Just down the Chippy...

---

The drive up to Chipping Norton campsite was fairly uneventful, though the sat nav originally wanted me to go via Oxford, which would add 20 miles, but as I couldn't see the point of the extra mileage, I opted for the direct route. As Swindon was the half way point, I asked the sat nav to find a Tesco for food and fuel, but rather than send me to a supermarket, it took me to a tiny Tesco metro! The site is fairly quiet, and I was given full reign to choose my spot, but as the weather was so cloudy I couldn't see where the sun was, and I didn't trust my iPhone compass, so parked it along a hedge. It wasn't till the next day I realised I was pointing the wrong way round,( not that there has been much sunshine anyway). So as my stay was almost up, Thursday I asked to move to the pitch opposite me, and extended my stay to next Tuesday as I really liked the area for cycling.

Tuesday I took the 920 out for just a general ride that I had planned Monday night. This took me past some really nice buildings and along some great cycle paths, that were almost completely empty of anyone else. By the time I got back to the van, I was knackered, and unfortunately soaked as it had tipped it down with 3 miles to go, and that was with the waterproofs on. Wednesday all it did was rain hard, so I drove down to Witney, as they have a Cineworld, and spent the day catching up on a few films I had missed while down the West Country. The first was "sleepless"' which was a good action, watch once, kind of film. The second was "King Arthur, legend of the sword" which again was a good action film, with a "two smoking barrels" type of characters, which made it a fun film to watch, and it also had David Beckham in?! He wasn't bad, but don't give up the day job, (does he have a day job?). After something to eat, the last film was "Alien Covenant" which was also an OK, watch once, kind of film that, for a monster movie, didn't make me jump once, but had a great, gut wrenching sort of ending, so not all bad. At first this seemed like a cheap day, as parking was free, and I don't pay per film with my membership card, until I added up all the coffees and ice creams I had bought at the beginning of each film. I also did the one thing I avoid most, and bought nachos, which are the noisiest food in the cinema, and by the time I had sat down, the film started, so I tried to eat them as quietly as I could, which didn't really work.

Thursday I took the full suss out for a different route I'd made, which was full of off road sections. Again, even though this route was shorter, I got back to the van exhausted, this could be down to a massive climb, to get back to the site, from Chadlington. Friday started off pissing it down hard, so I just went back to sleep. When it finally stopped I grabbed the full suss and did the second route in reverse, with a few bits cut out, as the council had closed bits to refurbish them. Even though it kept threatening to rain, it never did, until I got back and walked out of the shower. Saturday I decided to take it a bit easier, and as the rain was supposed to be a bit patchy, I tried to choose my timing carefully so I would stay dry, and went into Chipping Norton for food shopping. Unfortunately the Sainsbury's google had shown, turned out to be a tiny one, so I carried on to Aldi, though google had shown this as an empty building lot, so I wasn't entirely convinced it would be there. Luckily it was, so after overloading my one pannier I had, I started back, dodging through traffic. Saturday was not the day to be driving through this town, as it became gridlocked very quickly. But I did pay for my smugness while whizzing past everyone, as at the last roundabout I went straight over rather than up the hill. It was at this point the rain started to threaten with heavy spits while I was going pretty quick downhill, then It finally clicked that I hadn't been here before. So at the next junction I headed back to the right road, which of course was a bastard up-hill.

Sunday the weather was perfect, it was dry with long sunny spells but not too hot. So I powered up the mac and plotted a route that included all the national cycle routes that surround the campsite. Surround is probably not the right word to use as none of them run that close to here, plus I included a section of woodland that showed tracks running through it, but none of which were labelled as public access, so might be an issue. This in itself was a chore, as due to not seeing the sun the last couple of days, there wasn't enough juice to charge the mac, so it was getting a bit hit and miss whether I would create the route before it completely died. Which, after constantly swearing at the inverter for beeping loudly this early in the morning, every time it realised it was connected to dead batteries, I got it done.

The route started on nation route 442, which went very quickly, as most of it was down hill. It then joined on to route 48, which began with a hilly section, but they were so undulating, that the momentum of the down hill, got you to the top of the next with hardly any effort, bar a few hills in places. It wasn't until I joined route 5 that the work really began. Now the first couple needed some effort to get up, but there seemed to be no let up from one to the next. One thing I had done before leaving was make sandwiches, as these routes do tend to avoid shops, unless you want to stop at nice pubs, and burn money, which so far I've tended to do. So this time I pre made some cheese and some jam sandwiches, wrapped them up in cling film, and grabbed some bananas, felt like I was a kid again on a family holiday, making a picnic for the day. Along the route I found some interesting things like a mini working windmill in the middle of a garden sized field, and a path that was lined with small trees covered in yellow blossom.

A bit after lunch, I was beginning to feel the toll of the hills, start to take effect. But I knew that the last hill was a bastard, so I was trying to be reserved on each one. I then reached the woods I was hoping to cut through, but unfortunately the place was covered in "private no entry" signs, so I had to ride around it, until I found a bridle path to get me back on track. The only problem with this, was the track had been chewed up quite badly, so I was unable to cycle large parts of it. Eventually, it joined back on to a drive way, that lead to a byway I had cycled earlier that week. This gave me a feeling of reassurance, in the knowledge I was close to the end, but the last hill still loomed in the back of my mind. As it was, even though I was proper finished by now, it didn't seem as bad, but still felt like a long time going up to the campsite. Monday has been a glorious day of sun, so after a leisurely wake up and a big fried breakfast, I put the pannier back on the 920 and headed into town for a bit of shopping. I didn't really need anything, but I needed change for the washing machine back at camp, as the next site doesn't have any facilities to do washing, a bit like Setthorns campsite. So as part of my rest day, I've been doing the domestics ready for the off Tuesday, where I'll be back in the New Forest for a week before heading back home.

---