DIARY –
VISIT TO JAMIE SNOWDEN’S FOLLY HOUSE STABLES
TO SEE OUR REWARD AND PRIDE OF PEMBERLEY
SATURDAY 12 AUGUST 2017
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Pride
Of Pemberley is hosed down having
returned from the gallops |
Pride
Of Pemberley poses for photographs; but he wasn’t
keen to stand still! |
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Our Reward poses for photographs |
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Useful Links: EPDS’ website: EPDS on twitter: https://twitter.com/EPDS_Racing EPDS on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EPDSRacingSyndicate Jamie Snowden Racing: http://www.jamiesnowdenracing.co.uk/ |
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This would be my third stable visit of the
summer, having already attended a visit to Robin Dickin’s
Warwickshire yard, and Noel Williams’ yard in Oxfordshire; although I’d
missed the planned opportunity to visit Graeme McPherson’s
yard having picked up a stomach bug virus the previous day. Anyway, having checked back through my diaries to
see what time I needed to leave home in order to arrive at Jamie Snowdon’s
yard by 10:00 at the latest, I decided to set my alarm for 06:00 with the aim
of leaving home at around 08:15.
According to Googlemaps, on a Saturday
morning the journey should take 1 hour and 30 minutes, the distance being 79
miles; most of this is driven via two motorways – the M25 and M4. It takes around the same amount of time to
get to Noel’s yard, being 70 miles away, but the latter stages of my favoured
route to Blewbury are driven across country. After having a shower, including washing and
drying my hair, I applied my make-up and ate a breakfast of two croissants
and two slices of plain white toast too.
I was ready and left home on the dot of 08:15 as hoped; according to
the clock in my car that is. My outfit today was a purple M&S vest, mauve
(being a lighter shade of purple) Wallis gypsy-style top, bright purple
fleece, electric blue jeggings, and brown M & S
Footglove ankle boots; I’ll soon need a replacement
pair, as these brown ones are nearing the end of their life because I work to
and from work in them on a very regular basis. I also took my black M & S snow-boots,
just in case, plus my moccasins, should I want to change into them for the
drive home. The coat I chose was my
light blue BHS raincoat. I was still
using my capacious black and white graphics-pattern Kipling handbag for
stable visits. My route took me around the ring-road and down to
the London Colney roundabout. I then headed down the dual carriageway to
a further roundabout, before driving across a bridge over the M25 and turning
right at yet another roundabout. I
headed a short distance along Bell Lane and took the right hand fork at a
final roundabout; this is the slip-road onto the motorway. Arsenal FC’s football training ground is
situated along Bell Lane, just a little bit further on. Having joined the motorway, I headed along the
anti-clockwise carriageway to junction 15; traffic was running smoothly all
the way and I followed Newmarket trainer Michael Bell’s pale blue horsebox
for a while, between Junctions 20 and 18, Kings Langley to Chorleywood,
before overtaking it. Michael is ITV
racing presenter Oli Bell’s uncle
and he trained this year’s Ascot Gold Cup winner, Big Orange. He’s even got a personalised number plate
on his horsebox, well almost … he’s got two middle names according to the
signage on the horsebox but, of course, only three initials can be used in
the plate format. A glimpse in the
daily paper informs me that Michael’s Graceland was competing at Ascot today,
taking part in the Shergar Cup. I found myself stuck behind a slow-moving
people-carrier on the approach to the M4 slip-road, hoping that it would turn
towards London, rather than westwards like me, upon reaching said
junction. However, instead of doing
either of these, the driver suddenly realised they were in the wrong lane and
subsequently moved out to continue upon the M25! Oh well, there’s always one … if not more! Having been ‘hampered’
by the people-carrier, I ended up following a lorry along the slip-road onto
the westbound carriageway of the M4; a vehicle which I’d earlier
overtaken. I continued westwards along
said motorway; today I noticed the battlements of Windsor Castle peeping
above the tree line as I drove over the bridge at the Langley turning. It’s much harder to see in summer, when the
trees are full of leaf. I continued
west, slowing briefly on the stretch just prior to Junction 10, Reading East;
this was a result of the continuing road-works on the A329(M)
slip-road and a safety limit of 50mph was in place. Further on, a driver nearly missed his
turning at the Reading Central junction, pulling quickly from the outside
lane to the inside lane before exiting at this point. The road-works which have recently been taking
place on the motorway beyond Junction 12, Reading West, appeared to have been
suspended, as there was no 50mph restriction beyond this point … or at least
I didn’t see any warning signs and the people speeding along in the outside
lane obviously didn’t notice anything either!
