Hill no 71 - 25 Coombe Gibbet

So, on a mission, I headed out to find Streatley Hill and Coombe Gibbet. Unfortunately my map reading skills and my distance estimating skills combined with my working out how long it is going to take me to get there skills meant that I seriously underestimated the length of time that it was going to take me to get to Coombe Gibbet (although I drove up Streatley!) and therefore I only had time to do that hill.

A little bit of confusion as to where the climb actually was (it is hard to navigate yourself and drive sometimes!) But Simon said that the climb started by a ruined farm building and this certainly ticked the box!
In a rush, I put all my kit on, leapt out the car (having parked by said ruined farm building) and headed up the climb.

Apologies for the rather blurry photo - at the end of the climb, I drove up the hill and took photos - so they aren't of the best quality. I really need to take some taking photos on the move lessons - it was also dark so not the best time of day to be taking photos - especially on a blackberry!

The hill itself was (dare I say it), probably not the most memorable, or the toughest. Relatively short, it isn't offensively difficult, although I'm sure my video probably makes it look pretty hard! I plugged up it as soon as I could (at this stage, I hadn't given up hope of getting back to Streatley) and paused to drink in the views at the top - there was a lovely tribute to the RAF here.

The sun started to set rapidly and I hopped on the bike and incredibly foolishly didn't go back down the hill I had just ridden up - rather I rode down the other side and went in a big loop back to the car. It was a lovely ride with a beautiful view, but gave me the fear that I'd forget where the car was and took longer (again!) than I thought it would!

Both my Garmin and Youtube has the whole loop on it - the hill is just the first 5 minutes!
Garmin Data here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/133842283
Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100hillsforgeorge/sets/72157628735343013/
Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G86d7IexRQ&feature=g-upl&context=G26c2629AUAAAAAAAAAA