I’m not very imaginative with my cycle rides – at least, the ones from home that I fit in before or after work during the week.
They are all within the same fifteen mile radius with innumerable variations; some off-road, some on road, some circular, some there-and-backs, some figures of eight, some routes reminiscent of tangled knitting wool, some no-hands practice, some little hills several times.
As a lone cyclist I have the luxury of riding wherever I fancy with no explanations for sudden whimsical detours to inspect a swan’s nest or where house martins are building a colony under the old railway bridge or pausing to inspect any exposed mud on the River Leaden for otter tracks.
I have no-one saying “No we can’t go there. There’s a warning sign. It’s dangerous” where the riverside cyclepath is deteriorating.
The path is abundantly overgrown along most of it’s length now and my favourite sections of boardwalk supported above the river bank, which curve around gnarly old willow trees, survived the mild flooding earlier this year. But it’s the tarmac track that has cracked alarmingly with chunks falling off the edge into the river and, if I was to dismount and inspect what’s underneath, I suspect there would be very little as the sub-soil seems also to have gone, slipped and dissolved into the water.
It’s become a guessing game whether me and the bike will make it across or whether the fleeting combination will precipitate the final collapse.Two crossings yesterday and it’s still holding up, so hurrah.
So it was a perfect cycling day yesterday blue skies and sunshine from early on – a little chilly for just a T shirt early on (aaargh) but optimists have to suffer for their predilections – so I decided to veer away from the usual routes and visit Ashleworth.
Ashleworth is a very old village not far from the River Severn which is cleverly disguised as bog-standard with an approach road lined with ordinary but substantial modern red-brick homes. It still has a church and has the most massive medieval tithe barn I’ve ever seen. There are cottages and on what’s left of the village green there’s an old stone cross where passing preachers used to hold forth. Pedal on down the lane signed Ashleworth Quay and, opposite wooden outbuildings with old metal signs advertising long-gone products is The Boat Inn.
It’s good to stop just about there resisting the urge to speed up and do a spectacular show-off leap and X-up off the top of the grassy bank dead ahead of you. (I do dream of this kind of thing but, for obvious reasons, never attempt it) for directly beyond it, is the River Severn.
The Boat is one of those traditional little pubs that survives because it does traditional little pub in a lovely location exceedingly well. They sell real ales and Westons ciders including the golden stuff, Stowford Press. The last time I was there about five years ago, it was refreshing to find they don’t mess about with food or foodie chefs. It’s a place for high quality liquid refreshment and a good chat.
It was closed and quiet and rather beautiful when I rolled up on my bike yesterday morning so I couldn’t check whether that had changed but I doubt it.
The Severn was as quiet as a somnolent lamb and looking as scenic as it ever gets. It reminded me of early morning fishing with my dad and made me think that those moments sitting alongside him, absorbing the morning stillness, the light, the birdsong and the enveloping peace was probably enough without the rod and line.
There’s a landing stage and a slipway and across the river on the opposite bank some timber among the trees which indicates the place where, from mediaeval times to the 1950’s, passengers used to be ferried across the river.
The Jelf family have run the pub for 350 years or more and they still have ancient rights to take people across . I supposed I could have rapped the door and asked if there was any chance of a quick trip to Sandhurst but, with a future glass of Stowford very firmly in mind, I decided it best not to alienate them at 8.20am.
It’s a moot point who actually conferred the rights. I’ve always understood that it was a grateful King Charles II (probably quite sweaty with awfully messy hair and mud on his breeches) on the run after the battle of Worcester (1651) who galloped up to a swain by the river bank and after a brief “Good morrow loyal subject” demanded ” A boat and make it snappy,” to facilitate his escape to the less risky side of the river.
I see on The Boat’s website they are muddying the waters by talking about the right being conferred 200 years earlier by a fleeing future King, this time Prince Edward of March, who became King Edward IV. Whatever. The Jelf relatives who run it now still have the ancient right. Right? Right!
It’s still one of the safest places to cross as it’s the narrowest part of the river between Gloucester and Tewkesbury but I doubt they get much call for crossings these days.
Once people reach the Boat Inn, I suspect they are perfectly happy to regard the other side of the river over a contemplative pint without the slightest desire to go there.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Morning folks. Sorry, I could have sworn I posted this last night but it remained a sad little draft.
It’s good to know you exercise, Jahn, I have my own pushy but I haven’t touched it for years, the thing sits in my back yard, slowly rusting away. Personally I rather walk, I do 20 Km everyday by breaking it up into four separate 5 kilometer power walks, I find it easier and I might even add here that the level of fitness I gained from it saved my life some time ago.
Live to be fit, be fit to live
A good motto, worked for me 🙂
A lovely piece Jan, making me feel I really should get out on the bike more….
