New Forest, Bournemouth and The Piddles.

My third mini cycling/camping car trip.

Tuesday 19th June.

Pedallers Ride From Poppies.

Set off in Dobbin on Tuesday morning to meet with The Pedallers Group at Poppies. From there Karen led us on a very interesting ride to Brockenhurst. Our first mile or so we headed North. I thought B. is South. Soon all was revealed as we turned West over the hill to West Wellow, Bramshaw and Stoney Cross. I was in my usual position at the back accompanied by Bill. After a gloomy and damp start, it was another very nice day. Lots of ponies and cattle about, on the old airfield a group of them did not want to move to let some cars by.

We shifted them! Lots of other folk out on bikes and the Rhinefield Drive was very busy with lots of activities going on. We had our break in Rosie's Tea Shop after riding through the ford. The route back was much flatter and for several spells, I lead the group at such a pace that for a while I was averaging 13 mph overall. This soon dropped to 12.8 by the end. (RWGPS seems to flatter, recording 13 overall). After a refreshing final drink together at Poppies we went our own ways. Mine was to drive on to stay with my good friend David in his new home in Bournemouth.

Wednesday 20th June.
LotSW Ride from Bournemouth.

The Faffing Begins.

David and I were joined by Ian, Caroline and Alex for a LotSW

group ride away from our usual haunts
David led us out of the town along some very busy roads which I did not like very much. However, we were soon out into the country and enjoying the warm sunshine.
We rode into the New Forest area, but further South than on Tuesday. David suggested a coffee stop in Ringwood but knowing where we were from Gridiron rides I suggested we went to the Farm Shop Cafe in Crow Lane. This worked out well as they had some nice cakes and we were able to enjoy sitting in the sun behind the cafe while we rested.

Orchids.

After some discussion, we followed the Gridiron route to Burley. When we turned South to Bransgore we passed a large number of orchids. They varied in colour quite a lot with some being almost white. We had a very pleasant lunch in the garden of the Crown Inn in Bransgore. 

Fortunately, David had his maps and was able to navigate us through some fairly busy areas back to the coast where we crossed over the entrance to Christchurch Harbour from Mudeford to near to the spit by Hengistbury Head. A pleasant ride back to David's from there.

After tea, we left David's to wend our various ways. Mine was to Crossways near Dorchester where I was staying in The C.& M. C. site. I had an hour to get there and I thought I had plenty of time. I had underestimated the density of the Bournemouth rush hour traffic and it took nearly 50 minutes to get clear of the conurbations. Only took another half an hour to cover the remaining twenty or so miles. The warden was unfazed by my tardiness and by six o'clock I had set up camp. I walked to the nearby pub, didn't like it much so walked the other way to the Co-op to get some beer to have with my own prepared supper.

Thursday 21st June.

 Exploring the Dorset Countryside.

Set off to find the grave of T.E. Lawrence (Of Arabia) in the nearby village of Moreton. Worth a visit for the most unusual and fabulous church with etched windows. T.E.L is actually laid to rest in the nearby cemetery just across the road.

Next, I headed east to Wool and turned to visit the Tank Museum

crossing a very crumbly bridge which is only open to pedestrians and cyclist.

HQ of the RAC. No not the motoring organisation but the Royal Armoured Corps. I rode through the grounds but decided I did not want to spend a long time looking at tanks but would rather ride my bike. 








I did park Posh next to one of the odder occupants of the car park.

I visited The Legionnaire, the Royal British Legion club for a coffee. Two other cyclists from Dorchester who were sitting outside and recommended the lemon and blueberry cake. They were right it was very tasty, one offered to help me scoff it.



I continue past The home of T.E.L. now under the care of the N.T. but decided not to stop but to head back towards Dorchester. The climbs so far had been easy as I had craftily chosen my way along river valleys, but I became more adventurous and went over a hill into Puddletown an interesting little town and then I rode up the Piddle Valley to Piddle Hinton. One hill out of the village was about 14% I could go that way or continue up the valley to Piddle Trenthide where another 14% hill would take me onto the same ridge. 


I chatted with a motorcyclist and he advised me to go the second alternative as there was a nice pub along that road. 
He was right, I had my lunch there in the garden before tackling the hill from P.T.


I had to walk the first 300 yds of the hill but then was able to ride the next one and a half miles to the top. the views from the top were great making it well worthwhile. 

The descent from there into Dorchester of about 6 miles was extremely easy with just a couple of uphills and according to my Garmin , I clocked 40 mph at one point.

Thomas Hardy's Lovely Cottage and Garden.

