Dinton Pastures Country Park

It’s really fun to be able to get to places on your own steam right? When I first wanted to get my bike it was originally so I could reduce my car journeys in an effort to be more sustainable.

I told my husband about it and he got really excited and said he used to love his bike and we should start mountain biking together. He did some research and we bought these Trek bikes. The first day we went out on them, after much persuasion I might add, he absolutely hated it and complained the whole time. He turned the wrong way and accidentally had us cycle around the largest lake. He was in a lot of pain by the end! So unsurprisingly he hasn’t been on the bike a lot.

Since then, I’ve made an effort to get myself out on bike rides with friends to help build my confidence. He has been a superhero a couple of times when I’ve had an accident and he’s come to fetch me. It’s not knocked my confidence although I do still avoid riding on roads where I can.

This summer I wanted to push myself to do a bit more and I got the perfect excuse when my cousins got in touch and wanted to meet up as some of my family were visiting from Australia. They suggested a nice nature spot we’d been to before but as I gave up my car since working from home so much, I suggested a country park closer to home. I’ve been there before and cycled round it with Arby but he drove us there. This time I was cycling all the way there and back again!

You cycled here, oh that’s why you were late!

My niece

On the way there I cycled through the village of Shinfield to the pedestrian bridge over the M4 and into Lower Earley. From there I took a cycle path through the middle of the suburb all the way to the cinema. Here I wanted to avoid the gnarly roads leading to the motorway and followed google route planner onto a footpath near the river where I saw bike tracks in the mud.

It wasn’t really great for two wheels, or any for that matter. It was very overgrown and I was getting scratched by nettles and thorns so I slowed down and went by foot. Lucky I did because round the next corner was a fallen tree trunk ready to decapitate anyone coming at speed!

I arrived at the park a little worse for wear but after I picked off the debris I managed to find somewhere to park my bike and we hung out at the kids park and walked by the lakes before feeding the ducks and getting ice creams. It was a really lovely day and the weather was perfect for it.

On the way back I wanted to avoid shedding more blood so I used google maps to pick a new route back home. This time I took the road back through Winnersh, Sindlesham and Arborfield.

It was quite anxiety-enducing for me on country roads but I made it and I was pleased I’d completed my mission taking two different routes and getting back in one piece without any superheroes required.