[Closed] COTSWOLDS POOTLE: 24th November; it's official.

Does this make Pook a prophet? Or is he more like a franchise?

Well... whatever... he's either Jesus, Starbucks, or a combination of the two.

Any-road-up. We're in! 24th is plenty of notice so I think a journey south is in order. i Shall sort out grand-parental childcare. I shall be bringing the missus but I think she'll favour seeing local(ish) friends while drinking wine, rather than riding. Particularly after last time I was down, I came back with the haunted look of Scott of the Antarctic, or a Vietnam vet. 😀

See you then brother

ah I'm blushing

Whoop! I'm sure the weather this time will be fine 😕

Just put this in the diary and I will dig out the trailrakers this weekend in preparation.

Sounds good.

How far (or for how long) are you planning to pootle?

Will pook be the guest of honour and cut a ribbon with a pair of giant comedy scissors?

Er, dunno really. The route will be 30k-ish, and it'll be a leisurely pace, so 3-4 hours-ish? All very-ish though.

[i]Will pook be the guest of honour and cut a ribbon with a pair of giant comedy scissors? [/i]

Well, I do hope so.

I hope to be there! Might even have the tea van with me!

I'll be there with a +1

I shall do my bestest to make it. 🙂
It's in the calendar, put it that way!

Good good, more the merrier.

Right, I might be able to come along with the wife and one or two others but only if pook turns up with those big scissors.

One of them will be me then - who's the other?!

Maybe diggers or Chrissyj

Great news, I'll be there and have mentioned it to a couple of my friends so hopefully there will be several of us. Looking forward to it, I believe baking is a Peaks Pootle tradition so I'll bring some cupcakes 🙂

Did someone mention cake...i'm in.

Is this a mini Hell Of the North? 😆

I might nip over.

[quote=rOcKeTdOg ]I'll be there with a +1
Can I be your +1???

Actually, with a 3-4 hour ride time, it breaks my driving time:riding time limit 🙁

Actually, with a 3-4 hour ride time, it breaks my driving time:riding time limit

Get your ass down here for some [i]PROPER[/i] (TM) riding you bloody Foreigner! 😉

See you there IHN all being well... Might even bring a +1 myself...

Tollah, will that have those "corner" things you talk about whenever you come up to the peaks?

Anyone else a smokly dokly smoker going along as going to have been off them for a couple/weeks by time I might join in on that date?

Count me in 😀 I might bring +2 or 3 if they can be ar*ed

Is the nearest station Cheltenham Spa? I'm provisionally in.

Is the nearest station Cheltenham Spa? I'm provisionally in.

It is the nearest station worth considering, there is a station at Ashchurch(Tewkesbury) but has a crap sunday service. Cheltenham Spa is 10ish miles from Winchcombe though, so depending on your legs and the 1000ft of Cleeve hill between Cheltenham and Winchcombe you might want to try and cadge a lift.

Looks pretty certain ill be there too 🙂

[i]Is this a mini Hell Of the North? [/i]

In distance, yes, but it looks like we might be matching them for numbers 🙂

[i]Actually, with a 3-4 hour ride time, it breaks my driving time:riding time limit[/i]

How long a ride do you need for it to be worth your while?

What's the terrain like?

To quote myself on t'other thread

Picturesque cart track/country lane-ish stuff interspersed with more interesting stuff. None of it particularly difficult though; all entirely newbie friendly, but with enough interest (hopefully) to keep your general weekend warrior entertained. Gnarr-CoreMax riders may be a bit bored.

Cheers for the heads up IHN. Anyone heading to this from London? Can provide haribo/cake/fuel money to cover a tubby/more haribo in return for hassle free-ish lifts... I may even be able to trade in banter (potentially bad puns) too.

Don't worry about the carp Sunday service, I'm pretty sure the 24th is a saturday.

Aye, it's a Saturday.

Its not the riding time its the area i am not to fond of dont find it very interesting.
😀

Is this a reincarnation of the Cotswold Massive?

I will try and make it (work permitting).

Gutted, can't make it unfortunately, being dragged away for the week end!

#lookingforbigscissors

Average speed a bit high for me, but I'll put some training in. Any MKers going want a lift?

quite tempted by this as it would be a change from the Peak District, but a 240 mile round trip might be pushing it a bit far!

[i]Is this a reincarnation of the Cotswold Massive?[/i]

Some may see it as a cynical marketing exercise consisting of a relaunch of the same old bollocks under a new name, I couldn't possibly comment 😉

[i]Average speed a bit high for me, but I'll put some training in[/i]

[wonders if he's joking :?]

