Last time I went to Mill Way I planned a journey starting from the right
hand bridleway fork. I go there for the first time since May and make a
route up as I go along, starting from the left fork this time.
The car park on the busy Mill Way is unusually busy, there are three
cars and two 4x4s already there. There is also a woman standing with
her back to the two bridleways, smiling out for the gentleman who is
taking photos of her with a digital camera. As I get my stuff together
there are a couple more flashes before they set off on a slow walk on
the left bridleway, the same path I will take.
I have the bright idea of putting everything that normally rests in my
pockets into the CamelBak. Yes, my baggy MTB shorts are made for
cycling but they actually have pockets! Alas things have fallen out of
them once or twice on little rides, so I don't chance it. By the time
I've locked the car, looped the car key round the convenient hook
inside the CamelBak and donned my helmet and gloves, the couple have
gone already. They must have walked pretty fast.
The track is dead straight through a tree tunnel, and being my first
Autumn ride the ground looks like nothing but a carpet of yellow
leaves. As I begin to take things for granted, my jerking crank motion
tells me that the leaves are camouflaging some irregular stuff down
there, namely the occasional patches of slimy wet mud. As I make my way
round I look to the right and catch sight of that couple, who diverted
from the path examining the trees and taking more pictures. They don't
notice me.
The hidden mudbaths seem to be no problem as I go straight on, and on.
To my left is a fence made of vertical wood rods tethered together by
metal wire, and on my right is a black rusty fence railing. The leaves
on the ground subtly fade from yellow to orange as I make distance.
After a while I pass a track to the left that heads downhill, and all
of a sudden the fencelines and tree tunnels give way to a light open
area. I pass a National Trust sign that says "Riders keep to the marked
paths", the typeface suggesting it was made before mountain biking
became popular. The leaves disappear and I'm left to ride on a thin
bank of grass, no sign of the promised marked paths but there are rigid
doubletracks of which I choose to ride in the right one.
In the distance I see a black and white dog well on the other side of
the open area, running free. A few seconds later I see its owner
walking a little behind, and then another dog, this time light brown.
The distance they are doesn't prevent them from eventually noticing me
and subtly swinging their trotting direction towards me. The owner
quickly gives a short whistle, and both the dogs stop rigidly where
they are. I'd like to raise my hand to the owner to say thanks, but
it's too busy making balance corrections as this hairline track is
rough and a little bumpy.
The tracks subtly fade out, leaving me to ride on the thin grass which
is still enough to increase the rolling resistance. But some more
deeper hairline tracks appear and again I lock onto one.
After a time the tracks swing round to the right and disappear, then I
re-enter some tree cover. The carpet of yellow leaves on brown earth
returns and very shortly I approach a T-junction. I turn left and make
my way up a subtle incline in this new tunnel of trees. There doesn't
seem to be any more mudbaths but all of a sudden my wheel stops and I
UPD for the first time. A brutal discovery that the leaves are now
covering some roots, and some occasional big ones too. As I remount I
notice my tyre is covered with muddy sticky wet leaves and the soles of
my boots have leaves stuck on too.
The track forks into two and has a wooden post. I know I have to follow
the byway, but the post is rather confusing. It has a red (byway) arrow
on the front, and a blue (bridleway) arrow at a funny angle etched onto
the left. It says nothing about what the path on the right should be,
so I take a risk and head on the widest left path.
One or two more UPDs caused by roots hidden under the leaves taint this
otherwise enjoyable subtle downhill gradient, and I reach a crossroads.
This time the red arrow byway signs attached to the posts are much more
clear, pointing that I've got to go through an open metal gate. There
is a visible giant root across where the gate closes, I bravely ride
over it and continue going downhill.
By now the leaf cover is starting to disappear, caused by the trees
setting back a little from the path and letting some light in. The
track turns into a hard mixture of caked earth and chalk. A gully
providing natural drainage appears on the right and forces me to stay
on the left. The mean roots are replaced with loose stones and the
deepening gully shapes part of this path to be a virtual slope to the
right. I try and fight my way to stay on the left, but my wheel runs
over a stone and slides sideways and forces a UPD.
I remount and continue down as the gully gets shallower and starts to
meander to the left, and then right again. I cross the zig-zagging
gully twice without any problems before the path becomes flat again. I
catch sight of a mansion with a glass dome resembling some astronomical
observatory as the path swings to the left and gets a lot steeper down.
I take it steady, but enjoyably, and eventually the tree lines open out
leaving me standing opposite Juniper Hall.
*end of part one*
--
gkmac
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