Best of Backyard Pete Dodd

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For the next Best of Backyard instalment we head out of Wales and across the River Severn into England, to the Cotswolds and the Medieval market town of Wotton Under Edge. Wotton has been around since the first millennia and even has a pub ‘The Ancient Ram Inn’ that was built when the knights of the Second Crusade were heading to The Holy Land.

Wotton Under Edge is where we’ve come to meet HB.130 ambassador Pete Dodd who arrives in style, with his bike slotted into his rather nice-sounding BMW M3. The Cotswolds are Pete’s home and he’s a veritable feast of trails to show us on yet another screaming hot day. This time, with the threat of thunder coming the following day, the air is also sticky as well as like an oven.

It’s not long before we’re weaving through the old town’s streets, with the obligatory faff out the way and we’re into the first of what would turn out to be many ferocious climbs of the day. Our first descent appears quickly, with the ground baked hard limestone, the dust is quite oppressive and incredibly bright. We dive past the forestry works and into an old sunken road that feels at odds with the heat and light above.

With the legs suitably warmed up we start what is almost a near constant of the day, and that is gates. With our route weaving on and off the Cotswold Way and the Monarch’s Way, there’s a lot of gates. Luckily, we develop a system early and it doesn’t slow us down too much. The Monarch’s Way retraces the route that King Charles II took after being defeated at the Battle of Worcester and speeds us along what is much more about the distance than our outing in Cwmcarn.

From the open expanses of the Cotswolds, we slip into the massive Oxleworth Estate, dodging pheasants aplenty. Once out of the estate that was originally abbey grounds before the Dissolution, we’re hugging the road on an undulating track for what seems like forever. The combination of the right bike, the HB.130 and Pete’s calf muscles mean we’re wilting at the back, and some of the singletrack descents get dropped in favour of a stop for lunch, and crucially, ice cream.

That’s not to say we don’t get some exciting trails down from the golf course to mix things up. The mix of clay and limestone is not consistent in any way, and judging traction is not the easiest. You can tell the hill used to have some small scale quarrying and the faces left offer some steep roll-ins for the discerning rider.

The Leaf & Ground is where Pete takes us for lunch, and it feels like we’ve been whisked away to Liguria, rather than sitting a few miles away from the M5 in Gloucestershire. All the necessary fuel is taken on as our eyes squint to deal with the bright white limestone paving…

As we swing aching legs back over bikes, Pete informs us that the worst of the climbs approaches. He’s not wrong. A climb that seems to go on forever in a brutal way to settle the lunch. The air is close and still, you can feel your skin leaking… This is the climb equivalent of our opening descent. Another sunken road Up, up, up we climb until we’re greeted by the Tynedale Monument.

Out of the woods, the breeze could not be any more welcome as Pete explains that the monument is to the man who first translated the New Testament into English. One William Tynedale. No mean feat. From here we can see across the Severn Estuary to the Forest of Dean, and if the angry clouds hadn’t been rolling in, we might well have been able to see the Brecon Beacons as well.

With time creeping on, we opt to rattle off the last few hill traverses before yet more familiar double track in the woods runs us out onto the main road and we’re back in Wotton, craving ice cream again. From riding here as a kid, to 40+ km gallops around the hills, you can see why Pete keeps riding here.
There’s plenty to keep you occupied.


Words & Pictures: Pete Scullion