My Longest Ride (67 miles!) – Ep 1

I’ve decided to split this one into a series of videos because it would have been too long otherwise. This ride takes me from Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire) to Islip (Oxfordshire) and back. In this first episode, I start in Aylesbury and end near Chilton, where I ended up going the wrong way for some miles – something I seem to be doing a lot of these days! I saw some beautiful scenery along the way, and it gets even better later on.

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My cycle ride from Alsbury to Icelip in Oxford Shshire turned out to be the longest I’ve ever done. I saw some beautiful scenery along the way and the weather was perfect, just a bit windy. So before we start this, let’s have a quick look at the route. So in this video, I’m starting from Alsbury going through Stone and Cington and through Cheersley down to Longrren and up to Chilton. So let’s get going. [Music] So to start the journey at Alsbury on just by the railway station there and this is the Bullwalk Bridge which takes people over to South Court and there’s a cycle way on one side for pedestri pedestrians on the other but you always get people walking in on the cycling bit. Time road. I’ve now reached Delon Road, which leads to the Walking Court Estate. And uh some of you may recognize the next bit, as it features very often in my HS2 videos for the A418 Oxford Road. So, I’ll be taking this cycle way all the way out to Stone. It’s going to be quite windy today. And where I’m going is quite exposed. So, it’s not like I’m going up in the hills with lots of tree cover. We’ll see how it goes. Seems all right at the moment. So, I just passed the Buggal Horn, a popular local pub, and rejoin the cycle way now on the way to Stone. Still in stone on the other side of the road. What’s this person doing? I go around the back. Sorry. It’s all right. No worries. So, here we are in Cington, often the winner of uh Buck’s best kept village, and for good reason. See what I mean? Best kept village. Look at that. Beautiful. Lovely cottages. Got to love Cington. A lot of road cyclists out this morning. Can’t blame them. What? On the tour. On the tour. Uh, I always go by myself. There’s no pelaton where as far as I’m concerned. Lovely morning to be out though, if a bit windy, but apart from that, can’t complain. Actually, the wind’s nice cuz it’s uh going to be a little bit warm later, so it’ll cool you off a bit. This lovely fast road out of Cington will take me to Cheers next. Now we get to the twin bridges. Is this the twin bridges? I think it is. The river tame splits because there’s a mill back there. The color in these fields. Buttercups everywhere. Buttercups and blossom. Wonderful. And you can smell it as well. Really nice. Oh, these roads are a bit uh iffy. So, cheers. Next. And then Longrren. I haven’t been to Longrren for a long time. Very long time. I can’t remember when the last time I was there. The hills around here are quite manageable. They’re not too bad. The only sketchy one later will be that Ashendon when I come up um Brick Hill. Oh, that’s going to be a test. Even though I’ve got assistance, I’ll have done around uh I don’t know 45 50 miles by then. My legs will be tired, I’m sure. But if I stick this in a high enough gear, I’m sure I’ll be able to get up it. Actually, it was exactly a year ago today that I took my bike out to that hill to give it a test just to see how good the torque was. And I was really impressed. So on the anniversary I’ll be doing more miles by the sign there. I’ve just passed Cheers sign. Straight through here. Long Brendan 2. There’s the Bell Pub. Cheers. And you’ll see a lot of these uh walls with um tiles on top. They’re called Witcher walls. which is a mixture of uh mud, chalk, and well, all sorts of stuff and straw to bind it together, you know, and then they cap it with those ridge tiles. Very characteristic of this area. over the railway line. That’s the line that goes to Birmingham from uh Maravan goes through Padnham and then onto Bista. Actually, you can go to Oxford as well from Bista. So these days it’s all changed. Notly farm and notly tithe barn. A popular wedding venue. Beautiful place. I remember passing by there once on a walk when I went to look at the remains of Not Mill last year. So, it doesn’t take long to get to Long Krenon. I’ve been cycling for 37 minutes, 9 miles. So, I did stop for a while at the beginning. Let’s do my opening shots. Right. So, it looks like I’m doing a sharp right up here. So, I’m not going to tame As I said at the start, uh although Icelip is exactly due west in a straight line, um I’ll be taking a lot of sort of turns in the roads, you know. That’s what makes a ride interesting. There’s nothing worse than a long straight road, is there? That gets so boring. Unless it’s going through a mountainous valley or something like that. The sights and sounds of spring. So, here we are along Crenon. My uh grandparents lived here for a short time at uh Needle Makers. I can’t remember where that is. Come on, you can let me through now. Oh, there’s needle makers there. Okay. Well, come on. I’ve got to have a look, haven’t I? I haven’t been up here for god knows how long. I think it was one of these two at the top. Guy’s a lot smaller than I thought. I think it’s the one behind that silver car. Number eight. Yeah. Good lord. Yeah. They moved out in early 80s. My grandpa died in 1981. And there’s a bus stop down here. I think it’s just in this road. Is it the bus stop? Is it here? Yes, there’s a post box. [Music] So, I’m just going to put now um photograph up on the screen. And there’s all of us, me, mom, dad, and brother stood over there. There’s me with my um Incredible Hulk um toy figure. all stood at this bus stop. I don’t think it is a bus stop anymore, is it? I can’t see a sign. But anyway, God, that’s weird, isn’t it? I wasn’t expecting a nostalgia trip. Nothing. Let me through. Okay. Now then somewhere up here I turn right. Now, this is becoming a common theme with these bike rides of mine lately, and I keep making crucial mistakes, and it’s because I use the outdoor active navigation, and it puts other routes on the display, and I’m now thinking that I’ve got to turn right up here when in fact, I need to turn left and then right go straight onto Shabbington. Now I end up going to Chilton and almost to Oakley which means I have to turn back and come back to Longrren meaning I’m adding about 7 milesi to my journey which is ridiculous isn’t it? I really need to find a different app for navigation because I can’t go on like this. Hey. All right. Cycle event. Oh, okay. That explains it. Don’t know what that is. Certainly not a to devail cuz that’s in June. Oh, this is a bumpy old road. So, left long Crenon now. Uh Do you know it’s so bumpy I can’t see the blooming screen. But I can see where I’m going on the road anyway. Oh dear. Not a nice road at all. Surface wise. See for miles. So we’ll leave it there for now. In the next video, I continue go the wrong way for a little bit and then return to Long Crenon and then onto Shabbington and Iford where we see the ancient bridge then onto Watertock and Water Perry. So join me next time for some more beautiful scenery.