Bluebells at the start of summer

Five of us headed off in search of bluebells, taking advantage of a preceding dry spell to get onto tracks.

Wet roads to start with, but drying in the breeze and occasional sunshine.  We went out by Sandridgebury Lane, then took the bridleway that goes across Heartwood Forest to Ayres End Lane.  Plenty of bluebells here, visible from the track.  And, it must be summer already, because we saw swallows!  A bit further on, a kestrel hovered. The reason these write-ups tend to turn from ‘ride report’ into nature notes is that going slowly, as we do, we can easily catch sight of flora and fauna, and stop to admire or investigate.  Across East Common and then down Cross Lane into Southdown for coffee at Jay’s.

Our return route was straightforwardly on-road to start with, back out Grove Road and then Pipers Lane and up Ayres End Lane, then down to Nomansland, gorse in flower.  We then headed onto Nomansland itself (cycling on paths is permitted) to join the recently enhanced track parallel to the B Road to get to Sandridge.  We chose to return to the start point via Jersey Lane (pictured), Oaklands and the Alban Way.  The whole loop was just shy of fourteen miles.