Thames Valley Motorcycle Lodge No.9885

Sunday June 3rd to the Wild West.... well Wiltshire !!

Clive NOT looking at his shoes /\

Clive looking at his shoes.... shoes? You sure Marcus? \/

So which way from here Marcus??????  \/

A Sunny Day Through Ancient Wiltshire.

The Ride started as normal at 9.30am from the Berkshire Masonic headquarters at Sindlesham near Wokingham. But a couple of us met as usual at Faringdon at 8am and had a nice warm up ride to Sindlesham.

It was forecast to be a sunny and bright day, perfect for motorcycling, and so it proved.

There was a good mixture of riders waiting at Sindlesham, including masons, non masons, male and female, and a couple of pillions.

10 bikes in all set of from Sindlesham and headed for the M4 Jnc 11. We then rode down to Jnc 12 where we left the Motorway and headed towards Pangbourne. On the road to Pangbourne we were joined by 2 extra bikes, one of which was a first timer with us, Mike Leeke with his good lady as pillion.

We then rode Pangbourne to Streatley, then Streatley to Harwell along the road that follows the downs and looks over the valley, a good B road with some nice overtaking opportunities, although there wasn't much traffic, but with the occasional bad junction. So we had to stay alert.

From Harwell we headed to Wantage and then took the technical narrow twisty road that follows the Ridgeway Path towards Ashbury. Getting stuck for a while behind a horsebox and a couple of cars.

We stopped off at the car park for the ancient Uffington White Horse Hill. This was a good place to stop and either take a short hike up the hill to take in the glorious views over Gods Valley , The Vale Of White Horse and of course Faringdon . Where I did my obligatory " you can see my house from up here" pointing in the general direction. After an ice lolly or ice cream from the van in the car park, we got back on the bikes and made our way to Ashbury then turned left on the road to Lambourn, passing Ashdown House on the way. The house the Lodge is named after. From Lambourn we headed south to Hungerford, then along the fabulous stretch of the A4 past Savernake Forest to Marlborough. After riding through Marlborough we stayed on the A4 passing the ancient Silbury Hill and then turning right to Avebury and the Stone Circle.

Here we stopped to regroup and have some grub in a nice little cafe next to the Red Lion pub right in the middle of the circle of stones.

After a bit of a rest a few of the group decided to make their way back home, the rest of us headed to Devises then took the road towards Salisbury,and Stonehenge, a great pacey B road with plenty of nice bends and open views. When we reached the road to the Stonehenge visitor car park we then turned left onto the A303 back towards Andover. After some gentle filtering past the normal traffic jam that is caused purely by car drivers slowing down to look at Stonehenge, we headed towards Andover. This was the point where some of us took a different route. Some headed up the A303 towards Basingstoke and home, some turned of the A303 and headed for Tidworth. We then rode the B road through Tidworth and towards Savernake forest, some then turned towards Hungerford and home, and a few of us from the West, headed to Marlborough and a final coffee stop in the high street.

All in all a great ride, on a variety of roads , with great weather and even greater company.

Marcus