Thursday 27th August 2015
Alresford Groupetta Wickham Circuit.
A final spin for Pink Pal before her epic ride on LEJOG. Three of us gentlemen (she is "not sure about that") escorted her round the lanes. Well the three of us tried to keep up with her! I am confident that she will do well as she seems to be in top form.
The day was quite cool and grey but we only had a couple of spots of rain. The roads showed many signs of the recent rains being still very wet in places and were strewn with gravel on a lot of dips and corners.
As we sped down the hill towards Cheriton we caught up with Dave Pullinger and we all rode together for a short while before he zoomed off on his own.
We made good time to the top of Beacon Hill and needed to remove our top layers. The reward for the climbing being a long downhill stretch into Droxford. We explored a variation of the route we did last time we went to Lilly's. In avoiding one hill I found a different one to climb and we also had the picturesque one through the Bere Forest before arriving at Lilly's
We arrived just too soon for lunch and too late for breakfast, so we just had tea/coffee with cake. Well after all we are all CTC trained!
It spotted with rain as we left Wickham, but it was not enough to spoil the day. We went via Swanmore to Bishop's Waltham.
The return home was a more direct route up the Beeches Hill through Ashton. PP leading us along the Salt Way and at high speed down to the A272. We split on the B3046 with Simon and Andrew staying on the road while PP and I wended our way through Tichborne. We were home in time for a late lunch.
Thanks to my three companions for another good ride.
We arrived just too soon for lunch and too late for breakfast, so we just had tea/coffee with cake. Well after all we are all CTC trained!
It spotted with rain as we left Wickham, but it was not enough to spoil the day. We went via Swanmore to Bishop's Waltham.
The return home was a more direct route up the Beeches Hill through Ashton. PP leading us along the Salt Way and at high speed down to the A272. We split on the B3046 with Simon and Andrew staying on the road while PP and I wended our way through Tichborne. We were home in time for a late lunch.
Thanks to my three companions for another good ride.
Saturday 29th August 2015.
Simon's Magical Mystery Tour
Simon had planned an interesting and adventurous ride into Berkshire for lunch at the Crown & Garter near Inkpen. I had helped him refine the route as the first one took us through the grounds of Highclere Castle and in one place along a bridle path. After some further problems with uploading the route to our Garmin devices we both had the route in place.
We met at the end of New Farm Road and rode into Winchester to join 8 other Winchester CTC riders. Mary was trying out her new Rose lightweight bike, Susan was riding a fresh bike and Maggie was trying hard to get fit for her sponsored ride. Two riders I'd not met before were riding single speed bikes. Wow !
John Spiers came to see us off, actually I think he came to see if he could get a leader for next week's easy all day ride. I have since volunteered to do it.
John Spiers came to see us off, actually I think he came to see if he could get a leader for next week's easy all day ride. I have since volunteered to do it.
We took an unusual route over Christmas Hill to Sutton Scotney before rejoining the more familiar route to Longparish where we made a small diversion from the route to the Plough Pub to collect Alan S. and David G. Alan was riding for his first long ride using clipless pedals.
We positively zoomed along the Bourne Valley, I was riding tail gunner to ensure no one was left behind, but I think I would have been last anyway with the speed the rest were going! This phenomenon seemed to continue all day!
Having helped Simon with his research for a cafe I lead the group the last half mile to the Tea Cosy.
To see their excellent cakes visit their FB page at:
The-Tea-Cosy-Hurstbourne-Tarrant
My map of the route to the Tea Cosy.
Note the relatively easy profile and my fast average speed of 12.8 mph. Those who were doubtful of their abilities to keep up must have been even faster!
It took a little while for everyone to be served but we still had plenty of time to get to the lunch stop near Inkpen.
I reset my Garmin to show the route too, but made the mistake of leaving the scrolling option on. This meant that I could only see the route intermittently. This was to have a profound effect later on when we were riding unfamiliar lanes.
Simon had plotted an excellent alternative climb of the Downs avoiding the very steep climb of Walbury Hill from Combe by taking the longer but gentler route through Faccombe. I spotted a red kite and we enjoyed great views from the crest of the Downs at over 940 feet before plunging down into Hell Corner in Inkpen where we found our lunch destination.
The beer was good and the food from the Bakery was excellent. Shame we were rather bothered by the wasps who seemed to be very interested in the chutney in the Waterloo Sandwich. I missed out on the pasties and made do with a large sausage roll. David found his two rounds of ham sandwich to be too much, so I helped him out with half of one.
We were now on unfamiliar ground and Simon's Garmin seemed as confused as we were. I was able to get glimpses of the route from mine and with that and the frequent use of a map which I had for once remembered to bring we eventually navigated our way back onto the route near Highclere Castle, onto the A343. We left that for a short way to avoid some of the traffic, but had to use it to climb back over the Downs to Crux Easton. We were on the homeward fast run downhill down with just a couple of modest hills to conquer. Unfortunately the lane was strewn with grit and gravel and potholes so care was needed. Fortunately no one punctured! It had started to rain a little now and several riders put on waterproofs.
