Half Dry, Half Wet!

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? I guess I am the former for on Thursday 19th September despite the weather forecast of rain at one o'clock onwards I persuaded Simon to join me to ride to the HCMF meet at The Crown, King's Somborne.

Simon thought we ought to follow our Alresford Groupetta guiding principles and find an interesting route rather than follow the obvious one. We headed South. I forgot to click start on my Garmin 200 and after about 2 miles as we neared Cheriton Mill it reminded me by switching off with a beep.

Our ride was highlighted by counting the HCMF meet locations that we passed en route. Simon had already passed the Alresford Cricketers. First on our joint ride was the Tichborne Arms (2). Next was the Milburys (3).

We were pleased to see that some decent repairs had been made to the road on the hill up to the pub.

Our next pub to tick was the Brushmakers in Upham (4). From here we headed through Fair Oak, Bishopstoke and Eastleigh. I had forgotten where the best cycle routes are through here  so we stuck to the roads and were soon out into the country once more heading past North Baddesley Church and then into Ampfield. We were very close to the White Horse, so we'll count that as number 5. We passed Hillier's Arboretum and dropped down into the Test Valley. We cycled along the cycle path passing The Malt House, Timsbury and The Bear and Ragged Staff, Michelmersh. (6 & 7)

We avoided riding on the main road by taking the country route through Mottisfont and Houghton. Just before Houghton it started to rain, 12.50 p.m., forecast very accurate!, so we popped on our rain jackets.

We passed another RV, the John o' Gaunt  (8) and arrived at The Crown, King's Somborne (9) just on 1 p.m.

We were disappointed to see that only about a dozen riders were there but we did have some enjoyable and animated conversations.

Simon treated me to lunch as I had rather carelessly (?) forgotten my wallet! It will be my treat next time Simon.

We delayed resuming our ride as long as possible but eventfully decided we should go despite the rain. Once again we had to overcome "lunch legs" which we did quite quickly and made good time up the gentle hill to Crawley. That little hill up from the duck pond always challenges me and this time was no exception, by the time I got to the top Simon was 200 metres ahead. He kindly moderated his pace so I could catch up and we rode in close company for the remaining ten miles home. En route we passed the Cart & Horses (10).

We got home by around 4 o'clock, about three hours earlier than last week's effort but of course we had done 26 miles less!

Here is our map for the day.

The map of our ride. 


Saturday 21st September.

The Alresford Groupetta, (Sarah, Paddy and I), rode to join the Winchester CTC  intermediate ride led by Graham. Near to the Goodlife in Headborne Worthy we found Jenny and soon after we arrived Graham appeared with six other riders. 

The first part of our ride was a very familiar one through Stoke Charity, Hunton, across the A30 and under the A303 to Whitchurch. Unfortunately new rider Matthew suffered a puncture and ever helpful John Spiers stopped to help him while the rest of us continued to H's for coffee and cakes. It transpired that the cause of the flat was a large flint and John repaired the tube for Matthew.

Outside H's we were accosted by a man with a large and soppy Newfoundland dog, Yogi. It turned out to be our friend Ian in mufti!

While we were enjoying coffee Alan Gwyer appeared having ridden from Basingstoke and a while afterwards John and Matthew caught up with us. 

Paddy and Matthew left us to return home as they both had other matters to attend to after lunch. It was then agreed that 8 of us should continue to Crux Easton and Armansworth while John and Alan should follow. 

The road to Crux Easton climbs gently over several miles so it is not too tough and we all made good time. In fact the group remained compact throughout the day. We paused at Crux Easton to admire the Wind Engine before crossing the busy A343 to Ashmansworth reputed to be the highest village in Hampshire. The official record for the highest point in the village is 791 feet, my Garmin recorded 784. 

The Wind machine at Crux Easton.

The Guardian of the Green at Ashmansworth.
(Picture taken by me  in the spring, he is rather shaggier now and needs a trim.)

The next few miles were a joy, DOWNHILL! and we were soon across the A343 once more and into the village of Stoke where we took a tiny back lane that I'd not ridden before and so into St. Mary Bourne. 

The George was our lunch stop and we enjoyed some good pub food at reasonable prices. We were still some time ahead of John and Alan but when they did arrive after we'd eaten they agreed to our leaving them behind to enjoy their lunch.

There was some discussion about the final part of the route and in the end it was decided that we should split into two groups when we got to Barton Stacey; Graham taking the planned route with Ken, Big Dave and Simon while I led Sarah, Lynne and Jenny back to King's Worthy via Norton, Hunton and Stoke Charity. 

Near the King Charles pub Sarah and I continued up Loveland Lane to return home to Alresford while Jenny and Lynne went down Springvale.

Once more it was a most enjoyable day out with good friends and a big thank you must go to Graham for his very good preparation and timing despite the set backs.

Our thanks must also go to John for looking after Matthew and being prepared to ride home alone after Alan left him.

Here is my map and data for the day:

My Route and data for the day.

Anyone wanting the detailed interactive map can find it here: WER Intermediate ride to St. Mary Bourne.

Gridironman.