A watery ride to Bishops Waltham

Sun, 23 Feb 2014 

Yesterday I had a plumbing emergency which prevented me from getting out early in the sunshine and after lunch I wanted to watch the Six Nations Rugby so delayed my weekend ride till this afternoon.

The winds were strong so I opted to ride south into the wind so that I would have it behind me on my return leg. The plan had limited success because by the time I turned for home the wind had moderated.

I eschewed my favourite route to Cheriton via Tichborne as I expected that road to be flooded but soon found that I was struggling to make headway against the strong wind. In Cheriton there was only a couple of puddles of surface water but when I got to the A272 I found it was still closed to the east.

A half mile further on I discovered that the Itchen Source was still bubbling away nicely and still flooding the road for a couple of hundred yards, but not deep enough to cause me to turn back.

My time for the section up to Beacon Hill was much slower than usual and at the top I did consider turning back because of-the wind but decided to carry on. I needed to pedal to make a decent speed down the hill, past the Corhampton Golf Club and down to Dundridge. Here deep spring water running across the lane in two places just before the Hampshire Bowman and I got wet feet.

Outside the pub there was a number of people so I enquired what the lane was like to Bishops Waltham and I was told it was closed because of the flooding, so I took the other option which was to climb Damson Hill. This is fairly short but also quite steep (about 9%) but strangely I quite enjoyed the change of challenge even though I was closely followed by a car which could not pass as the lane is so narrow. I managed to let it pass on a corner where the road was wider,

From the top of the hill the road down through Upper Swanmore was sheltered and I was soon through both Swanmore itself and Bishop's Waltham. More flooding in two places at the foot of Beeches Hill where the stream normally crosses under the road, today it was running along and over it. Happily it was not deep enough to wet my feet any more. Once up the hill I made good progress with the wind now behind me though it had moderated somewhat. I was soon past the Milburys and zooming down through Beauworth to Cheriton from whence I retraced my route home.

Not the best ride I've had but it was good to get out and discover what flooding the rising spring waters are still causing. My feet had almost dried by the time I got home and once inside I enjoyed a cuppa whilst watching the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

I am afraid I took no  pictures today, I'm sure everyone is getting bored with pictures of flooded roads and fallen trees!!!

Here are details of my Data and Map for the day:

Gridironman.

Early Spring 50 (Alresford Groupetta Variation)

Sun, 16 Feb 2014 10:15 

I left home soon after 10 a.m. to follow the course of Early Spring 50,  but I started and finished in Alresford. 

There had been some overnight frost and one or two puddles were icy but the roads were fine by this time.

The official start was at the Queen's Head, Fishers' Pond at 9.30 a.m. and I thought that by 10.15 the first riders would be coming through Alresford so I would be able to ride with some of them. My plan worked. Within a few miles I had been caught and passed by about 15 riders. I rode on the wheel of one of them for a while but as soon as we got to Armsworth Hill I could not keep up. 

Twice as I climbed I heard a woodpecker drumming, from different directions. Was it one or two?
Later I heard a green woodpecker calling. Lots of other birds about enjoying the better  weather.

Many cyclists coming the other way. Two very large groups, I estimated about 20 in one and even more in another. Plenty of solo riders and couples too. Along the way there was much evidence of the recent storms with sawn up fragments of trees littering the verges as well as complete trees lying in the woods and fields. Fortunately the roads were largely clear of debris.

More riders came by and I chatted with some, others were intent on putting in a good time and sped past. At Bentworth three riders asked me where the coffee stop was. I told them there was no official stop but they could get coffee at the Lasham Gliding Club. 

From Herriard I made good progress and as I rode into Preston Candover I was caught by Jim and we had a short discussion about the flooding in the Candover Valley. He told me that the amended route had been further amended to avoid the flooding in Brown Candover, but he did not tell me what the amendment was, so when I got to the junction turning down to the village I decided to stick to Sue's first amendment. There was certainly a lot of spring water rushing across and along the road but it was only a few inches deep and by riding on the right hand side of the road I was able to miss a lot of it. A couple of other riders had also decided to follow this route.

I must say that by the time I got to the top of Mollie's Dismount I was tempted to take the short route home which was now only a couple of miles away, but I resisted. In Itchen Stoke I was even nearer only one mile but still I was determined to carry on. 

Caroline's Ford was not much deeper than normal and I rode through it.

There had been many snowdrops along the way and I paused to to admire them and take a breather by the Bush Inn before climbing Gander Down.

The surprisingly normal looking tributary of the Itchen with snowdrop decoration. 

I met up with more riders as I climbed the down. One had had a puncture and his mates were helping by standing by and not interfering, though they did comment it was taking a long time to fix!

The last few miles to the official finish were soon covered and I was greeted by a surprised Sue as I had not entered officially. I took a break, enjoyed a pint of beer and chatted to John and Madge who were recording the finishers' times. 

Eventually I tore myself away, climbed back on the bike and headed for Alresford and home. For me this was the hardest part of the ride as I was getting tired and suffered from the burn in my thighs.