Later on, there was a warning notice about the inside lane being
closed; this appeared to be the result of a minor accident having occurred,
but the vehicles involved had already pulled onto the hard-shoulder. I have a recollection that there were cones
along the perimeter of the motorway at this point so, presumably, the
road-works aren’t completed yet. Having reached Junction 14, for Hungerford, I
exited the motorway, turning right at the roundabout beneath it in order to
head a short distance along the A338 Wantage Road
before turning left. I headed through
Woodlands St Mary and Lambourn Woodlands before
turning right and heading down the steep hill into Lambourn;
I’d now entered the Valley of the Racehorse. At the bottom of the hill, just before the main
street, I turned left and headed past Windsor House stables, home of Harry Dunlop
and formerly the yard of Nicky Henderson, before I turned right at the
T-junction and left at the next one. I
drove a short distance along the B4000 before being held up briefly, behind a
tractor, as we waited for a racehorse and rider to pass by on the other side
of the road. I pulled into the car park adjacent to the
cricket ground at 09:45; 90 minutes pillar to post as expected. A couple of the regular yard attendees were
parked up already, I have since discovered the lady’s name is Wendy. I waved hello before parking facing the
field and getting out of my car; I put on my raincoat, although I’d probably
not need it today. It was
intermittently sunny, although not as warm as would be expected for mid-August.
There had been a slight suggestion of a spit spot of rain as I was nearing
the end of my motorway journey, but certainly nothing to worry about. Wendy and her partner decided that they’d go park
in the driveway of Folly House instead, in order to be one of the vehicles
which would drive to the gallops; they did offer to take me to the house
also, but it’s just a short walk away, the driveway to the stable yard being
opposite the car park. Mind you, I did
ask them not to run me over en route! Thus I crossed the road and headed up the driveway
to the yard itself; a member of staff said good morning to me as I neared the
entrance to stabling area. I continued across the gravel and through the gate
in order to reach the house; I went inside.
There weren’t too many in attendance today, far fewer than during last
August’s packed visit when around 30 EPDS Racing
members had turned up. But maybe that
is because Jamie only has two of their syndicate horses currently; with one
of them, Our Reward, on the side-lines due to a suspensory
injury and thus unable to go to the gallops. Jamie Snowden was in the kitchen to welcome
visitors, his wife Lucy too. He
greeted the majority of lady visitors with a kiss on each cheek, including
me. J Tea, coffee and biscuits were on offer, I
passed on these, including the Custard Creams and the Bourbon biscuits. I never partake in the refreshments because
I’ve got to the stage where I can’t go too many hours before needing to spend
a penny; although, of course, there was a loo available within the
house. I’d drunk half a cup of tea
just before I left home, and had taken a bottle of water with me too. The trainer’s two pointer dogs also enjoyed
being fussed over by their visitors; one is named Alder I recall. It was soon time to head outside to see a number
of the horses being led out of their stables ahead of Jamie legging up the
lads and lasses. They included a grey 3-year-old named Cloud
Hopper, the chestnut Kapgarde King, Fine Jewellery,
Hogan’s Height, Shockingtimes, Dr Waluigi, Kalahari Queen and, of course, Pride Of Pemberley. There
was another one, which I think may have been Adrrastos
… but it’s always difficult to identify horses which don’t have any white
distinguishing markings! Pride Of Pemberley seemed surprised to see us, and he shied away
on a couple of occasions as he walked by.
