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.