A Gentle Meander around the Local Lanes

Saturday 23rd November 2013. I feel a bit like Billy no Mates at present. None of my CTC Alresford Groupetta pals was able to join me on my ride this morning.They missed a most interesting ride in the warm winter sunshine. Pity about the North wind which made it feel a little chilly. However, I was well layered up and wore my winter gloves for the first time.

I had no clear plan other than to be home in time for lunch. The bike was pointing west when I junped on, but not wanting to go towards Winchester, I dived down Drovers' Lane and tested myself by taking on Mollie's Dismount. (7.9% gradient). This warmed me up nicely. There had been almost no traffic but near East Stratton I met three cars and was passed by four others. This was the busiest time all day.

The trees vary a lot at the moment. Some leafless, some displaying lovely autumn colours and others still quite green as you will be able to see from this group in Stratton Park.

Ash bare, Beech coloured, Oak still green.

The sun was also making lovely patterns with the light and shade in the woods.

Paterns of light and shade.

I was passed by a truck carrying a load of Christmas trees near the Calvert Centre. They must have just been cut in the plantation near Woodmancott. Arriving in Brown Candover with only just over ten miles covered I decided to loop around through Preston Candover and Wield before heading for home. 

I thought the Shard was in London but I took this picture in Brown Candover!

Hampshire's Shard?

The hill to Upper Wield seemed quite easy, thanks North Wind!

I passed the vinyard on Chalk Hill and turned towards Bighton and here I took the small lane which loops around the farm instead of following the usual road. I rejoined the  normal route at the edge of the village. From here it was an easy ride home where I arrived just in time for lunch and to watch the very exciting Rugby League Semi Final which England lost in the last minutes of the game. 20 - 18. Real rugby to watch later this evening!

Here is the link to my route and data for the day:-

Gentle Lanes

Gridironman.

The Brushmakers Upham Meet of the HCMF

Bad news this week. My good friend Alex has had a spill whilst riding with the WER on Saturday and has fractured his hip. I was not riding myself, as I have been having fun with my two grandsons instead, so know little of the details. I am sure you will all join with me in wishing him a speedy recovery.

My only ride this week was on Thursday when I joined the HCMF meet at the Brushmakers' Arms in Upham. I chose a favourite route  from Alresford through Tichborne, Cheriton and Kilmeston to the top of Beacon Hill, with that nice decent to Corhampton Golf Club to follow. This time I carried on down to Droxford.

In the field on my left a farmer was tilling the land with a cloud of seagulls following him to pick up the worms etc uncovered by the activity.

The scene looking towards Winchester Hill.

From Droxford I headed towards Swanmore past the Alpacca Farm. At the top of the hill I spotted this fantastic display of roses. Not bad for mid November!

November Roses.

The road between Swanmore and Bishop's Waltham was closed for major roadworks but hoping that at least the footpath would be open I took it. My optimism was justified and I was able to get through OK.

As I entered the main street, quite by chance, I encountered Karen and her daughter Jo out for a ride together. I rode with them for a little while up Beeches Hill to Ashton. Soon after I left them to cross the valley to Upham. The NW breeze seemed particularly strong here as I headed directly into it.

Another good turn out of members here. I managed to find a vacant corner and chatted with David while we ate lunch. I then moved to join Janice and Dan who were the sole representatives from North Hants. Don arrived next and the four of us had a very good chat before I decided it was time to get moving again, having been at the pub for over 90 mins.

Outside I found Les feverishly searching his pockets for the key to the lock holding his and Jenny's bikes. I hope he was able to resolve his problem.

The weather had been fine until now but I did feel a few drops of rain as I rode through Longwood Dean. Fortunately the sun was soon out again.

I was home soon after 3 p.m. but already the light was beginning to fade.

For my route map and data go to:

Ride to Upham

Don't believe the average moving speed, I can't understand how Mr Garmin has calculated 4 m.p.h.. I make it a little over 11.1 m.p.h.! 