Kalahari Queen is young and highly strung too, so she wasn’t mounted
until the horses set off from the yard. Jamie said he’d missed a demonstration of the new
automated training machine, which is based at Kingswood Stud in Lambourn; John Francome had
attended and, not surprisingly, wasn’t impressed. John reckons that in a few years’ time
someone will come up with a bright new idea … how about riding the
horses? The new system is supposed to
be solely for use with youngsters which are still developing and, as such,
may benefit from not having to carry the weight of a rider during their
initial training. If you’ve not already seen the ‘machine’ on the internet: http://www.kingwoodstud.com/kurt-systems/ With the number of attendees being fewer than
usual, only four or five vehicles were needed to transport everyone to the Mandown gallops.
Unfortunately, today, I wasn’t quite quick enough to get a lift in
Jamie’s 4x4.
However, there was a spare space in the car driven Wendy’s partner, so
that was me sorted, fortunately. I
wouldn’t fancy my chances of surviving the trip to the gallops in my little
Fiesta. We headed out onto the main road, turning left as
we did so. One car joined the convoy
via the driveway leading out of the yard.
We had to wait for a set of temporary traffic lights to change to
green; they were situated just a short distance along the road, at the
junction with the lane which leads to Uplands; that’s Warren Greatrex’s yard. We continued past Charlie Mann’s yard, also that
of Michael Blanshard, Mark Usher and Stan Moore,
before taking a turning to the right and driving past Jamie Osborne’s main
yard too. At the subsequent t-junction
we turned left, then took the first right into Maddle
Road. Having turned the next corner,
Jamie stopped his vehicle outside the yard where the water treadmill is
based. The other vehicles all followed
suit. Currently undergoing treatment was one of Jamie’s
horses named Havisham. The 5-year-old was formerly trained by
Andrew Balding and had been off the racecourse since finishing last in Royal
Ascot’s Queen Alexandra Stakes last year.
He’d suffered a serious injury to a hind-leg tendon since that time,
hence the period spent on the water treadmill; previously a talented horse,
Jamie was hopeful the horse would make it back to the track. Although he did mention that injuries to
hind-leg tendons are less responsive to treatment; and I understand in this
instance it wasn’t the result of a strain.
Just before we got back into the vehicles, Jamie’s string came
by. Shockingtimes
was ahead of the others; Jamie said the horse likes to do his own thing. He’s quirky. Having got back into the vehicles, we set off
past Ed Walker’s yard and then passed by Jamie’s string before heading up the
hill to the top of the Mandown gallop. The horses would have continued along Maddle Road before heading up the hill towards us. Shockingtimes
headed up first, alone. Shockingtimes
has been on the sidelines since January 2016 and Jamie explained that he is a
very difficult horse to win with; he has to be ‘delivered’ on the line.
Once, in a chase at Stratford, he had been left with a 4-length lead
when a Dan Skelton runner had fallen at the last but failed to hang on
despite the short run-in at that particular track. Fine Jewellery came up the gallops next,
accompanied by the one which was, possibly, Adrrastos. Kapgarde King
followed these, with Cloud Hopper next, then Pride Of Pemberley
at the canter; he’s not yet in fast work after his summer holiday. Jamie mentioned that he was pleased with
the latter’s low head carriage, because it meant the horse was looking where
he was going. He said the EPDS horse
also possessed the ability to change legs easily, which meant he’d also be
able to measure his fences well. There was a suggestion at this point that perhaps
a mid-week visit would be arranged by EPDS, so that we can see Pride Of Pemberley schooling over a number of hurdles on the
training ground. Although I don’t
fancy my chances of reaching Lambourn via the M25
and M4 during a weekday rush-hour! The final group consisted of Hogan’s Height, Dr Waluigi and Kalahari Queen; the latter is young and
inexperienced and she had a good look at our group as she sailed by. All bar Kalahari Queen headed back down to
the beginning of the gallop, via the adjacent track; the filly returned to
the yard instead. Jamie also spoke about one of his recent
acquisitions, namely Dr Waluigi; he came from the
Irish point-to-point field but, having been bought and trained in Ireland
following a win in that sphere, he failed to live up to expectations and
eventually ended up at the sales and was purchased by Jamie. His trainer is hopeful that he will fulfil
some of the early promise, as the horses which ran and were placed during his
winning point-to-point have all won since.
