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Bike rides and Ice Cream
Posted by
Vanda
,
05 May 2011
·
127 views
When I was growing up in Chalford in the 1960’s we had no transport so had to rely on Buses and bikes.
We only had a couple of local shops which supplied small amounts of groceries, a Butchers, and a Post Office. Anything else and we had to go by bus into Stroud and then carry the shopping a long way back to our house. We didn’t have the donkeys, as they do now, to lug the shopping back for us, although when my Gran first lived in Chalford there was a Bakery which used Donkeys for this purpose.
Getting coal for the winter was also a bit of a problem. I can remember the poor coalman, who seemed to take forever bringing the bags of coal down the lanes, staggering under the weight of the coal. When he had finished emptying the coal into the coal house he was a different colour – all covered in coal dust.
I got my first bike when I was about 9 years old and went everywhere on it. When I first got my bike my sister and I used to ride along to The Crown at Frampton Mansell with Mum and Gran following on foot. If it was a nice summer’s evening we called into The Crown and had a bag of Crisps, complete with the little blue bag of salt in it, a bottle of coke and a pickled egg. I seem to remember Mum always had a Pimm’s.
There was never much traffic so we could cycle where ever we wanted to. Often we used to go as far as Sapperton Tunnel and peak into it but never ventured into the tunnel as it didn’t look very safe. Sometimes we would go to Oakridge but would get lost as you came across signs for Far Oakridge, Oakridge Lynch so would turn round and head back home. We did get as far as Cherrington once but it was a long way so we never went there again. Our little legs could not stand the peddling!
We had to be careful with our dog Tinker, as he had a bad habit of jumping into a large fishpond on route to the Crown, and the chap who lived there would come out of his house with a gun and said he would shoot Tinker if he did it again. He would have to go on the lead next time just in case!
Once we got bored with “That neck of the woods” we then turned our attention to going the other way toward Stroud. We cycled along the old canal path and one day came across a huge shoal of trout. There we so many of them that we assumed if we got into the water we could pluck some out for tea! Of course as soon as we leapt into the water they all disappeared. Tinker had a good time though.
On another occasion, we came across a couple of very aggressive swans sitting on a nest. As soon as we approached them they left the nest and headed towards us flapping their wings and hissing. Didn’t we run!
After that we thought that we would go up Hyde Hill onto the common. It was a bit of a struggle getting up the hill, my bike had no gears, but was a breeze coming back down. There was a cave half way up the hill where all the local boys used to go, I went in there once but it was scary for a 10 year old so soon left and plodded up to the common. We used to go to the Fair at Minchinhampton when we got into our teens, mainly to get after the boys.
My favourite ride was to go across the common to get an Ice Cream from Winstones.
The only problem was “Which flavour to choose?” There were so many flavours to choose from, it was very difficult. Winstones is still a favourite of mine today.
We also used to walk there when we were a lot younger and I believe that when my Mum was a child she used to walk there with my Gran and Grampy.
It is surprising how far we used to walk/cycle in our childhood days compared to what we do today. It’s far easier to jump into the car but I think that today’s kids miss out on so much. Yes we did fall off our bikes, land in ant’s nests, came across adder’s nests, play with asbestos, sailed down the canal on rafts made out of old oil drums and asbestos sheet but we are all still alive. Shame that today the kids are wrapped in cotton wool.
We only had a couple of local shops which supplied small amounts of groceries, a Butchers, and a Post Office. Anything else and we had to go by bus into Stroud and then carry the shopping a long way back to our house. We didn’t have the donkeys, as they do now, to lug the shopping back for us, although when my Gran first lived in Chalford there was a Bakery which used Donkeys for this purpose.
Getting coal for the winter was also a bit of a problem. I can remember the poor coalman, who seemed to take forever bringing the bags of coal down the lanes, staggering under the weight of the coal. When he had finished emptying the coal into the coal house he was a different colour – all covered in coal dust.
I got my first bike when I was about 9 years old and went everywhere on it. When I first got my bike my sister and I used to ride along to The Crown at Frampton Mansell with Mum and Gran following on foot. If it was a nice summer’s evening we called into The Crown and had a bag of Crisps, complete with the little blue bag of salt in it, a bottle of coke and a pickled egg. I seem to remember Mum always had a Pimm’s.
There was never much traffic so we could cycle where ever we wanted to. Often we used to go as far as Sapperton Tunnel and peak into it but never ventured into the tunnel as it didn’t look very safe. Sometimes we would go to Oakridge but would get lost as you came across signs for Far Oakridge, Oakridge Lynch so would turn round and head back home. We did get as far as Cherrington once but it was a long way so we never went there again. Our little legs could not stand the peddling!
We had to be careful with our dog Tinker, as he had a bad habit of jumping into a large fishpond on route to the Crown, and the chap who lived there would come out of his house with a gun and said he would shoot Tinker if he did it again. He would have to go on the lead next time just in case!
Once we got bored with “That neck of the woods” we then turned our attention to going the other way toward Stroud. We cycled along the old canal path and one day came across a huge shoal of trout. There we so many of them that we assumed if we got into the water we could pluck some out for tea! Of course as soon as we leapt into the water they all disappeared. Tinker had a good time though.
On another occasion, we came across a couple of very aggressive swans sitting on a nest. As soon as we approached them they left the nest and headed towards us flapping their wings and hissing. Didn’t we run!
After that we thought that we would go up Hyde Hill onto the common. It was a bit of a struggle getting up the hill, my bike had no gears, but was a breeze coming back down. There was a cave half way up the hill where all the local boys used to go, I went in there once but it was scary for a 10 year old so soon left and plodded up to the common. We used to go to the Fair at Minchinhampton when we got into our teens, mainly to get after the boys.
My favourite ride was to go across the common to get an Ice Cream from Winstones.
The only problem was “Which flavour to choose?” There were so many flavours to choose from, it was very difficult. Winstones is still a favourite of mine today.
We also used to walk there when we were a lot younger and I believe that when my Mum was a child she used to walk there with my Gran and Grampy.
It is surprising how far we used to walk/cycle in our childhood days compared to what we do today. It’s far easier to jump into the car but I think that today’s kids miss out on so much. Yes we did fall off our bikes, land in ant’s nests, came across adder’s nests, play with asbestos, sailed down the canal on rafts made out of old oil drums and asbestos sheet but we are all still alive. Shame that today the kids are wrapped in cotton wool.
