After the Sublime the Cor Blimey! HCMF ride to The Sun, Bentworth & A Circuit of Four Marks & Candover Valley

Thursday 16th October 2014.

Busy messing about early on so was not ready when Simon called to join me for the ride to the HCMF meet. I had forgotten to reinforce Sporty's damaged tyre from the puncture last week . Of course Simon was very helpful finishing putting the tyre back on while I got changed into cycle gear.

We took a loop through the Candover Valley and past Bradley to the Sun Inn in Bentworth. A nice gentle ride compared to our manic dash last Sunday. 

At the pub we found many of the usual riders including David, Richard and groups from both Fleet and Alton. It was good to hear about the experiences of Janice, Dan and others on the Gridiron. It seems that they must have been tracking just behind us all day.

We had a bad experience with the beer which tasted sour but the bar maid replaced our pints with a different brand which tasted much better. The food was very tasty I'm pleased to say.

With rain threatening we did not linger long and as we set off for home we did encounter some very light showers. This influenced our homeward route, hence the relatively low mileage for the day.

The worst thing that happened was when I got home I discovered my Garmin record had been corrupted and I had to re-plot the route by hand. Fortunately the overall mileage and time recorded were correct.

Map and Data for the Day.

Sunday 19th October 2014.
Simon and I had planned to ride together on Saturday but with other matters intervening together with the wet start to the day we changed our minds.

Fortunately I was able to fit in a ride on Sunday instead.
Jean's little House Elf had been busy in the morning with a little light shopping and cooking lunch so had some free time in the afternoon.
I planned to ride to Bishop's Waltham and had just reached Beauworth when my phone rang. It was a minor emergency at home so I returned to sort out the problem. Once done I decided to take a different route and headed out to the East via Ropley to Four Marks.
From here I climbed to Medstead, the highest point of the day, and thence through Lower Wield and Bradley to the Candover valley.
The weather was absolutely beautiful and it was so warm I was wearing less than I'd done on many days in the summer.
Here is a view from Lower Wield, not much sign of autumn  looks more like high summer!

View looking northwards from Lower Wield,  

I was amused by this sign spotted in Bradley.

No Comment!

It was such a lovely day I had to take a few more pictures including a selfie. (a first for me).

The lovely Spire of Preston Candover Church.

Me!

One for Isabel.

The wind was quite strong and as I paused to take the sheep picture I was passed by another cyclist from North Waltham. I upped my pace to catch up with him and followed in his wind shadow for a mile or so before coming alongside to chat with him. He was riding a very smart mountain bike but was pedaling at about twice my rate to keep the heavy tyres turning. So glad I have now got Posh!

He left me at the Woolpack in Totford to climb the hill whilst I continued to Swarraton where I attacked that hill to Abbotstone Common with gusto determined to set a new PB. I managed to do so. Only 17 secs quicker but still a good result!

My route and data for the day

Just 55 miles covered in the week, but a different kind of enjoyment to last week's.


Best Wishes to you all,

Gridironman.