IHN - always get your excuses in early 🙂

Right, had a bit of a think route-wise and it'll be about 40km
- a reasonably taxing initial climb out of Winchcombe
- along, up, down and around (repeat as necessary)
- a nice long descent back into Winchcombe

All easily pootleable

I've absolutely no idea how long it will take, especially given that it seems that we may be pretty numerous. I would say somewhere in the region of, roughly, bearing in numbers, weather, terrain and position of the planets, a while 🙂

I'll bring lights.

I seem to remember lending some out down your way once upon a time.... 😉

Ah yes, I seem to remember that you gave (importantly 😉 ) Dan a Wilko's rear light so he could get home after the post-ride pint went on a bit too long. Dan said he'd post it back to you; I believe your words were "keep it, it'd probably cost more to post than it cost" 🙂

I got it back!
Months/years later. I'd forgotten all about it and someone gave it to someone else who passed it on IIRC 🙂

Aldi lights are now half the Wilkos price anyway. I can afford it.

"Hey big spen-DAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

[img] [/img]

🙂

Hope you've kept the receipt for the big scissors. I can't come! I was very, very close to getting a pass but I've had to use it to go karting on the Sunday. Apologies all.

I could send someone as a representative of me. Anyone shambolic and unfit enough?

Shambolic and unfit? Sounds like my cue!

Binners, I'll send the official pootle kit* later.

*a half eaten bag of haribo and a punctured tube.

edit

IHN, how's the mx headset I dropped off for you?

Have you seen ind bworks fb page yet?
I replied to the excellent customer service thread see... 😀

Good thanks fella. Will check out FB

Will the kit include some icicles for my socks?

a reasonably taxing initial climb out of Winchcombe

LOL you could call it that!

a reasonably taxing initial climb out of Winchcombe
LOL you could call it that!

A taxing implication even... ;D

I may come out of retirement for this and of course for you sweet stuff X

You see what happens when you skim read a thread quickly on your phone when you're on the bog, like what I did last night? You miss the pertinent point.... His High Pootleness, peace be upon him won't make it?

[img] [/img]

And the climb out of Winchcombe's not that bad. It's not like it's steep (apart from the steep bits) or long (apart from the length) but it's not [i]hard[/i]. The little lady's done it and she's a girl.

The [s]little lady's[/s] [b]I've[/b] done it and [s]she's[/s] [b]I'm[/b] a girl.

Fixed it for you Si...

 

Oh and Pook,

As 37 in line to the pootle crown I'm happy to represent the peak pootle and uphold the fine traditions as laid down and written on that scrap of paper

The [s]little lady's[/s] [s]I've[/s] [b]You've[/b] done it and [s]she's[/s] [s]I'm[/s] [b]you're[/b] a girl [b]with a girls bike[/b]

 

I’ve been given permission to attend so depending on the weather, I could be there to disrupt proceedings.

In-funking-sane 🙂

We'll have some Haribo waiting...

MartynS, I hereby annoint you PookInProxy.... go forth my son and holdeth ye gaytes, patcheth ye punctures and sharethetheth ye hariboeth gloriously

#gutted-eth

My train ticket home is booked so I'm in regardless of the weather. I'm right excited.

Should I bring cake? Or is that a silly question?

bringing cake is one of the rules ^

As I don't do cake, I may attempt to recreate Graeme's legendary Lancashire Bhaji's. I have done them once to his recipe and they went well

I might make some of my world-famous flapjack.

[i]My train ticket home is booked so I'm in regardless of the weather. I'm right excited[/i]

Note, fellow pootlers, that he's only booked a ticket [i]back[/i] from 'Nam to Stockport. He's taking 'riding out to the start' to a whole new level...

Looks like we're getting a proper northern contingent up. It's not going to scare the locals is it? Thinking its some type of Jarrow march?

Nah, they get a lot of foreign tourists in the Cotswolds; they'll just assume you're from one of the colonies.

Holy Arse! I've just looked on the map to see where this place is!........I thought it was somewhere near Congleton.....

My geography gets hazy when I get south of Wildboarclough too, I thought it was near France

The Cotswolds, earlier

[img] [/img]

Anyway, we may well be up for this, pending our ability to co-ordinate a visit to see family in the area the day before - we've a new niece we still haven't seen. If we can go visit them, we'll book into a hotel overnight and make a trip of it. Tandem might be involved.

facepalm. It's a saturday ride not a Sunday ride. That makes things more difficult. Grrr.

Okay, route sorted, 37.7km-ish, taking in the very highest point of the Cotswolds at a nose-bleed inducing 1093ft*

[i]* Any exposure to extreme environments is entered into totally at Pootlers' own risk. The Cotswold Pootle, it's officers or associates take no responsibility for:
- any incidence or symptom of altitude sickness (including but not exclusively nose-bleeds, dizziness and pulmonary or cerebral edema)
- if you get whacked on the head by a ball from the golf course[/i]

Edema or oedema?

Both 🙂

That's a long way for a pootle!