The fine spell of weather that followed our Dorset tour continued into the week—dry, mild, and with plenty of autumn sunshine—so we seized the chance to revisit the Isle of Wight on Thursday. DavidH, Gary, BrianC, Alistair, Rod, and SueP gathered at Southampton’s Town Quay with enough time for a pre-ride coffee before boarding the 10:00 ferry, bikes in tow.

Read more: Isle of Wight Ride – October 2025

Sometimes, the best rides begin with a casual idea over coffee. It was a mild Tuesday in October, high pressure lingering stubbornly over the UK, bringing dry roads and one last taste of autumn adventure. During our mid-ride stop, I floated a suggestion: a quick overnight trip to ride the Elan Valley loop in Mid Wales.

By the time I got home, I’d found accommodation and sent out the details. In the end, only David, Vanessa, and I could make it. So, the following afternoon, with three bikes secured on the car, we set off for the hills.

Read more: Elan Valley - October 2025

 This was Lins 80 mile ride on her 80th birthday raising funds for the Ark Cancer Charity. David organised, and co-ordinated the whole event including the reception at the finish. 

Lin, David and Alistair were riding the whole route from Poole Quay to Old Basing with Len and SueC providing refreshments and support along the route. The ride started in the sunshine from the Old Customs House on Poole Quay and ran along the quiet quayside beside Poole Harbour before joining the roads through Lilliput to the Shore Road Promenade at Canford Cliffs.

Read more: Lin's 80 mile birthday ride - 4th June 2025

This ride started from Frome in Somerset with Clive, Mick, DavidB, Siobhan, GrahamB, Vanessa, Martin, BrianC, Carol, Lin, Mark, David, SueC and Alistair. The ride took us up a steep hill through part of the old town to Cottle's Oak, then down and up another steep hill to join the S&DR rail trail that took us to Radstock. We continued on the NCN24 as it followed the valley of the Wellow Brook to Wellow where SueC's pedal had worked loose - it had partially stripped the thread on the crank. We bodged it up as best as we could but about a mile further on as we had just entered the first long tunnel it had worked loose again and could not be repaired. So Mick with his ebike pushed SueC up the gentle slope through the tunnel to the top of the climb so that Sue could mostly freewheel down to the end of the cycle path into Bath.

Read more: Frome to Bath - April 2025

On Friday 6th October, to take advantage of the good weather that week, we visited the Isle of Wight again. David, SueC, Rod, Mick, Gary and I travelled down to Southampton by car with our bikes on the back, arriving in plenty of time for the 10:00 ferry. We took the Round the Island route out of East Cowes to Wooton and branched off at Havenstreet heading due south on the back roads to Newchurch before picking up the Round the Island route again. We passed through Wroxall on the way to Ventnor where we zoomed downhill on the Zig Zag Road to the seafront.

Read more: Isle of Wight - October 23

Strangely, there were only three takers for this ride. On 6th September, David drove to the start of the ride in Abergavenny with Vanessa and Alistair for a loop of the Brecon Beacons. After a coffee in the cafe in the park adjacent to the car park, we headed to Llanfoist to pick up the NCN46. This was a rail trail that climbed steadily at about 3% up the side of the valley to Brynmawr, though there was a steeper bit at 15% linking two sections of the former railway.  The early part of trail was picturesque, particularly where it was cut into the cliffs giving views across the valley to the Black Mountains. At the end of the rail trail, the cycle path wandered through the suburbs of Brynmawr and Rassau, crisscrossing the Heads of the Valleys Road on bridges.

Read more: Brecon Beacons ride - September 2023

I had wanted to ride over the Gospel Pass, the highest road in Wales, during the summer, but was not able to fit it in. Mick and David volunteered to accompany me, so we left Basingstoke at 7am on a damp and overcast morning and drove to Abergavenny with our bikes on the back. It was quite cool when we unloaded the bikes in the main car park, and with jackets on, we started off on the ride at 9:15. Within a few hundred yards we started the climb up the Old Hereford Road, 10% for a mile - hard going on cold muscles. The gradients eased off and we headed up the single track road up the Vale of Ewyas to the Gospel Pass. The road climbed steadily and at about 5 miles in we saw a pub, the Queen's Head, beside the road and stopped there and had a coffee and very nice cake overlooking the River Honddu and the mountains on either side of the valley.

Read more: Gospel Pass - September 2021

Nine of us travelled down in four cars to Avebury on Tuesday - Graham, Mick, SueP, Paul, David, SueC, Carol, Peter and me. A good journey down but with some light rain as we got closer to Avebury.  The main NT car park was closed for repairs but as we were early, we parked OK in the coach park - the main car opened after we left. It felt a bit cooler as we headed off into Avebury Village past the standing stones and onto a bumpy track beside a field following the NCN403, The Wiltshire North Rivers Route, and then onto tarmac roads and wide gravel tracks. After Yatesbury on the gravel track we could see the Lansdowne Monument, a large obelisk on the top of the Calstone Downs at the edge of Oldbury Castle Hillfort before we had a fast downhill run on the gravel track to Cherhill where we picked up the road again as it looped north. By this time, it had warmed up and the sun was out. The NCN403 then branched off on a gravel cycleway around the former gravel pits and then onto the road into Calne.

Read more: One day Wiltshire Tour - August 2021