Another foray into Wiltshire yesterday by Mrs D and myself, to get a handle on the start of the DW at Devizes and up to the point where the practice 'pudding run' started at Pewsey. Then a reprise of the pudding run stops, and finally into unknown Berkshire territory from Aldermaston to Reading’s Dreadnaught Reach, where we hand over the crew to the more experienced help for the remainder of the race.
We used the postcode locations from the DW supporter’s site in the Satnav to get to Honey Street, which is going to be our first meet-up with our crew. On then to Pewsey, and the postcodes worked well, guiding us in without any problems, so that’s going to be the methodology on the day, at least for the start.
We ran through the other stops, up to and including Aldermaston, our Damocles sword from the previous two visits. This time we explored the opposite directions advised by the diversion signs and came easily to the wharf. With any luck, the lack of through traffic should mean reasonably good access and parking on Saturday.
The biggest fly in the ointment looks like being Newbury Wharf. This is not a place that I want to go to on a Bank Holiday Saturday afternoon. The car parks are no easy to find or to get into, or to find a space in. The trouble is that there doesn’t seem to be any nearby alternative in that slot without sending the crew on a long, extended leg without refreshment.
Up to Aldermaston it’s just following the A4 and dropping off right to find the meeting points. Access roads after Aldermaston are also closed but midway to Reading the Sheffield lock at Theale appears to be OK. Locating it was a bit pot-luck as the post code only took us to the general area but we had to use the local visitor centre signs to find the lock.
So, all in all, fingers crossed for Saturday…
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