He’s a heavy topped horse, carrying weight around his middle … a bit
like me in fact! Today he was ridden
by ex-jockey Rodney Farrant, who’d won the 1997
Queen Mother Champion Chase aboard Martha’s Son. The remaining horses having completed their
second run up the gallop, they too headed back to the yard. The horses kept to the left-hand side of
the track so that our vehicles could accompany them briefly and we were able
to take photos as we did so. We
stopped briefly, a little further down, whilst the tail-enders of the string
continued down the hill before entering a track to our left. The vehicles now continued down the hill to
Maddle Road.
Heading in the opposite direction was a lone racehorse and rider … I
recognised him, I believe … it was Grand National winning jockey, now
trainer, Ben De Haan; as we passed he thanked us
for slowly down. Having subsequently reached Maddle
Road, we turned left and retraced our route back to the B4000. The convoy turned left at the T-junction to
head back towards Lambourn village. We encountered the temporary traffic lights
once more; someone later suggested that our vehicles had driven through on a
red signal, with both directions being red.
I would have presumed that it was triple-phased and showing green for
any traffic exiting the side-turning from the direction of Uplands. Having entered the driveway to Folly House via
the electric gates and parked up, it was then time for a tour of the
yard. It began in the upper yard, the
first horse being Fact Of The Matter who currently occupied the end,
dual-aspect box. Next to him was Capsy De Mee, then the mare Buche De Noel.
Lord Topper, Scorpion Sid, Between The Waters and the filly Oscar Star
lived in the next run of boxes. Next
to them was Socks – on loan from AP McCoy apparently – he’s currently Harry
Snowden’s pony; Jamie’s middle child. Another child’s pony, a mare named Bindy, occupied the box next to him and she belongs to
Jamie’s daughter Lettie, also Harry and youngest
son Arthur. The next few boxes were
empty, so everyone headed around the corner and through the gate into the
main yard; I was lagging behind slightly, because I was taking photos of each
horse … and pony. Midnight Chill was
visited next, then Filemon, before we headed
through the archway into the rear yard.
Starting from the left-hand corner, the mare
Midnight Silver occupied the first box and next to her was Double
Treasure. We then saw Our Three Sons, Havisham who had now returned from the water treadmill
and, next to him was the grey Right Enough.
The latter, a 12-year-old, is now the family’s hunter following
injury. The boxes adjacent to the barn where occupied by
Grange Ranger and the filly Flow From Devon respectively. We entered the aforementioned barn and saw
Lunar Flow and Monbeg Theatre in boxes to the left,
with Future Gilded and Lostnfound on the right;
there were one or two more, but I didn’t get to them before everyone headed
back out again and returned through the archway once more. One of the horses from the barn had been
saddled and his/her work-rider led them through behind us. Blue Bullet occupied the box immediately to the
left, and Pride Of Pemberley was being hosed down
by the corner box. We headed across to
see Three Ways and Dr Waluigi. At this point Rodney Farrant
came over the say goodbye to his boss; Jamie told everyone about the
ex-jockey’s high-profile win in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. We subsequently headed around to the final
run of boxes, heading towards Folly House; currently housed here were the
fillies Queens Cloak and Presenting Pearl.
Kalahari Queen occupied the next box, then Dans
Le Vent, EPDS Racing’s Our Reward (aka Rodders) and
Cloud Hopper. That was the end of the tour, so Jamie asked for
Pride Of Pemberley to be led out so that we could
take photos, etc. If any fault can be
found in his confirmation, Jamie described the chestnut as being slightly long
in the body, and his shoulders a little straight. The latter will result in him striking the
ground harder with his front legs than some, so ground with the description
of soft within would be the most suitable.
