Chalke & hAAArd Cheese 200
2021

Similar to the popular winter Chalke & Cheese 200 but hAAArder! Head out from Warmley Station along the Bristol to Bath Railway Path, now get ready as the similarity quickly fades. Vaulting over valleys to Frome, then more ups through chalk downs with glimpses of Fovant's Badges to the Chalke Valley; named after a small tributary to the River Ebble emerging at Broad Chalke. After the control you turn back on yourself before continuing up the valley as the winter version did to Shaftesbury first climbing onto Charlton Down, the northern edge of Cranborne Chase; here you may see on the horizon The Needles if a clear day. Leaving the hilltop town behind the Mere thought of #wills_hills may dwindle, briefly, before passing East Somerset Railway, stopping at Cranmore Memorial Hall for CAKE! and more laid on by the Strawberry Line WI. Continuing up and atop The Mendips before descending to Cheddar for some haaard cheese? Then, you guessed it, ascending its mighty Gorge for the final hint of the winter route as you traverse The Mendips to the Chew Valley and on to the Arrivée.

An alternative gravel route utilising the Ox Drove will be available for between Broad Chalke & Win Green.