Leaderboard

The Bristol Avon is approx 83 miles long, it rises in the Cotswold hills and flows in a circular fashion until it eventually flows into the Bristol Channel at Avonmouth. I have grown up with the Avon and in the last 50 years I have swum in it, canoed, fished it, travelled over it by truck, car , motorcycle and cycle and even ridden through it on a motorcycle. For a while I have wanted to follow the Avon from source to sea and so in January 2023 I started the journey. There are many claims to the precise source of the river but Ordnance Survey maps give it as Joyce's Pool at Didmarton so that's where I started my journey. It had been raining for several days beforehand so there was plenty of water when I arrived at Didmarton , I stopped for a while and had a coffee on one of the benches at the site. This was the road junction next to the site, it was about 8 inches deep .................... I then set off over the A433 towards Sopworth and came across the first bridge nearby... and then onto a bridge near Sherston............

“I suggest, your Honour, that the defendant Mr @XTreme, knew exactly what he was doing when he plied his grandchildren with foodstuffs containing very high amounts of e-numbers”………..you fucking legend

So from Sherston I made a slight detour down to Brook End ford at Luckington. It was deep and flowing really fast today and I reckon the depth was 3-4 feet so I didn't make an attempt to ride through it ............. I have ridden this ford many times in the past .................... but not everyone gets it right ............. and there are historical photos of good efforts and bad Next stop was a bridge just south of Sherston .................... From there I made my way up to the B4040 and then further down the road I went to the beautiful village of Easton Grey .............. Next up was a short section of the Fosseway (a roman road) which is unsurfaced along this stretch ................ It was also the site of a roman village in the past .............. I rode a bit more of the Fosseway and turned right to head into the market town of Malmesbury , this is where the Tetbury Avon joins the main river .............

It’s a bit wet out and about

Very impressive Bob! A bit too much water for my liking though......so if I was still there I'd have had to follow you round in the car!

Naturally, it was part of my approved school syllabus

Bike looks fresh out of a van eh, not a drop of dirty or moisture to be seen So you met up with six so he could show you the ropes?

I see you're well versed in legal proceedings Ray?

In the middle of a Province that spoke a different language, Quebec. It was different, I did ok with the language, but accidentally ordered too many apple pies.... Not the worst thing that could have happen....

Our flying visit to the UK earlier last week actually went without a hitch! Well, apart from having to get out of bed at 03:30 on boxing day! But it was a bit hectic! But..........when did beer go over £5 a pint?! A pint of bitter in Cambridge was £5.35 and a bottle of Sharpe's Atlantic was £5.65 in the Premier Inn at Stansted! Then we had friends from the village over for dinner yesterday evening, which went pretty well, but they didn't leave until a bit after 2am. So, after tidying up and loading the dishwasher, we didn't get to bed until 3am! Consequently nothing much got done today! Looking forward to a rest next week!

Could have gone to the gym and worked out with @XTreme's latest clients, but decided to head up to the local for lunch. This place is 60 miles from nowhere .... Beautiful day for it...

naah, they'd just tell me to stop eating anything that has any taste of flavour and only eat stuff that tastes like shit, looks like shit and has no gustative value makeing meal times a simple refulling excercise by removing all and any concept of pleasure.

From Malmesbury I headed east on the B4042, about a mile down the road is an old mill which is now posh housing and next to it is the first bridge I'd crossed today that had a plaque informing you of the name of the river ................ From there I dropped down to the village of Little Somerford where I rode down Mill Lane. I had to park up here and walk past Kingsmead Mill to get to an estate bridge across the fields .................... Once I'd walked back to the bike I had another coffee from my flask to warm up and then set off for Dauntsey. By the bridge at Dauntsey was a strange covered corkscrew affair driven by the river but I have no idea what it's used for .................. and then I rode down to the B4069 to Christian Malford to take a photo of the last bridge of the day ....................... to be continued at a later date

Cool stuff, I can see the englishness of that countryside It’s a nice way to find cool stuff near home, to set a route following a road or a river, or whatever. I must start doing it again.

Proper job, Bob. I could fancy one of those, but Honda France have decided that they're not going to sell the Rally here! Twats!

Why would anybody need positive acknowledgement from the twats on here?

Then you remember that cunt lives there so you don’t go after all.

Got out for a couple of ours on the tiger this afternoon, overcast and dampish but pleasantly positive temperatures. I rode Northwards into the Forét D'Othe and had a troll round just following my nose. I only stopped a couple of times cos I'm using my phone for pics and it's a palaver with winter gloves etc. I found some nice, not too wet, gravel tracksnorth of Esnon and followed it round in a loop bringing me back alomost to it's starting point about 8 or 10 km later Having been northish for about 45 minutes, I turned east and rode towards what would have been a nice sunset had the clouds not been quite so thick Light was failing so I turned southwards and left a bit back towards Home along some nice open back roads Got home just as dusk started setting in.

Started at 5c and rose to about 9c , about right for this time of year.

Just as crappy on the inside as the out Cool copper topped bar though ...

'Twas fun at work today, everyone back fom a few days off over Christmas to start the year with a whole new IT system new database, new system and I think new servers, so no one knows how any of it is supposed to work, As a cost cutting excercise, our part of the building is now running from a generator cos the fuel cost is less than the electricity cost, but it kept shutting down so we were struggling to learn and use a whole new computer system with reppetitive power outages. Luckily my putor and main screen are on an inverter thingy but that only really allows you time to shut down properly rather than loose anything you haven't saved... The director had had one good idea though, and that was to tell all our clients that we weren't open till tomorrow so at least we weren't trying to deal with that at the same time. The genny problem turned out to be that the phases were unequally loaded so once that got rewired more closely to how it should be the power supply settled down, and to my amazement the ney IT system, or at least the part that concerns me, seems to me far more intuitive and user friendly than the old one so, all good in the end.

Venetians

Someone altered Andrew Tates Wikipedia page

Twat

bike still looks ok though

Zzzak enjoying his day off.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2023 is a good year for you, well balanced with a healthy amount of smiles and adventures.

Breakfast this morning ..................

You've got about 4 months to wait to get back out Eric?

Not too bad then for a ride.

http://www.deltamics.com/

Do they take fat SOG's? no point showing this lot if they don't

Looks like a toll house/booth. Maybe the estate used to own the road.

It's in the grounds of the big house on the left. It's not a mill house so I guess it's a guest house or a spot for lazy fishermen who can't be bothered to walk

Er...a river lined with trees pete With what looks like someone's flooding house

Thats a great idea for a nice ride.

Still no sign of @Sir Fallsalot?

I will post a baggy containing some of my shit to Dundee today. Oh deep joy.

Don't worry Michelle I wouldn't wish that on anyone it didn't look much fun

5 quid a pint arrived around the stortford area around 3 or 4 years ago I think

I’ve a feeling that’s the last place @Grasshopper would want to spend New Years Eve or any other night

Yep......make a thread with some predictions for 2023 and let's review them at the end of the year! This is your Nostradamus moment!

Hoping to get the bike out on Friday for a run. Weather finally seems to be on the turn.

new years day in the Forét D'Othe.

@Sofia’s meatballs and mashed potatoes with spicy garlicky baby spinach. The meatballs had my moroccan spice mix, and love, which made them delicious. It was amazing, and I’m typing this with a happy belly as I finish the second portion. The red wine is a Castelares Reserva, which is currently my favourite red wine, bought for special occasions

Get a little 'deth in your life .....

Going back to me yoot mon ............

I so hope so