The Hills of Brill

When a day of sunshine comes along, it would be rude not to make best use of it. Especially after all the rain we have been having across the country.

So I cleaned up my bike (got a bit muddy after the abandoned trip on the Banbury Route from Woodstock last weekend), and headed off towards Brill.

This village is on top of quite a steep hill. In fact it is so high compared to the surrounding area, that they built a windmill on the top.

I have done this trip before (one way) on the way to Aylesbury, but this time I wanted to make Brill the destination and come back a different route to Kidlington.

Mostly on low-traffic roads, it's quite a nice ride with lovely views across the fields, especially when you get higher up. Also it helps a lot if there is some sun...

Starting off via the old town of Kidlington, I passed through the fields behind St Mary's Church which were still flooded. Cycling through nearly a foot of water made the start of this trip a bit difficult, but on the plus side, did clean off the rest of the mud from my bike.

The route took me through Islip, Oddington, Charlton-on-Otmoor, Murcott, Boarstall and finally on to Brill.

The hills are also a bit deceptive one must say. The route takes you around the side of the climb and you think you're going steadily up, only to find the road dips down again. Then you start a bit of a climb to a main road. Once on here you realise it's a very long steady climb, testing your endurance.

Getting to the end of this stretch of road you see the actual climb in front of you. Not giving up, you gather your remaining strength and put it all into the pedals on your lowest gear to labour up this hill.

As you round the bend hoping for the final flat, the road suddenly goes near vertical just to make sure you didn't think you had beaten it. Succeed here, and you will be greeted with an amazing view from the windmill, and a pub a stone throw's away.

Of course, it would have been good to know that the pub stops serving food on a Saturday at 2pm, and arriving at 2.30pm means you are going to go hungry.

Brill doesn't seem to have any sort of cafe. One pub, one gastro-pub, and a newsagents is all I could find. When asking locals they looked bewildered, possibly wondering what this new type of establishment could possibly be.

So a hungry biker decided to follow his (different) route home and hope one of the villages he passes through would have somewhere that could give him a much needed energy boost.

Brill doesn't let go that easily though, and some steep downhills followed by a couple of steep uphilss, I was finally out of the clutches of this town.

Unfortunately nobody told the route planner that. The route back wasn't quite so scenic. Passing through the county prison at Bullingdon reminded me a bit of Florence, Arizona but with live grass.

Eventually, after leaving MoD land and turning shortly after Blackthorn, I found a post office in Ambrosden that also had some sandwiches and drinks. After an "Full English Breakfast" sandwich, I was ready for the rest of the journey back.

Passing through Merton, there were signs for a real ale festival this very day. I did consider it, but still with a few miles to go I thought better not risk it. Next time...

Through Islip and it was a home straight back to Kidlington where I could finally hang my shoes up and rest.