Have you ever been to The Valencia Arms at Arley? A different type of establishment, with a restaurant, but a ferry to cross there too when I was a child and the place being a dead end… nothing to do but turn around and go back the way you came, or cross at the ferry, one of those chain affairs. However, now on the Severn Valley Railway tour. http://www.history-tourist.com/V2//severn-valley-railway_S0237.html
Mornin’, Jan. Lovely pictures as always – very evocative. You really need to come to The Cave and get some Portuguese caminho dust on that bike. Around here there are thousands of tracks wriggling through what the Aussies call ‘MAMBA’ – Miles and Miles of……not very much.
OZ
Like you I tend to go out on my bike after work, with longer more country rides at the weekend. The trouble is we are South London Borough so the area is not the best for cycling along rivers etc. If we want to do that we have to drive out somewhere with the biles then ride away.
The pictures are lovely and I wish I could join you, especially with the cider. Why is cider looked down upon?
It is one of the most refreshing drinks around, unlike that chemical lager muck that just makes you thirsty. Cider is clean tasty and potent. I mean real cider not the mass produced crap like Magners (dreadful, all bubbles and farts)
Nice bit of countryside there. Always glad to get to Gloucestershire because I know I’m nearly home!
Had we been meant to bicycle, we would have been fitted with wheels!
One thing I notice, all these sportif people always seem to be crippled with arthritis long before the rest of us.
“…a grateful King Charles II”? He was probably at an orgy locally (HIghgrove?) and agreed to it when drunk.
A good motto, IS. Walking is probably the safest form of exercise. I walk a lot too but I like a bit of speed and edge 😉
Hi Pseu. Sorry I have no idea where Arley is. Got a google map ref? Recommendations are always good!
That would be a nice trip – cycling and choo-choo train. 🙂 Very pretty.
Thanks OZ but I would be dead meat before reaching your place. All that uphill. I need to get much, much fitter. 😀 …………..however……the thought of an ultra-chilled bottle of Mateus Rose would be a powerful incentive. People may scoff at MR but it goes down very well when one is in Portugal.
Hey Janh; good blog, as ever. YOu make me want to a. get on bike, but obviously not in Norman Tebbit sense b. up sticks and move to the beautiful sarf…
I love old pubs; they have a story and character of their own. There was a pub somewhere in Wallasey called Ma Rednapp’s, on the coast, where the smugglers used to hang out and wait for ships to come in. Apparently they used to tie torches to donkey’s heads to lure ships in, and then raid them for everything.
I guess all pubs have some story, but your one does sound particularly exciting/appealing. I bet the owners/landlord could write a book
Hi Rick, hadn’t gathered you are a cyclist too! Got any good parks near you? I suppose Richmond is too far away? That’s where no 2 son did a lot of cycling and I’ve been there a couple of times, to be over-taken by sleek cycling club types on skinny-tyred racers.
Oh Magners is appallingly sweet and farty – like appleade for grown-ups. Stowford is on the sweet side, I suppose but is a proper summer drink. It somehow tastes of the countryside.
Greetings Christina. I love the Malverns. A friendly range of hills that is a landmark for me too and Elgar’s inspiration. I suppose beating yourself to death on a bike will cause harm but a lot of the fit touring cyclists around here seem to go on forever. Saw the former Chairman of Severn Valley Racing Club only a couple of days ago, still out on his bike. He’s got to be at least 84. Remarkable bloke. Encouraged my brother when he was a nipper, organised the Tour of the Cotswolds – a big road race event – year after year and still out in his long woolly cycling socks, even now. (He wears other stuff too).
Wicked Janus 🙂 Not *that* Charles. Orgies at Highgrove, whatever next? What Prince Charles and Camilla get up to in the Stumpery is their own business and no-one elses!!
Hello Claire 🙂 Thanks! Actually it’s the bootiful north that has the rabidly “well ard” cyclists. They have the Pennines and the moors to practice on and they are tough as old boots.
Pubs that have character like that should be cherished. Love those old stories. There are some ancient pubs in London that I have in my sights for the right day…. maybe a cycling historic pub crawl! 🙂
Oh, sounds lovely!
Cycling is a bit too energetic for the lazy ass that I am – but believe it or not, I lvoe walking. That sounds like the sort of CV statements one tends to make – ‘keen gardener’, when all one does is water a dying spider plant – but it’s true!
I used to walk loads, pre kids, if only to keep backside in shape, and that’s how I came across Lathom. I can’t do it as much now, as I find that the kids tend to want to go off in different directions and have tantrums on pavement, so it’s a case of tearing hair out and going nowhere fast…
We have Pendle Hill, and Whalley valley just near, and they tend to attract a lot of cycling/walking types.
A few poiters Jan. Don’t know if you could take your bike on the Severn Valley Railway trip, which could make it interesting. There’s also an option of canoeing trips locally and an arboretum afterwards…?
http://www.arleystation.org.uk/
http://www.history-tourist.com/V2//severn-valley-railway_S0237.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Arley
http://www.canoedaysout.com/trip/337
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=+arley+map+ref&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a
Jan, I just made a comment, but realise it has too many links in it, so it won’t be seen by you until it has been moderated. Maybe as it’s on your own thread you can mocerate it yourself, I don’t know. Otherwise we’ll have to wait for Bearsy, Boa or Soutie.
Done already! Thank you whoever.