📜 Ave! No it’s not the cover of the Gromils’ latest release, just our latest Monday ride to Calleva and Charter Alley.

Calleva Atrebatum is surprisingly little known, given its proximity to the modern metropolis of Reading. Possibly the fourth largest Roman city in England in its day, it occupied an area of 40 ha, or around 50 football pitches in modern parlance. It’s cared for by @englishheritage and is open for free 24/7.

The elliptical ampitheatre is around 40 x 45 m and it is estimated that it could have held up to 7,000 spectators for gladiatorial combat and equestrian events – not Collosal, but big for Berkshire.

🚴‍♂️ Returning to the modern world, we made our first ever visit to the wonderful @CharterAlleyVillageStore, where we ate most of the samosas in stock as well as enjoying a very friendly welcome.

#gromils
#activetravel
#goringgapactivetravel

🚴‍♂️ What’s the best bike for cycle touring?

Is it the classic steel tourer, a modern gravel bike, full suspension mountain bike, or an ebike? Let’s take a closer look at what you might use for a week’s touring in the UK.

Steel tourer based on a 1990s Bob Jackson frame, upgraded with V brakes and a dynamo hub that can power a front light or a phone charger. Ortlieb panniers, with bar bag (for convenience, not capacity). With a few more clothes in the bags and a tent on the back, this could take one across continents. A triple chainset means it can handle most Alpine climbs.

Boardman gravel bike, with aluminium frame, carbon fork, fitted with rear carrier and old-school Karrimor panniers. Modern single ring chainset and cable-actuated disc brakes for reliability. No mudguards, as the seven-day forecast was for a heatwave, which also explains the half-full panniers.

Santander Cruz Tallboy in bikepacker mode, ready for any terrain, with front and rear sausage bags. Rucksack is primarily for semi-pro camera kit.

Ridgeback X2 ebike with Tortec rack and Topeak bag and panniers mode. Slower than the others when speeds passed 15 mph but quicker on long drags (there aren’t many steep climbs in East Anglia). 40+ mile range, and charging overnight on standard 13 amp socket not a problem.

So which is the best? The bottom line is…

The best bike is the one that you have 😀

Thanks to @jimdonahueimages for some of the stills, and to Jim, Roger and Phil for the modelling and the craic.

#gromils
#activetravel
#goringgapactivetravel

🚴‍♂️ it’s cycling, not football that’s coming home, as five intrepid Gromils completed their epic Tour of East Anglia from Ipswich to Kings Lynn

😎 After four blissful days on the road the heat that had been scorching the rest of the country caught up with East Anglia. Its presence was plain even by the coast in Wells at 8 am: hot and muggy with little sea breeze.

⛱️ The intrepid Gromils made farewell to the coast at the beautiful Holkam Beach, then toiled uphill through the Holkam Estate. Our journey continued up and down across the not-flat Norfolk countryside accompanied by pesky tiny flies. These were annoying enough for Roger to swap his fluo yellow shirt for a white one, to little avail.

🥗 Lunch in the air-conditioned splendour of Sandringham was the least we deserved before the final push to Kings Lynn and the train journey home amid all the cancellations.

🚄 As all Paddington to Didcot trains had been cancelled, we had to squeeze onto a fast train to Reading. This is the second year running the doors between the coaches on a GWR have tried to chomp my bike in half.

#gromils
#activetravel
#TEAtour

🚴‍♂️ Day 4 of the Gromils’ TEA tour, and we’re out of The Broads, so there are no more boats or  rivers to speak of, but there are railways – and hills.

🚂 For some Gromils of a certain age, the combined smell of steam coal and lube oil takes them high and back to the pre-Beeching days of their youth. After cycling the length of the Bure Valley trail it seemed only appropriate to call in and see the Bure Valley Railway, where Spitfire was being prepared for the 10 am departure.  All the (volunteer) staff were very friendly and chatty.

🌄 Beacon Hill, near Roman Camp, is the highest point not only in Norfolk,  but in the whole of East Anglia. At 105 m it is, as Chris the Gromil said “slightly impressive”. It’s also only about a mile from the coast at West Runton, so we reached our highest speed of the trip whizzing down the hill – 29 mph, again mildly impressive. 

🌡What wasn’t high was the temperature at the coast. With cloud coming in on the easterly wind we were only just warm enough in the garden of the tea rooms.

🚂 After coming down from the giddy heights of 105 m we needed to regain some altitude so took advantage of steam power and let Hercules pull us up the hill from Sherringham to Holt on the North Norfolk Railway. 

#gromils

#activetravel 

#TEAtour

🚴‍♂️ Day 3 of the Gromils’ TEA tour, and as the rest of the country bakes and breaks records, even East Anglia is warming up.

⛵️Only one thing to do – take to the water. Coffee in an air-conditioned cafe at Reedham Ferry, lunch by Potter Heigham Bridge, only 4 miles from the coast, so it had a cooling sea bridge.

🦦 In the afternoon a trip on the Electric Eel, through the marshes on the River Ant, where we caught a quick glimpse of an otter, before cycling the Bure Valley Trail next to the little railway.

#gromils
#activetravel
#TEAtour

🚴‍♂️ On the road again for day 2 of the Gromils’ TEA Tour, our second and last day in Suffolk.

🌞The hot weather may have been canned in Central England, but sunny Suffolk was.. well, sunny, with a delightful cooling breeze.

🌳 Dappled shade in the woodlands, blackberries in blossom, no hills to speak of, and a flat calm sea at Dunwich – cycle touring doesn’t get much better than this. Except it did: a three-hour lunch stop in Southwold, at the home of Charlotte and Derek, a former Gromil who used to live in Reading.

🍦Late afternoon ice creams in Beccles, before crossing the River Waveney into Norfolk, where tomorrow the Broads beckon, with even fewer hills.

#gromils
#activetravel
#TEAtour

A different aspect to Active Travel…

🌞 Four intrepid Gromils took the train to escape from the sweltering Goring Gap and headed for the flat lands of East Anglia, to be soothed by cooling sea breezes. The #TEAtour (Tour of East Anglia) is underway.

🏰 The journey came with a bonus view of some of the main tourist sites in London. We were surprised to see the size of crowd that had gathered to Keir say goodbye to the King, or maybe they had just come for Changing of the Guard? Given that most of them were foreigners… Great timing to stop for a picture of Big Ben just as it chimed.

🌳 Once off the train we found our way out of Ipswich and had a small detour to Sutton Hoo before moving on to a country pub for the night. Thunderstorms back home, but perfect weather here.

#gromils
#activetravel 
#TEAtour

🌞 It’s not just the fashion police who think hi-vis yellow is passe for off-road summer riding. The bugs think so too.

🚧 Part of The Ridgeway has been resurfaced, perhaps for the first time in 2000 years. Now it’s better than some of the local roads, which haven’t been resurfaced for… you get the idea.

☕️ Sweet or savoury? Spoilt for choice @thegrocerchef in Ardington. Great coffee stop, definitely one for the second edition of Le Great British Tour de Cake @hethgoesbiking

🚵‍♀️ Great ride home over Hagbourne Hill with wonderful views of the Clumps.

📍 Find more rides like this on the Routes page of our website – link in Bio.

#goringgapactivetravel
#ridgeway_national_trail
#Oxfordshire