Christmas Holiday Rides

Wednesday 23rd December 2015. Coffee with Mollie - Lunch at The Half Moon & Spreadeagle.

It was time to catch up with one of my many cycling friends who I hadn't seen for a while, Mollie. Unfortunately she has not been able to ride recently because of fitness issues following a cycling accident.  It was such a nice day that I had no hesitation in deciding to ride to see her. I was made very welcome and we had a good old natter over coffee.

When it was time to leave I decided to find a longer way home than the oft travelled B3047. I had no clear plan but ambled in the general direction of Micheldever. Here I popped into the pub to see if my CTC ride on Saturday would be welcome here. I was assured that we would be, but that they would not be serving food. 

While I was there I decided to have a light lunch, a baked potato with a coronation chicken filling and a glass of beer.

The weather was very mild and there was some sunshine so I enjoyed an easy meander homewards. However I did not extend my ride any further as I had a phone call from a friend warning me that my email contacts had been phished. When I got home I was able to sort out the problem very efficiently with my ISP. Anyone who was concerned that I was stranded in Cyprus without money can now relax as I have not been there for many years!

I was lucky enough to have a red kite to swoop right over me on the way, the colours in the sunshine were brilliant.

Boxing Day 26th December 2015, a special Saturday CTC ride.

To allow riders to recover from their Christmas Day excesses our planned ride did not start until 11 a.m. This also gave folk living outside Winchester plenty of time to ride to the start.

When I arrived with five minutes to spare I found Simon had beaten me to it from Alresford and also present were Karen & Bill and Jo. Fortunately I allowed a few minutes grace and Ken joined us a few minutes after 11.  After some discussion it was agreed that out of my three options The Flower Pots at Cheriton would be the best destination. It was very windy and there was a lot of debris on the roads, especially where hedge trimming had been taking place, so we needed to take care

Simon left us near Tichborne as he had family commitments, leaving five of us to enjoy a festive drink in the Pots.

Afterwards to accompany Karen & Bill for part of their way home we rode south through Beauworth. Unfortunately an impatient driver here tried to squeeze past Jo and hit her with his door mirror. He did stop. Luckily there was no serious damage or injury, but it could have been much worse.

At the top of Longwood Dean we parted company with Karen & Bill and enjoyed the long descent of Gander Down. I opted to ride to Itchen Abbas before abandoning them to find their own way back to Kingsworthy and Winchester. 

My Picnic Spot.

I decided that rather than go home to an empty house i would prolong my day out on the bike. I had some light refreshments in my rack bag and stopped to enjoy a light picnic in the shelter of a large evergreen hedge near Itchen Down Farm.

Once over the ridge and into the Candover Valley I decided to do a little exploring. As one enters Brown Candover there is a little lane on the left. Here are a couple of pictures:

I rode down it and discovered a short lane of about 400 yards with a number of houses also some intriguing flood plain area of the Candover Brook with a number of water channels and reed beds. The road turns into a track which probably could be ridden on suitable mountain bikes.

I completed my outing via Lower Wield, Medstead and Ropley and was home just after four having enjoyed a really good ride of two parts.

I am now only 74 miles short of my revised,  several times,  target of 4,500 miles in the year. Only a couple of days still available! Will I do it?

Gridironman.