Richard Johnson rode him in his first race, a bumper at Ffos Las, and said that Colin or Pop as he is known, is a
galloping and staying type and the jockey wished he’d rode him with more
intent because, at the end of the race, he’d had difficulty in pulling him
up! Pride Of Pemberley
isn’t a fan of standing still, so it took a little time for Jamie to get him
to pose for photos. With Colin now led
back to his stable on the far side of the main yard, it was Our Reward’s turn
to be shown off to his visitors; as mentioned earlier, the horse was currently
on the sidelines due to a suspensory injury. Unlike Colin, who will be a winter horse,
Our Reward is a spring and autumn-ground horse. Amongst the questions asked by the visitors, was
which horse would Jamie like to train if he could choose any in racing? That’s easy he said,
it had to be Altior. Of the horses which he does train, he
thought Dans Le Vent had the best chance of being a
Cheltenham Festival horse having finished 6th in last season’s Champion
Bumper. He’s also looking forward to Pride
Of Pemberley commencing his hurdling career,
probably over 2½ miles, before moving up to 3 miles. He’s hopeful too, that Midnight Chill will
prove to be one of his stars. John told everyone that Wildehearted
Woman (aka Wilma) is progressing well, following her career-ending
injury. She currently lives in a yard
quite close to Junction 12 of the M4, along with Menace and others; one or
two of the southern-based horses spend their summer holidays there too. Wilma is very gentle and has made friends
with John’s 2-year-old son Alfie; she whickers when
he arrives at the yard and loves to be fed carrots too. Thoroughbreds are wonderful creatures, so
intelligent and versatile, with many very gentle too; they know how to behave
around children. John wishes for a Mount Nelson-sired horse; the
horse used to stand at the Newsells Park Stud, but
was sold to the Broadsmill Stud in County Meath in
Ireland … making it more expensive to send a mare to him, if that is what he
has in mind. EPDS currently has three
brood mares, or prospective brood mares – Shilpa
(by Medicean), Money Maid (by Blueprint) and Wilma
(by Oscar). I understand that both Shilpa and Money Maid are currently in foal. Oh no, I’ve just discovered that the injury which
ended Shilpa’s career occurred during the Southwell race in March 2013, in which Our Phylli Vera fell and re-broke Choc’s
right arm; her injury happened when she was hampered by this incident
although she did complete the race in last place. A couple of visitors had parked their cars so as
to obstruct the sawdust heap, so they were asked to move them, so that the
yard staff could continue their daily tasks! With Our Reward returned to his stable, and after
everyone having individually thanked Jamie for his time and hospitality, he
helped his wife Lucy unload shopping items from her car; she had returned
following a trip to the supermarket with their three children. I headed out of the yard, via the far driveway
which exited the main road opposite the cricket-ground car park. En route I caught up with a couple of other
visitors, who asked me how long I’d been a member of an EPDS syndicate –
since February 2015; they had recently joined or were thinking of
joining. Having reached the car park
we chatted for a while, about horse racing, before saying farewell. It was 12:50 by the time I headed out onto the
B4000; I turned left to head back into Lambourn
village, having waited for a lady cyclist to pass by. I had no particular plans regarding my
homeward route; in fact I had experienced a number of dilemmas regarding it! I have developed aversions to driving through Watlington (Oxfordshire), also exiting onto the main
through-road at Stadhampton (Oxfordshire), and
getting stuck in traffic on the northbound carriageway of the A34 or the
clockwise carriageway of the M25! I’m
becoming a total wuss in my old age! I also don’t like joining the eastbound
carriageway of the M40 at Junction 4 from the south, preferring to venture
instead through Bourne End, Wooburn Green and
Beaconsfield; although I’m not the only person who has expressed a dislike
for the road layout above Junction 4, I recall that even my friend Mark
wasn’t keen on it! In the end, I continued through Lambourn village, rather than heading back up the hill
via my incoming route. Besides, I don’t particularly like the almost blind
exit beyond Windsor House stables where I would have needed to turn right had
I chosen that particular way. Instead, the road narrows to almost single lane
traffic for a few metres as it enters the village and I continued straight
ahead passing the high street to my right, and the road which runs past Oaksey House to my left.
