W.I.R to Hannington & Deane Churches,

Saturday 17th August 2013.

My only ride this week was a very interesting one led by John Spiers. I rode into Headborne Worthy where I joined Jenny while we waited for the peleton. With John were Claire, Alex and new riders Helen and Richard.

We followed the now familiar route along Springvale and over the hill to Stoke Charity. We sped along making exceptional time. I was later to realise this was partly due to the strong SW breeze.

It was good to talk to Helen as we rode hearing about her previous cycling experiences and to meet with Claire again.

We were at Popham Airfield soon after 10.30. Alex suggested that the clubroom might not be open as we were so early! While we were enjoying coffee and most of the riders were tucking into bacon sarnies we were joined by Caroline and Ian from Whitchurch. I had a chat with the airfield manager about some surplus T shirts and agreed to return with my car next Tuesday to take some away for the charities for whom I work as a volunteer.

We took the shortest route from there to Hannington pausing briefly near Ashe church to locate the source of the River Test. A small spring in the middle of a field feeding a small lake.

After climbing the hill to Hannington, (I was Laterne Rouge once more), we regrouped before going into the church to admire the two superb etched glass windows. To quote John "They are wonderful, Whistler followed the Tudor tradition of engraving with a diamond tipped stylus - find the sheepdog facing down the flock in the Downland scene",.  but it was impossible to get a photo that would do them justice. I did however take this one of the traditional stained glass eastern window.

Richard left us before we called at the Vyne Public House for lunch, half an hour early to our scheduled time of one o'clock.. While we were eating there was a heavy shower followed by more intermittent rain which we braved to set out on our return journey. We were accompanied by the sound of the Church bells being rung by guest bellringers.

Fortunately we all had some form of protection though some riders wished they had more. Some of the lanes were well sheltered by trees and high hedges so we did not get too wet before we arrived at Deane church, our next interesting stop. As we took the short side road to the church we passed this impressive home.

Deane church which was built in 1818 is one of the earliest buildings to be built from code stone, a form of reconstituted concrete. The door was locked but we only had to wait a short while before a lady arrived by arrangement with a key and we were able to go inside. We were permitted to climb the narrow stairs into the ringing chamber situated below the 8 bells where John told us more about the art and complexity of bell ringing.

We were now on the home stretch and we soon were in Micheldever where I said farwell to my companions. I decided to return home via East Stratton and along the ridge by Northington Woods. 

One farmer had not only combined his field but had also baled the straw and created this impressive stack.

After climbing the steep pitch from the cross roads in bottom gear I realised how strong the breeze was. I had changed up several times as the slope eased, only to discover as I crested the hill that I needed to change down again to cope with the breeze. As a friend said recently in similar conditions I felt that if I stopped pedalling I would go backwards!

Down Mollie's dismount I achieved my best speed of the day at over 30 mph and was home soon after five o'clock just in time to see, much to my disappointment, Surrey beat Hampshire in the T20 semi final.

Despite the rain it had been a most enjoyable day out. Thanks John for such an interesting, well planned and executed ride.

Here is a map of my route. (Very similar to my ride to Hannington by a variation of the route a couple of months ago in very hot weather)

Gridironman.