heading off up a long steep hill out of High Wycombe and on to the A404 to Amersham, all the way to Watford through Chorley Wood, which is not too far away from Wembley Stadium. We found Vicarage Road, which is the home of Watford Football Club, but there was no signage which shows that Saracens play their Rugby at the ground! We took photographs before stopping in the local football cafe, which was just outside the ground, for omelette and chips.
Only the last tricky roads south now from Watford to Twickenham, which was less than 20 miles away, and from Watford we headed south along a variety of road through Harrow-on-the-Hill and eventually to Twickenham Stadium for some photos before heading across the road to The Stoop and the home of Harlequins Rugby to complete our journey of the GHG Premiership Rugby Club Cycle Challenge. We had arrived early at Harlequins as we had been helped by the Manager at the Youth Hostel with the aforementioned maps. We took the usual photographs and congratulations. Graham had arranged to be collected by his wife Jean before we headed off on our bicycles to find the Guest House near Kew Gardens. Total miles cycled to The Stoop - 70 miles.
We had completed a difficult challenge without any major mishaps although Damian was very lucky to jump up from one mishap with a kerb on the outskirts of Huddersfield and Graham did manage to fall off his bike twice on his day spent with us!
Accumulated mileage - 582.