This meant I was soon heading through Eastbury
and East Garston; the River Lambourn meanders
through both villages, crossing from one side of the lane to another and then
back again. At one point, a green
wheelie bin had been placed in the lane, quite close to the verge; it
appeared that someone had been trimming the hedge opposite their cottage! Further along, on my side of the road, a long
line of cars were parked on the lane outside their owners’ respective houses;
fortunately I was able to drive past these without meeting any traffic coming
in the opposite direction. I’m not
totally unfamiliar with this section of my route to Great Shefford,
as it’s the lane which I travel down, in the opposite direction, when
visiting Nicky Henderson’s yard at the start of the Lambourn
Open Day. However, at the far end, I turned left and headed
across a bridge over the River Lambourn; I’d now
entered unfamiliar territory, having never driven along this section of the
A338 before. Being situated either
side of the river the village of Great Shefford is
located at the bottom of a valley; in fact the extension of the Valley of the
Racehorse. I was now heading in the
direction of Wantage. There is a Murco
petrol station situated to the right-hand side of the road then, further
along, a sign directed people to the village shop located down a road to the
left. The residential area on this
side of the river appeared newer than the housing to the south of it. I continued along the road, which began to rise,
and rise, and rise, as it travelled over the downs. During this uphill drive, I noticed a
National Welfare Animal Trust centre to the left of the road. The speed limit was 50 mph but, being
unfamiliar with this road, I was travelling slightly slower than that most of
the time; this resulted in handful of vehicles queuing up behind me. Besides, there were two or three corners
too, with signs warning drivers to slow down.
However, I did have time to glimpse a number of birds of prey as they
soared in the sky overhead; red kites. As they say, what goes up must come down, and
this was indeed the case as the A338 approached Wantage. Although marked on the map with an arrow
which denotes a steep hill, it didn’t prove to be too bad, apart from a
number of cyclists which I had to pass as I headed down into the town. There are traffic lights just prior to the
main street and I had to wait for the lights to change to green. However whilst I was waiting, a couple of the
aforementioned cyclists decided to bypass these lights by riding along the
pavement; as a result they almost ran into a group of people who came around
a blind corner and this included a lady pushing a pram. As you can imagine, the pedestrians were
not amused; stupid cyclists. Once the lights had changed to green, I continued
ahead for a few metres, before turning right; a signpost denoted the road as
‘All routes’. I’d driven along this
section of my route before, last October, also on my way back from Jamie’s
yard. The road bears around to the
left, before reaching a roundabout where I turned right. I negotiated a second roundabout almost
immediately, where I continued straight ahead. Further along there were two more
mini-roundabouts, again a staggered junction, and I remained on the A417
Reading Road.
The villages to the south of the road include
East and West Lockinge, also East and West Hendred. This is retired trainer Henrietta Knight’s
territory, as she lives on a farm in West Lockinge. She had been writing a book to be released
in March 2018 - The Jumping Game: How Trainers Work and What Makes Them
Tick. That sounds of interest to me,
so I pre-ordered it on Amazon. Further along and close to the turning to East Hendred, a fairly large housing development is springing
up to the north side of this A-road.
Many houses appear to be under construction in the Oxfordshire area; I
recall more being built close to the A34, near Chilton. Shortly afterwards, I reached the
roundabout within Rowstock where I turned left,
hopeful that there wouldn’t be any traffic congestion problems on the A34 as
there had been the previous Saturday.
