5. My Longest Ride – The Final Leg

In this final episode, I make my way back to Aylesbury and go through Wotton Underwood, Ashendon and end at the Waddesdon Greenway for a well-deserved rest before heading home. This was a tough one, but I’m glad I did it.

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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 join me on this final leg where I go through Wood and Underwood up a nasty hill to Ashendon and then join the Watson Greenway back to Alsbury. This bit was really tough and I really do sound tired. [Music] That was a nice little road. I would be without these bloody ruts. Oh, I was so full of energy this morning. This is a slo. It doesn’t help when the roads are like this, you know? You want a nice smooth road. So, this is the road to Watton. Woodson Underwood where the two railways crossed and both have gone. The Brill Tramway and the uh Oh, God. What was that? Was it It was a Metropolitan line link, wasn’t it? I think. So I’m now heading towards the site of Woodsiding Station which is shown here. Talking of railways, look at this railway bridge. So yeah, that is the main line up to Birmingham. Goes through uh Hadenham. Um also goes to Oxford as well. Bistister. Well, if there’s any trains going to come, that’ll be good, wouldn’t it? So I’m stood up here. So over there somewhere over that way was uh wood siding, but the bridge for that is all gone. I think actually just this side of the the bridge over there, you can see the those bridge abutments. I think that’s where it crossed just over there. [Music] I do plan to uh one day do a um proper video about uh the Brill Tramway from Quaintton um and follow it uh with a drone and uh on the ground as well cycling it. So um yeah, you may see this bridge again in a future video. All right, let’s uh back to the task at hand. Yeah, I’ve just gone over the sight of wood siding station. So, you wouldn’t even know it. The track bed is is through there somewhere. And I can still see the odd post. Yeah, it’s literally right by the side of the road, but obviously totally overgrown now. Grill Tmway closed in 1935, 90 years ago. It was part of the Metropolitan line for a time, but uh you know such such a rural line that it wasn’t really used that much for passengers at least. I mean uh goods wise you had the brick works at Brill, but uh not much else really. Oh dear. What’s [Music] in So that there was Tame Lodge and the uh trainway went through here. Some pretty buildings at uh Wharton station and there’s similar one at Westcot. Oh, I’m not looking forward to this. So, I can see the hill up ahead. After 55 miles, when I did this last year, I’d only done maybe I don’t know, seven, seven or eight. I got a small bag of peanuts in the bag here. Maybe I’ll uh I’ll have that with my energy drink. Give me that push. There they are. Wharton station. Such a lovely looking building. Isn’t that something? Eh. Oh, there she is looming. Oh, time for a break. Right. Here goes up to Ashen. This is the easy bit so far. It’s that bit at the top I’m not looking forward to. Oh, my legs are so heavy. Oh, come on, man. Come on. into a headwind as well. Lovely. 22% of battery left. Long as I got enough to get up this hill, I don’t care. 10% is nothing really. I’ve had worse hills than this. But as I say, after 57 miles, it’s a bit different. You know, it looks menacing up ahead. I think I’m going to give this uh everything. Let’s put turbo on. Change up the gears. H. It’s such a nothing hill normally, but Jesus, after 57 miles, my legs are shot. We reached Ashen. I think any hill now is going to be just that bit more of a challenge. Not helped by the state of these roads either. Reward at the top is a magnificent view. Look at that. See for miles. Can I see Alsbury though? I think it’s hidden by the hills. Right onwards. That’s some view up here. Yeah, it’s quite what’s the manner straight up there in the trees on the on the crest of the hill up there. Oh, that’s right. This is Westcut. Yeah, I remember now. Not going to Westcot, though. Not the village. Just turning off before it. This is potentially a busy road, but it seems to be okay today. Right. It’s between these houses here. I remember. Oh, you’ve been here before. Nobody coming up here. Oh, I’m running on reserves now. Jesus, man. This is officially, well, not yet officially, but it will be my longest ever cycle ride in my life. I’m about to hit 60 miles. Yes. 60. Still got about six to go. How did that happen? Going the wrong way a few times didn’t help. And of course, a lot more being closed because it’s a military firing range. This looks vaguely familiar. Yes. That was a sire. Well, how far have you gone? How far have I gone? That’s a nice piece of kit. 62 mi. Really? Yeah. I’ve just walked to a little hill and back. I had a lung infection last week and I I can hardly I can hardly walk. But yeah, I’ll be like that tomorrow. Seriously good looking bike. What’s the range on the electric? Well, it’s uh I’ve got 10% battery left. So, probably about 70 mi, I would say. That’s not bad. Yeah, that’s not bad at all. I need Tim for my purpose. I saw that the other day this beautiful electric bike on the back of a car and I swear the bike was probably worth about 20 times more than the car was spent all the money on the bike. Charlie, right? Cheers. Ah, now the easy bit. Oh boy. This is a struggle. Well, I’ve reached the Watson Greenway and I think uh I’ll wrap the video up here. I’m going to have a break for a few minutes and then uh limp my way back home. I feel absolutely shattered. 62 and 12 miles it says on my bike. I’ve got 10% battery left. Uh that should be enough to get me home. Say it’s about uh 4 miles, 5 miles, I think from here to actual home. So uh yeah, it’s been nice though. I’ve really enjoyed um Icelip and uh those other little villages. Beckley was beautiful, wasn’t it? Yeah, really nice on the edge of the Cotswwells there. Absolutely stunning. You can’t beat those lovely little uh Thatch cottages, can you? And the um the pub at Icelip as well. Wonderful. Yeah. Anyway, I shall uh show you the route what I did. I’ve probably done that at the beginning of the video, haven’t I? So, yeah. I don’t know what I’m doing. Yeah. So, uh, if you made it this far, thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video. Bye for now.