Another gentle social ride!

Gridironman.

Who's Playing in Whose Backyard!

 Thursday 7th November 

Simon and I decide that a ride to the Tichborne Arms would not test us very much so we decided to go and play in North Hants's backyard. Simon is getting better at plottting courses on Garmin Connect and he had done a good job on this one with only one booboo. More about that later.

We headed up the valley towards Medstead enjoying the relatively mild day and soon after Bighton I stopped to remove my winter jacket. A  number of all terrain vehicles passed us in the lane. looked like transport for the marksmen on a shoot. 

As we passed through the village we met Ray and Diana and shortly afterwards Lesley and Mike, heading towards Tichborne.

We took it steadily down the hill into Beech as the road was wet and there are a lot of manhole covers and other imperfections in the road. As we entered Alton I missed the turn over the hill towards Chawton and we made a minor detour through a housing estate. We popped under the A31 to Jane Austen's House so Simon could check out a route he is planning for the Veteran's Cycling Club.

Back in Alton Simon's Garmin kept telling him to go the wrong way. We soon discovered that Simon had got the 'return home' option enabled and once he had turned this off the instructions were less confusing.

As we neared the crossing over the river Wey we passed Mark Heal who was heading to play in our backyard too.

In Upper Froyle work appears to be in full swing developing the former Treloars School for new homes.

Our wriggly route was also quite hilly and we made slow progress. Simon picked up a flint and had to change a tube and then we had a problem with the course which wanted to take us across fields! It seems for some reason the 'follow roads' option was not working here. We improvised and were soon in Farnham. Here, many drivers seemed to think that cyclists only need a foot or so of road, so we had a number of "Peter Moments".

We found a pub, The Nelson Arms, and we were soon enjoying a pint of Hob Goblin to wash down our delicious Prawn sandwhiches. 

Time was marching on so with the shortening day in mind we soon made tracks over the border into Surrey. We climbed another hill to Rowledge then headed south towards Frensham. We turned for home through Kingsley and Oakhammer and thence to Selborne, (more hills!) Simon suggested a stop for tea, but mindful of the setting sun we agreed it would be better to press on. Between Selborne and Farringdon we saw pheasant shooting going on, looked like the same group we'd seen earlier in the day near Bighton

Just after we had crossed the A32 we met Mark again at the bottom of Brightstone Lane so we paused to exchange experiences of the day. 

Eventually we made it over the hill, through Four Marks. As I descended Swelling Hill I hit a pothole or other obstruction quite hard and I fear that it may have caused a puncture for as I rode the last few miles through Ropley and into Bishop's Sutton my rear tyre felt a bit soft. However thankfully I made it home with a reasonable amount of air in the tyre just before  5 o'clock. 

As we rode into Bishop's Sutton the sky in the west was beautiful, a very deep red with trees outlined against it, however it was so transient that it had gone before I had time to stop and take a picture.

This morning my rear tyre was flat. I have repaired the tube. The puncture seems to have been caused by something with a sharp point, not the bump. We did pass hedge trimming in several places so perhaps I picked up a thorn.

Our Route and Data for the day's Away Play.

Sunday 10th November.
Made the most of the sunshine taking a roundabout route to West Tisted to try and find the hidden church.

I was anxious about my back tyre as I had not found the cause of my flat on Thursday so I opted not to go too far from home. In the end the tyre was fine!

When passing through West Tisted on previous rides I had never seen the Saxon church and decided to find it. It is tucked away behind some trees and bushes with only footpath access. 

This is the view of it from just inside the churchyard.

St Mary Magdalene Church, West Tisted 

A very interesting little recepticle in the wall just as you enter the church. Is it for holy water?

There is also a massive yew tree nearby, another one vying to be the biggest in Hampshire?

It was a lovely day to be out on the bike, warm in the sun but cool in the shade with a small breeze in my face as I rode home.

