Squall like no other and Fallen Trees.

A very exciting and scary end to my week riding back from Lasham Garden Centre on Saturday 25th January. I had been for a ride with the Alton CTC to Dummer and we had tea at the Avenue Garden Centre. As I left the wind had greatly increased in strength and was making it hard work as I pedalled back to the junction to Lasham Village, but this was nothing to what I experienced as I turned the corner. I had to pedal hard to go downhill and almost came to a stop in one gust. It was a litle more sheltered in the valley but as I climbed past the industrial estate at the edge of Lasham the strength intensified. Tremendous noise of banging and crashing coming from the yard as anything loose was blown about. I was showered with broken twigs and had to avoid some serious debris. As I passed a gap in the hedge I was almost blown off Sporty. I sheltered in the lee of a large beech hedge for a while hoping the wind would abate and took the opportunity to phone Jean to tell her I might be late home. I was quite frightened by the strength of the wind (gale force 9?) and did consider abandoning and asking my daughter to come and fetch me in the car, but decided to carry on. A large branch crashed to the road about thirty yards away. (I had taken care not to stop under large trees). I set off again and found the going a little easier in the valley between Lasham and Bentworth. At the top of the hill a car passed me and stopped to allow two men to jump out and remove a large broken branch from the road.

Good Samaritans Clearing Up.

As I rode I kept a sharp eye on the trees beside the road and noticed they were less agitated and concluded it was safe to continue. Half way between  Bentworth and Wield, riding along a road we'd ridden earlier in the day, I came up behind a reversing car. As I rode past the driver said rather crossly "Can't you see there's a fallen tree across the road!" I said "Yes!" and continued. 

The Offending Fallen Tree.

I was able to scramble over the base of it and lug my bike over. I met two more cars shortly after and told them to turn back. The wind had dropped now to a fairly modest breeze but the power of the earlier squall was made evident between Lower and Upper Wield where I had to negotiate another 5 large fallen trees and many smaller ones which had blown down across the road. 

Three of the many fallen trees.

As you can see it was getting dark by now but thankfully the worst was over and I only had a few more partial road blockages to deal with. Near Armsworth I paused to consult with a farmer driving a Land Rover coming the other way and we exchanged details of the blockages ahead. Eventually I arrived home in the dark around 5.30 p.m. Good job I'd taken my lights!

Earlier we had met in sunshine in Alton and 19 of us had set off in two groups. Eight in the fast group led by Frank and eleven in the slower one led by Malcolm.

The Riders at the Start.

 Naturally I was in the latter. Malcolm took us out of the town through a park and along a way I'd not been before. We then rode along the main road towards Odiham for about a mile before turning up a very steep hill towards Shalden. I ran out of puff and had to walk for about 100 yards. 

Here is my map for the day from which you can see we had a very interesting if somewhat tortuous route to Dummer.

Map and Data for the Day.

 We encountered this large puddle near Lower Wield.

Puddle near Lower Wield

As we neared Dummer Malcolm suggested an alternative off road route into the village which several riders took. I said I would prefer to stick to the road and we split into two groups. We arrived in the village near the church almost at the same time, but soon afterwards Richard had a flat tyre. (Was it a puncture picked up on the off road route?)

Malcolm suggested that instead of us all waiting while the puncture was fixed some should continue to the the Garden centre for tea. Three of us did but the others were not far behind.

Many thanks malcolm for a very enjoyable if rather hilly ride and also to Janice for the pictures of the riders at the CC and en route.

Earlier in the week on Thursday 23rd January, I had had a much gentler ride to the HCMF meet at the Hoddington Arms in Upton Grey.

When I got there at 12.20 p.m. much to my surprise there was not a single bike outside. Had I made a mistake? Was the meet elsewhere? Just as I was trying to phone home to find out Roger appeared, shortly followed by seven riders from Fleet. 

Inside we found Angela who had come to join us by car. So in the end a merry little band somewhat smaller than usual with no one from Alton, or South Hampshire apart from Angela and me.

Looking back it was all somewhat mundane compared with Saturday's day out!

For the record here is my map and data:

Gridironman.