The Primrose Path Audax weekend.

Saturday 27th February. Visits to familiar places, Wells and Montacute.

I drove to Wells to for a nostalgic walk around. We lived here in the 1980s in this little cottage (the one with the pale blue door) in St. Thomas Street. 

It was a very happy time for us, when I was a rambler walking all around with my dog Fudge. 

We stayed briefly in The Swan Hotel when we were moving house.
Sarah was at uni' and worked in the King's Head in her holidays. Sadly the pub appeared to be shut so I could not visit it.

The little city was thriving with a market and thousands of folk thronging the streets. 

Fortunately I knew where I could park near the Methodist Church so did not have any bother with parking.

I inspected the display in the market place of Mary Rand's Olympic long jump record before walking around the Bishop's Palace Moat. 

I wandered around the streets for a while before deciding to head off to Montacute for lunch at Montacute House the Elizabethan home of the Phelips family. 

I visited the house and enjoyed looking at an exhibition of samplers from the 16th and 17th centuries. Fantastic needle work which Jean would have enjoyed as she studied for City & Guilds in needlework herself and I remember her doing stump-work.

I stayed overnight in the Travel Lodge at Podimore where I relaxed watching the Six Nations rugby matches. 

For supper I had pancakes in the Little Chef next door. 

My room mate watching the rugby.

Sunday 28th Feb 2016. 

The Big Day. The very hilly Primrose Path Audax.

I was awake just before the alarm went off at 7.  Packed my bags and headed off to Corscombe where the event was starting. Arrived in plenty of time to have a light breakfast. I was very apprehensive about the amount of climbing and had taken the OS map of the area with me in case I needed to give up part way round. I was quite correct in thinking it would be tough. I recorded 9,826 feet climbed on my Garmin. The corrected data from Garmin gives 4,962, Ride with GPS 7,052 and Strava 5,169. All I can say it was the toughest ride I have ever undertaken in the last 8 years. I had to walk on 9 hills, some for only a short distance and on the later ones I would have ridden if I'd not been so tired. 
The roads varied from decent to terrible. I actually walked down two of the steep ones where the surface was extremely muddy and potholed. 

It seems The Council put up signs rather than filling the holes!

We started off with a loop to the North venturing into Somerset before returning to the other end of the village where after I'd walked up the 1 in 7 hill I checked into the first check point. The next few miles were much easier along the A358. There followed a lot of climbing and descents, some easy some hard. Fortunately there was little other traffic as most of these lanes were single track. 

A view from the top of one hill near North Poorton.

The views from some of the summits were beautiful and a reward for the climbs. Sadly some of the descents were too tricky to take at speed. But others were a joy allowing speeds of over 30 mph.

The climb from Powerstock was the hardest of the day climbing from 214 feet to nearly 800. It varied in steepness, so although I walked several times I also rode quite a lot of it too. Unfortunately the wind at the top was so strong that I was unable to remount for a while and had to walk as I was in danger of being blown off the very narrow road. This wind also made the next 4 miles very hard, along what should have been a gentle downhill I was pedalling to maintain even 12 mph. 

In Cattistock there was another check point. This one run in his house by a member. Serving hot soup, cakes, biscuits and tea. A lovely log fire tempting one to stay. I met up again with a couple who I'd been playing leapfrog with and continued to do so for most of the rest of the ride.  

Maybe I stayed too long. This was about half way. (Only half way?!!!).

There were lots more great views. I would like to have had time to take more pictures. Here is one of a ford near Cerne Abbas. I was too quick taking the picture, I meant to get the splash effect! I didn't even see the Giant. Not sure where he is in relation to the village. 

My leapfrog friends stopped in Cerne Abbas, at the next check point for another cup of tea allowing me to slip ahead for a bit.

The worst bit of A road was on the A352 from Glanvilles Wootton towards Minterne Magna. I managed to ride the hill but not he next one which took us up onto a ridge once more. Only ten miles to go now being made a little easier as for once the wind did not seem to be adverse, but it was an extremely cold wind and my neck and shoulders were beginning to ache with the cold.

In Evershot as I climbed out of the village I managed to unship my chain when changing onto my smallest chainwheel. That wasted a precious 5 mins for when I got to the Check in I discovered that I was ten minutes outside the time limit so will be recorded as a DFN (outside time limit). How sad after all that effort. However I know I had a great result.

At the end there was some food left. I shared great baked beans on toast, cakes and tea with my leap frog friends who had just made it within the time limit. Next I drove some 90 miles home to enjoy a relaxing hot bath and a celebratory G&T.

I do not have too many aches and pains this morning but I did not wake until 8.50 and cancelled my day at |Naomi House  as I still feel very tired.

I was glad I did it and almost made it in time. Will I do it again? NO!

I will choose a less hilly Audax for my next one.

GRIDIRONMAN.