Having negotiated traffic lights where the B4017
exits to the left to head into Abingdon, I continued down the hill to the
following set; these are situated at the entry point to the roundabout below
the A34. Fortunately there was no sign
of the slow moving traffic which I’d seen when returning from Noel Williams’
yard so, once the lights had turned to green, I turned left to head up the
slip-road and onto the aforementioned dual carriageway. For geeks like me, it transpires that the A3400,
a small section of which I drove along in Warwickshire on my journey to Robin
Dickin’s yard, is the re-numbered extension of the
A34 and it runs to Birmingham and onwards to Manchester too; the A34 begins
in Winchester in Hampshire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A34_road The viewpoint upon the A34 which I’d experienced
on my journey back from Lambourn in April, is
obviously further south than the Didcot
junction. That would make perfect
sense, as the road passes over the downs between the M4 and the A4130
turning, so it must be where the escarpment ends and the road plunges down
into the Thames Valley. Also, having
driven down the hill into Wantage, upon the A338
which runs parallel to the A34, it now seems rather obvious as to the view’s
location! And I’ve found it, on Googlemaps
... close to the West Ilsley junction: I continued along the northbound carriage,
heading in the direction of Bicester. The first period of slow moving traffic was
encountered just before the link where the southern Oxford ring-road heads
off to the east. The movement also
slowed further on, when the A420 road merged from the left; that’s the road
from Swindon. After that it was almost
plain sailing as far as the M40 junction; when it did slow down at one point
on this upper section of the A34, I decided to move into the outside lane so
as not to get trapped when the inside queue was directed onto the northbound
carriageway of the M40. I wanted to
head straight across in order to travel along a short stretch of the A41 to
reach Bicester.
I stayed in the outside lane on this section of
the road, because I needed to turn right at the far end. However, when I reached the next
roundabout, it was almost gridlock. A
large lorry, which had been travelling in the inside lane, decided to cut me
up on said roundabout; there was also an issue with someone actually backing
out of a road lane beyond said roundabout, in order to take a different
route. The problem with Bicester,
during busy traffic periods, is that its housing estates have expanded
greatly, there’s also traffic trying to reach the Shopping Village and, now,
a large Tesco store has also been built at the south-east corner of the main
traffic island. Which idiot planned
this? With the large lorry now in front of me, I
couldn’t see far ahead. Also, I’ve
only driven in from this direction maybe a couple of times since the road
layout was changed. As a result, I
ended up turning into Tesco’s! What a
twit! However, I styled it out by
driving to the first roundabout, just outside the entrance to their car park,
and doing a 360 degree turn around it before heading back out towards the A41
again; I turned right when the traffic lights turned to green, in order to
continue on my intended route. Because of the traffic holdups, a lady was
actually trying to direct the traffic; although you could sense she was
fed-up with a number of drivers ignoring her instructions. As a result, these selfish drivers were blocking
what should have been a clear route through the centre of the roundabout,
controlled at intervals by traffic lights.
Fortunately I managed to drive through a gap in the oncoming traffic
without an issue once the lights had turned to green, but in my rear view
mirror I could see that the large lorry which had been to my inside had got
stuck due to lack of space. Phew; it was fingers crossed that the remainder
of my journey would go smoothly from here on in. I also made a mental note to avoid Bicester during the early hours of a Saturday
afternoon! Also, it hadn’t been that
much easier heading in from the other direction when I’d returned from the
visit to Robin Dickin’s yard in early July! Free of the traffic snarl-up, I continued along
the A41 Bicester bypass, and remained upon this
route having negotiated the roundabout at the far end thereof. Road-works were still being carried out a
little further along, near the turnings to Ambrosden
and Thame.
