The weather was dominated by the smog which was not too bad here, but did give the views a distinctly Turneresque look and a little metallic taste on the tongue. The sun did break through at times and it was quite warm.
We headed out of Alresford via one of my more favourite routes, the long but gentle climb up Gander Down. From home to the top of Lane End Down is over 5 miles, most of it uphill! The next few miles to Owslebury is now well surfaced and we made the most of the gentle down slope to improve our average speed. I had suggested to Simon that we should take a loop through Fair Oak so we crossed the B2177 and took Stroudwood Lane southwards. We caught and passed another couple of cyclists as we neared Fair Oak.
Next we explored a couple of minor streets in the town to avoid the traffic lights on the main road and turned west through Bishopstoke. We used the cycle path for a short way but it soon disappeared, nothing unusual about that in the UK!
We soon were into the centre of Bishopstoke and turned north up the 7% hill past St Mary's Church. At the top we passed a sign 'Road Closed' assuming we would be able to squeeze past any obstruction.
We were soon proved wrong, the road was totally closed even for pedestrians with a tall metal fence, but not wanting to turn back, with the encouragement of two local residents, we took to a faint path through the roadside woods and across a pasture to join the road about 100 metres past the workers who were resurfacing a part of the road.
In Colden Common we came across these two very attractive flowering trees:
When we arrived at the pub we found the nucleus of the southern riders already well ensconced in the smoking area. (Not that they are smokers!)
We ordered our lunch and then joined them. Soon a lot more riders appeared, including Mollie, Mary and Brian who I'd not seen for ages, It was great to see them all.
In Shawford it seemed colder, probably because there was less sunshine now and I began to feel chilly so suggested to Simon we should get going again.
We decided not to return through Winchester but to go back over the hills with a variation of our outward route, so we went up Hazeley Lane to Morestead. Once over the peak we zoomed down the A272 to Cheriton and then through Tichborne to our homes.
A very social and enjoyable day out.
Saturday 5th April. Simon rang to say he had decided not to join me for a ride, so with the promise of a fish and chip lunch with Jean, followed by three Heineken Rugby matches and the threat of all day drizzle I chickened out of the Winchester CTC ride. I had a rather sore hand too from weed pulling on Friday so that was another excuse!
Plenty of time to catch up with the miles as the longer days and warmer weather come.
Gridironman.
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