Near Upham I smelt the sweet smell of pig and as I rounded the corner I was greeted by this view of Pig City with one of the residents enjoying the sunshine.

Pig City

Only a few more miles now and I was home in 5 hrs 25 mins,Hmm! Not good enough to beat the standard allowance of 5 hrs. I blame John for chatting and that tasty refreshing pint! But Hey! I did not wimp out and take the much easier way through Alresford missing the Brown Candover floods, the hills from Totford and Abbotstone and the Ford. I covered 52 miles too.

My map for the day:

Thanks Sue, for organizing such an enjoyable ride once again, and of course to your helpers, especially John and Madge who kept me entertained at the Queen's Head.

Gridironman.

HCMF Meet at Warnford

Thursday 13th February 2014.

Because of this extreme weather I had not been out on my bike since Feb 2nd, but today it was dry and sunny so I thought it was time to get some more exercise and add a few miles to my total for the year.

I set off to check out some of the likely problem areas for Sunday's Early Spring 50. First I headed towards Cheriton avoiding my usual Tichborne route as I knew this would be flooded. When I got there I found the Itchen was mainly contained within its banks except for a small area near the new bridge which replaced the one washed away in the last bad floods of 2001 Here for about 40 yards there was a stream of water about 2 ins deep crossing the road. Easily manageable!

More surface water near the junction with the A272. I noticed too that the A272 towards Petersfield was closed to through traffic, so I guess the road was flooded in Bramdean. 

A mile or so further on the Source of the Itchen was discharging copious volumes across the road to a depth of about 6 ins. Surprisingly the river itself was still within its banks.

Most of the water was beautifully clear indicating that it is from springs and not run off. The usually flooded corner in Kilmeston was dry today. I headed over Beacon Hill and down the narrow lane to Exton, taking care to avoid debris in the road. More surface spring water here but not very deep. The main road (A32) to Warnford was drier than it had been 11 days ago.

When I got the the RV, the George & Falcon, I found Angela in the car park in her car and we joined Charles and Frank in the pub. Later we were pleased to welcome Bob who had walked down Beacon Hill to join us. He had in fact spotted me as I rode past him at the car park at the top of the Hill but I had not noticed him. It was good to see him out and about again. Where were all the other members of HCMF?

All too soon it was time to set off for home. I accompanied Charles, circumnavigating a very large puddle, as we headed for Wheeley Down. There was quite a strong breeze in our faces and we made slow progress up the hill and along to The Milbury's. At the top of Lane End Down we parted company with Charles heading for Owslebury while I crossed the A272 and descended Gander Down to Ovington. No problems with flooding here except I noticed just west of the village a significant puddle in the dip. Fortunately I was not going that way. I did however go through the ford, again to check it for Sumday's 50. It was higher than usual but I rode through it with no problem other than getting me feet a little splashed. The footbridge was well clear of the water. 

I was home by 2.30 p.m. just in time for a slice of pizza which my wife was just taking out of the oven.

Here are my route and data for the day.

Gridironman.

Solo ride to Soberton

Only one ride last week and it's not looking good for many this week. 

On Sunday 2nd February I took advantage of the lovely sunny morning and set off for an amble on my own. I headed out of town towards Bishops Sutton as I wanted to see why that road was closed to cars, hoping it was possible to get through on bike. It was. Here is a picture of the reason why it was impassable to motor vehicles.

Road works between Alresford and Bishops Sutton

The underlying reason for the work being to lay electric cables from the electric sub station on the Alresford side of the bridge to connect with the new solar panel arrays on White Hill.

Once I'd satisfied my curiosity I headed for West Meon via Bramdean Common. Taking advantage of the greatly improved weather were many other cyclists. During my ride I must have passed around 70: one large group of around a dozen passed me going in the opposite direction. 

The roads had been clear so far with much evidence of recently cleared fallen trees in many places. On the floor of the Meon valley there was a lot of surface water in the fields, spilling out onto the roads. I took the back roads through the villages of Exton, Carhampton & Meonstoke fording a number of deep puddles before continuing past the old station at Droxford to Soberton. Here I paused for refreshment in a sheltered spot and to bask in the warm sunshine out of the cool breeze. 

My way home was via Swanmore and Bishops Waltham and I was glad of the tail wind as I was beginning to flag a little. I rode a short way behind another cyclist but couldn't hold the wheel for long. The swoop down to Beauworth is great fun and I achieved my top speed of the day here.

Cheriton was free of any surface water but Tichborne made up for that with two flooded areas. One near the entrance to Tichborne House the other just before reaching the A31 bridge over the lane. Here for about 100 metres the road was up to my bottom bracket. (I.E. about a foot deep). It was necessary to keep pedalling so of course my feet and legs were soaked, but, Hey! I was nearly home so what the heck!

Here is a car coming through that flood:

Yep! It's a road not a river.

I was home and in a warm shower within another ten minutes so did not get cold from my wetting.

For the record here is my map for the day:

Gridironman