Despite having driven along here just a few weeks ago I noticed, for
the first time, that a factory or warehouse building was under construction
to the north of the road. Bicester is certainly mushrooming at the present
time. I remember, in the olden days,
when the main road still passed through the centre of the town! Anyway, I continued on the A41, slowing down to
50mph just before the railway bridge as directed by the road-signs; four
side-roads join at this point. I
speeded up to 65mph along the next stretch; it’s an old Roman road, thus
straight by design and I had almost caught up with the two cars in front of
me by the time we reached the short stretch of dual carriageway just before
Kingswood. However, knowing how short this overtaking
opportunity is, I chose not to overtake, unlike the vehicle in front of
me. There’s a 40 mph speed limit
through this hamlet; a speed camera also. I carried on to the roundabout at
the entrance to a rural-based industrial estate; there was now a horsebox at
the head of the line of traffic and it made progress slow around this traffic
island. Further on, the car in front of me decided to
turn left in order to head to Quainton; whereas I
remained on the A41 and soon afterwards headed up the hill into Waddesdon. Having
travelled through the village at the prescribed 30mph speed limit, I
continued onwards to Aylesbury; the horsebox having turned off to the left in
order to head along the road to Oving and Whitchurch; I have ancestors who used to live in that
area! I headed into Aylesbury, negotiating a
number of roundabouts en route, before turning left at one of these in order
to continue around their northern ring-road.
There are a couple of speed cameras around said ring-road, so one has
to be careful to remain within the 30mph speed limit. Having arrived at a T-junction, I turned
left to continue upon the A41 once more.
I was now heading towards the start of the A41 bypass road; there were
ongoing road-works along this section of my route, due to intended traffic
lights being installed at the junction with the road to Weston Turville. Having reached the bypass I sped along it, within
reason of course, conscious that my return journey was taking an excessive
amount of time. The only hold up was
on the approach to the Hemel Hempstead turning, where a slow moving purple
car held me up; I didn’t want to overtake it because I was due to exit the
carriageway imminently. As it turned
out, the purple car had the same route in mind. I had to wait for a number of vehicles to pass by
before I could head down the hill and into Two Waters Road, before continuing
to the Magic Roundabout. I turned
right, then left, then right again.
However, the car to my outside decided to cut me up by swinging wide
into my lane, as I entered the dual carriageway which headed out of
town. Markings on the road, at the Magic Roundabout,
clearly instruct traffic that it can go straight ahead or turn right at this
point. I always remain in the
left-hand lane, despite turning right, because it allows additional time to
make the manoeuvre as traffic coming from the right is heading down the hill
and might be travelling slightly above the speed limit at this point. In other words, it buys me time. Anyway, I continued up the hill, past another
speed camera, 40mph being the limit. A
car in front moved in, then out of the inside lane on the approach to the
roundabout outside Jarman Retail Park. Meanwhile I headed along the roundabout
bypass slip-road to reach the roundabout beyond it. Following that, I had to wait slightly
longer than usual to move into the outside lane due to weight of traffic;
after heading past yet another speed camera, I turned right at the roundabout
where Maylands Avenue leads off to the left. I thus headed through Leverstock
Green, beyond which I was careful to remain with the speed limits as there
are two cameras along the roadway before it passes over the M1. I then headed under a bridge; this now
carries the downgraded A414, it used to be the M10. I continued to a roundabout on the
outskirts of St Albans. I had to wait
for almost a dozen vehicles to head out of King Harry Lane before I was able
to follow them down Bluehouse Hill; the remains of
a Roman Amphitheatre are situated to the right of the road, and I observed a
number of visitors heading to and fro close to the pedestrian crossing at
this point. At the next roundabout I continued straight ahead
in order to enter Batchwood Drive. Further along I passed Smiley SID and he
did just that. I passed a couple of
cyclists too, prior to reaching a set of traffic lights. It came as no surprise that these cyclists
jumped the queue and, once the lights had changed to green, I had to overtake
them again once I was in Beech Road; having to do this always annoys me. I continued around the ring-road, passing another
Smiley SID en route; he smiled too. I
arrived home at 15:20. My neighbour
was just backing out of her drive as pulled up, so I waved and waited for her
to head off before I turned into mine. It had taken me 2 hours and 30 minutes to
complete my homebound journey. I know
I like driving through the countryside but that is just plain ridiculous when
compared to my outbound journey of 90 minutes! |
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PHOTOS – Visit to Folly House Stables in Lambourn (Index) |
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