Frustration!

I had been looking forward to taking pat in the Phil Hampton memorial ride on Saturday 22nd March but was unable to do so because of other last minute family commitments. I hope those who did take part enjoyed it. The weather was certainly much better than it was last year when I did not take part through choice, because of the wintery weather.

However I did manage a decent solo ride on Thursday 20th March to join the HCMF riders at the White Lion, Wherwell.
Simon was unable to join me as he had an appointment with his dentist so I set off in my own time via the south side of the Itchen through Avington and Easton. Then through King's Worthy to Harestock.

As I crossed the Andover road near Harestock I was passed by a BT Outreach van which tooted me in greeting. It turned into the BT yard nearby and I followed to have a chat with the driver, as I knew it must be my good friend Dave. We exchanged news but Dave had work to do and I had miles to ride so eventually we parted company.

The weather was dry and fair but there was a pretty strong south westerly breeze making it hard work at times particularly just to the west of Crawley.

At the RV I was very pleased to see a very good turnout of riders from the southern part of the county. This RV being much more accessible to them. I had not seen most of them for some time. Of course this meant that apart from Richard, David and Roger there were no riders from the north of the county.

Some of the meadows on the edge of Wherwell were still flooded and the Swans and Ducks seemed to be enjoying the large area of shallow water with bottoms up! I tried to take a picture but discovered my battery was too low.

After good craic and a decent pint of ale I headed off homewards through Sutton Scotney where I visited my cousin Janet and her husband. They moved here last year and I was interested in learning how they have settled into their new home. After the experience of the cold breeze I found the house was nice and cosy with a log fire burning.

My route home from here my route was through Stoke Charity, Micheldever and Micheldever Woods to avoid turning into the breeze along "that road" to King's Worthy. However, for a short while from Northington cross roads to the top of "Mollie's Dismount" I had to contend with it anyway! I still thought it was more fun than the B road through Itchen Abbass.

It was another very successful day out and added 40 miles to my annual target, shame I didn't get to add another 50 on Saturday.

Map & Data for the day

Gridironman.