It was a sunny October morning for the Taunton Group ride starting from the refurbished Avalon Marshes Hub – first tea stop!
8 tandems took part with some dressed for a cold Autumn day, others still thinking it was summer!
We made our way across a wettish Tealham Moor, though sheep and cattle were still grazing. We turned towards Burtle and rode along the Polden Chain to pick up the cycle track to Bawdrip for our second tea stop at Peasey Farm Shop, a recent find to add to our café destinations.
After tea and chat we joined the cycle track along Kings Sedgemoor Drain that was perfectly still reflecting like a mirror. We skirted the villages of Stawell and Sutton Mallet to arrive at the Ring o Bells in Moorlinch for our lunch. We all ate well and then cycled on to Pedwell to pick up our second moor crossing turning left in Nythe where the swan family on Butleigh Drove were still enjoying the warmth of the tarmac. Leaving the moor we crested the ridge at Walton Windmill and descended into the village and turned off the main road towards Sharpham Moor. The stag at Sharpham park looked magnificent in his field of ladies.
Some of us took a short detour through the wilder parts of Sharpham to pass houses from the 21st Century to colourful dwellings from the late 1800s.
We all cycled the ‘old railway ‘ that passes through Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath reserves that have had numerous appearances on TV for their abundant bird life and murmurations, worth a visit in itself.
Back at the Hub we had more tea and chat and some of us decided it was time for our winter wear for the next ride! Many thanks for everyone’s company – we rode approximately 32 miles.
Rex and Hannah Whitcombe