To see my route for the day go to:

 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/402384856

 Happy Cycling.

Gridironman.

Banishing Monday Morning Blues!

Monday 4th November 2013. 

Took advantage of a lovely sunny morning and headed out towards Swanmore. It was quite cold despite the sun but I soon warmed up climbing up to the top of Beacon Hill & through the village of Kilmeston. The next mile is great fun, a gentle downhill to Corhampton Golf Club where the smell of bacon wafted through the air! Tell me Bill, is that what gets you golfers going?

The road down to Swanmore was a bit tricky. In the sunlight and shadows it was hard to see the rough patches, potholes and leaf litter, so I kept my speed down. 

I still had plenty of time to get home before lunch so I decided to visit the Waltham Chase Bike Shop. A dangerous thing to do when there are sales on. The owner has reduced his 2013 models to try and clear space for the 2014 models. So go and have a look if you are thinking of a new bike. I was very much taken with a Giant Rapid! Perhaps I should put it on my list for Santa. (Note to self: "Beware of the slippery slope of mutiple bikes!")

My route home was the shortest through Bishop's Waltham and up the Beeches Hill past the White Horse which seems to be under major refurbishment.

Near home I rode through Tichborne to the ford to see how the improvement work was progressing. It seems it is just about finished. The entry and exit ramps have been reconcreted and more importantly the footpath/bridge has been greatly improved. Here are a couple of snaps of the ford.

Looking East. Note the wider bridge and tarmacced access.

Looking West.

Barrie's Pedallers/HCMF meet at the Swan, Barton Stacey

What has happened? My weekly mileage has suddenly taken a dip! Only 45  miles  this week after none last week. But I did have a nasty cold and the weather has not been very friendly. Here is my graph of weekly miles todate :-

Notes:

After a slow start where I was constantly behind my target I managed to get ahead a few weeks ago.

1. I have been consistently ahead of last year's actual.
2. I am practically spot on my target line for 3,500 miles in the year but that is assuming I don't continue to slack!

On Thursday 31st Simon and I decided to join the sociable group of Barrie's Pedallers led by David Foster. We left home just on the stroke of 9 and made it to the Stoke Charity Rendezvous in plenty of time. There we joined Caroline, Karen & Bill, Sue Tull, Alan Gwyer and Brenda, a rider I'd not met before. 

David suggested riding to  John Lewis's Farm Shop on the Leckford Estate but he had found out that Sue Reeves was planning taking the Saturday easy ride there. However we all agreed that we did not mind that, so off we set in that direction. 

We headed towards Longparish and the Test Valley but unfortunately David had a flat rear tyre just as we were crossing the bridge over the A303. Simon and Alan both stayed to help him replace the tube while the rest of us carried on. The remainder of the ride to the cafe was uneventful.

The Farm Shop and Cafe are beautifully situated in a very rural area and is very spacious, there are tables and chairs outside too, but the weather was too cold and grey to sit there. 

We enjoyed coffee or tea with a good choice of cakes and scones, not cheap, but very much in line with many other similar cafes.

The other three joined us after about half an hour, it transpired that David had a second flat, possibly due to a faulty valve.

Our journey back towards Stoke Charity which was slightly shorter than our outward one, was via Chilbolton and Newton Stacey. Caroline left us at Fullerton to return home to Whitchurch. 

Simon and I left the group in Barton Stacey, attracted by the Siren Call of the nearby Swan Inn together with the HCMF group who were meeting there. David dropped off near his home too leaving the other five to return to Stoke Charity.

In the Swan we found the usual hardcore of riders together with Alan Burr and his family, others having already departed.

Suitably refreshed we headed home where we arrived at about 4 p.m. having had a most enjoyable social ride. I had particularly enjoyed seeing friends who I'd not seen for a while and making friends with Brenda too.

Thanks David for leading the ride and to all those who took part in making it a very enjoyable day.

Gridironman.