Goring Gap Cycling

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to cycle on a flat traffic-free route from Goring to Wallingford

To get to work

To do the shopping

To visit the Crowmarsh pool or the Corn Exchange?

Wouldn’t it be great to cycle for just 6 miles on the flat to get from Wallingford to a mainline railway station that has lifts?

The route is on Oxfordshire County Council’s Strategic Active Travel network, but when will it happen?

Come along to the public meeting and find out about this an other ways to make our communities happier, healthier and greener.

📅 Wednesday 25 March at 7:30 pm
🏠 Belleme Room, Goring Village Hall

#Active Travel
#Goring-on-Thames
#Oxfordshire

🌼 After another week of rubbish weather, it’s encouraging to see some signs of spring among the mud and potholes. No newborn lambs outside the lovely @king.williamivipsden yet, but they will come. Meanwhile there’s tea and toast.

#gromils
#Chilterns
#Oxfordshire

🚫🌧️ No rain at last! Ideal for enjoying one of our favourite bits of bridleway – smooth tarmac, no traffic – through the Nettlebed Estate near Bix, en route to one of our favourite stops @Viv’s_cafes_ in Henley.

🚴‍♂️Henley cyclists (or us if it’s raining) can enjoy @Viv’s_cafes_ in Goring. Both have the wonderfully scrumptious pecan pie.🥮

#gromils
#goringgapcycling
#Chilterns

Good to get out into the Berkshire countryside and stretch our legs, even on a dreary day in February. Great coffee stop @bucklebury.farm and an obligatory photo stop at the ford afterwards
#gromils
#goringgapcycling
#Westberkshire

1
This notorious stretch of road between Ipsden and Ewelme was reported on Fix My Street (and not for the first time) in early November.

2
In an email to local councillor Ben Higgins, Oxfordshire CC wrote:
During an inspection on 21 November, several 28-day defects were identified and raised by the Inspector. These defects are scheduled for completion around 17 December. Additionally, a few 24-hour defects were also noted and updated in the report by my colleague.

Here is the latest update from the report:

“Thank you for your report. Following a recent site inspection, we have arranged for the repairs to those potholes identified at intervention level to be completed within either 24 hours or 28 days, depending on their size and other factors. Unfortunately, due to heavy rainfall, we have identified areas of the carriageway with surface water present. The level of the carriageway in relation to the adjacent verges has resulted in issues with surface water runoff.”

3
It didn’t happen, in either 24 hours or 28 days, and now the report has been closed. The same stretch of road was reported again by someone on 15 January.

In fact the 250 m of lane south of Blenheim Farmhouse has been reported 40 times, but it’s still as bad as ever.

Fix My Street (FMS) currently says “This issue has been passed onto the relevant team for investigation.” We’ve seen that before – like 40 times

4
OK, a lot of the time since 21 November parts of the lane have been under water, making it hard to find the potholes, never mind fix them. But it has not been raining every day, as the rain graph shows.

5
Filling in potholes once the lane has dried out only for them to grow again may be good for the profits of the County Council’s contractor, but it is not good for the road users or the taxpayers.

This is not rocket science
1 Fix the drainage
2 Resurface the road properly

#goringgapcycling
#roadmaintenance
#Oxfordshire

👩‍🦼🐶Approaching that bane of all Soxon cyclists, the Ipsden Dip, I came across this chap and his best friend.  

⚠️Imagine if he’d been a bit further on round the bend and I’d been going faster than I should. 

#gromils
#goringgapcycling
#Chilterns

😊 Great to get out for a ride after being imprisoned by cold and ice since the week before Christmas. Everyone raring to go, just like farm animals when they’re first let out to pasture for the first time. Never mind the state of the roads (for now) or the likelihood that winter will return soon.

☕️🍰 Where better to stop in winter than @stokerowstore? Friendly, cosy and downhill nearly all the way home.

❄️Winter won’t last for ever. Meanwhile, enjoy the snowdrops.

#gromils
#goringgapcycling
#Chilterns

😊
Great to see the impact a short permissive path can make on the lives of local people when there’s an enlightened landowner.

👩‍🦼🛴🏃‍♀️🚶‍♂️**
This unobtrusive path along the edge of an arable field provides a useful traffic-free link between Cholsey village and the housing development at Fairmile. Ideal for mobility scooters, joggers and baby buggies as well as walkers. No cycles out today, as the temperature was about 2C

📷
No special posing – these pictures were all taken within 5 minutes. Build it and they will come!
(**Why is there no emoji for baby buggy/stroller? Big Tech ignoring the powerless?)

#ActiveTravel
#LivingStreets
#Oxfordshire

❄️ The days may be getting longer already, but it’s too cold for safe cycling, so what do you do? A gentle walk through the Great Chalk Wood to commune with nature and celebrate the festive season with the animals(?), so as to be able to appreciate the cosiness of @vivs_cafes_ Village Cafe (and appreciate the company of course).

#gromils

#goringgapcycling

#Chilterns