In Whitchurch Alan stopped off to feed his son's cat and David also left us. I was suffering from a tickle in my throat and tried to get a sweet to suck from my tube top bag. In doing so I dropped the sweet bag, as I stopped to recover it a car ran over it! By the time I got going again the others had disappeared. Further fdrustration on Micheldever Road as a large car passed me and then immediately had to stop to allow another oncoming car to pass a parked car. Of course the others waited for me at the next junction. I think Simon was just getting a little worried as I rejoined them.
I struggled a bit over the next mile or two, having trouble keeping up again as my wonky knee was giving me gyp , but after a stop at the junction with the A30 I took the lead and set a fast pace of nearly 20 mph along it.
Only "That road" to deal with now from Stoke Charity to Kings Worthy. As Ken said, the problem with it is it is straight and undulating just when we are all getting tired.
I left three ladies at the top of the hill down into Springvale as they paused to recover before the last few miles into Winchester. The other six were waiting near the King Charles but I decideed to just give them a farewell wave as I sped by trying to maintain my momentum to climb Loveland Lane and to get home before the rain became heavier. It did so about 15 mins after I got home.
Simon being made of sterner stuff lead the group back into Winchester and I think just managed to beat the rain too.
Our day can be summed up by the comment of Julie and Paul, who wrote in an email:
Dear Simon and BryceWe positively zoomed along the Bourne Valley, I was riding tail gunner to ensure no one was left behind, but I think I would have been last anyway with the speed the rest were going! This phenomenon seemed to continue all day!
Having helped Simon with his research for a cafe I lead the group the last half mile to the Tea Cosy.
To see their excellent cakes visit their FB page at:
The-Tea-Cosy-Hurstbourne-Tarrant
My map of the route to the Tea Cosy.
Note the relatively easy profile and my fast average speed of 12.8 mph. Those who were doubtful of their abilities to keep up must have been even faster!
It took a little while for everyone to be served but we still had plenty of time to get to the lunch stop near Inkpen.
I reset my Garmin to show the route too, but made the mistake of leaving the scrolling option on. This meant that I could only see the route intermittently. This was to have a profound effect later on when we were riding unfamiliar lanes.
Simon had plotted an excellent alternative climb of the Downs avoiding the very steep climb of Walbury Hill from Combe by taking the longer but gentler route through Faccombe. I spotted a red kite and we enjoyed great views from the crest of the Downs at over 940 feet before plunging down into Hell Corner in Inkpen where we found our lunch destination.
 |
| The Crown & Garter. |
The beer was good and the food from the Bakery was excellent. Shame we were rather bothered by the wasps who seemed to be very interested in the chutney in the Waterloo Sandwich. I missed out on the pasties and made do with a large sausage roll. David found his two rounds of ham sandwich to be too much, so I helped him out with half of one.
We were now on unfamiliar ground and Simon's Garmin seemed as confused as we were. I was able to get glimpses of the route from mine and with that and the frequent use of a map which I had for once remembered to bring we eventually navigated our way back onto the route near Highclere Castle, onto the A343. We left that for a short way to avoid some of the traffic, but had to use it to climb back over the Downs to Crux Easton. We were on the homeward fast run downhill down with just a couple of modest hills to conquer. Unfortunately the lane was strewn with grit and gravel and potholes so care was needed. Fortunately no one punctured! It had started to rain a little now and several riders put on waterproofs.
In Whitchurch Alan stopped off to feed his son's cat and David also left us. I was suffering from a tickle in my throat and tried to get a sweet to suck from my tube top bag. In doing so I dropped the sweet bag, as I stopped to recover it a car ran over it! By the time I got going again the others had disappeared. Further fdrustration on Micheldever Road as a large car passed me and then immediately had to stop to allow another oncoming car to pass a parked car. Of course the others waited for me at the next junction. I think Simon was just getting a little worried as I rejoined them.
I struggled a bit over the next mile or two, having trouble keeping up again as my wonky knee was giving me gyp , but after a stop at the junction with the A30 I took the lead and set a fast pace of nearly 20 mph along it.
Only "That road" to deal with now from Stoke Charity to Kings Worthy. As Ken said, the problem with it is it is straight and undulating just when we are all getting tired.
Simon being made of sterner stuff lead the group back into Winchester and I think just managed to beat the rain too.
Our day can be summed up by the comment of Julie and Paul, who wrote in an email:
Thank you very much for leading a most enjoyable mystery tour today! It was a very interesting route with outstanding views. Both the refreshment stops were new to us and very pleasant.
Kind regards
Paul and Julie
Thanks to all who took part in making it a day to remember. One lesson learnt by me is to turn off the scrolling display when trying to follow a route. I was scared to try to do so en route in case I lost it altogether.
For anyone interested in looking at the Garmin routes in more detail here is a link to My Garmin records.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/881391129
Gridironman.
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