I chose a route back to the Campsite which took me near Thomas Hardy's home so I decided to pay it a visit. (Fortunately, I had my N.T. card with me). It was well worth the visit but they went and closed the tea room while I was admiring the garden! Doh!

The last few miles were very easy being mainly flat. I popped into the Co-Op for some fresh milk to brew a cuppa as soon as I got there.

It had been a fabulous day and I had enjoyed the very sunny but not too hot weather too.

Another successful mini tour. In a most lovely area. I recommend it to anyone who loves the countryside.

Gridironman.

June High Jinks!

Three rides this week. Each with a different group. 

A. The Pedallers. 

B. The LotSW and 

C. Alresford Groupetta.

I am pleased that I have been able to achieve a few new PBs.  Three on Tuesday, Three on Thursday and just one on Sunday. Total miles clocked up in the week just over 107 miles.

Tuesday June 12th. 

Please ignore the incorrect month. It must have been corrupted during the upload to RWGPS.

Thursday 14th June.

Sunday 17th June.

Gridironman.

Fun & Games

Despite my sore side from my tumble two weeks ago I have had a great week. In addition to making great progress in tidying up my garden, with the able assistance of my new under-gardener, Karlene, I have had two excellent rides. One on Wednesday and another on Thursday and then on Saturday helping Andrew and Tricia with running the cycle Jumble event in the village hall at Itchen Abbas. Today Sunday 10th I went to watch the Criterium Races in Winchester.

Wednesday, June 6th, Ride to Queen Elizabeth Country Park.

Thursday 7th June, Meet of HCMF at the Dog and Crook, Braishfield.

Saturday  9th June, Cycle Jumble.

Up early and was at the Village Hall, in Itchen Abbas by 7.30 a.m. Helped set up the tables for about 20 stalls selling bikes and assorted cycle bits and pieces. I had taken two of my older bikes, Tiny and Posh to sell as I have hardly ridden either since May last year. It is the second time I've sold Tiny, made another £30 profit! Can't be bad. The good thing is I passed them on to two folk who seemed genuinely keen to ride them. I am pleased to see them put to good use as well as freeing up storage space in my utility room. I also managed to sell some other items and books and with my share of the takings for the day I came home nearly £200 richer.

Tiny with the red label, Sporty with the yellow one.

It was a bit like war, long periods of calm and boredom, punctuated by short periods of excitement and panic! It was, in fact, good fun with plenty of chat with other cyclists and a couple of shared bowls of chips with drinks at the nearby Plough afterwards.

Sunday 10th June.

Enjoyed the afternoon watching the races, some hard racing with several individuals dominating some of the events. Zoe Backstead in particular! (Magnus's daughter I believe). My friend Harvey had a disappointing day being lapped in the Elite Race. 

I enjoyed a number of very good chats with a number of people from Winchester CTC and also others, including one with a guy who knew a lot of my Sotonia pals and also Simon Turner. He also came from the Midlands. Another told me about some of the major tours he had watched over the years and we were not surprised when a rider came a cropper right in front of us as we sat having a pint, he hit the barrier and tumbled but he seemed relatively unscathed and once he had got his chain back on he rode after the others.

What another good mixture of cycling activities! I even managed to dig my veggie patch too. It wasn't quite as bad as Chris's allotment.

Hope you all had as good a week as I did!

Best wishes, Gridironman.

A Great Week Cycling in East Anglia.

I have had a really good week for my second Camper/Cycling tour this year. Here is the overall map of my travels in Dobbin.

My first stop on Sunday 20th was at my cousin's in Hertfordshire. Here after a light lunch we toured the village visiting 5 gardens. All lovely, all different, my favourite was a "green" lovely natural garden, Thrift Cottage, the house roofed with turf and wild flowers. Also a chalet and a small traditional caravan. Scrummy cream scones too.

I continued to Ashwell in N. Hertfordshire where I stopped for two nights at Ashridge Farm Caravan Club site. Very nice rural site on the edge of the town so easy access to the pubs and shops.

On Monday 21st I got down to the serious stuff, riding Paris. I planned to go to Wimpole Hall a National Trust property but as it was only about 8 miles away I decided to take a circular route. Here are my map and data for the day:-

I had a nice lunch at  the Hall and a peep inside before returning to Ashwell. Here I enjoyed a stroll to one of the pubs before an early night.
Tuesday 22nd May.

The next morning I continued on my tour, pausing at Houghton Mill near St. Ives to enjoy a coffee and a walk by the river. Watched the locks at work with a Charity Boat coming through. Plenty of other activity to watch and folk to chat with on the NT camping site nearby. I even had a look round the mill before I was told it wasn't open!!! 

Continued on to Peterborough where I signed into the Ferry Meadows Caravan Club site.

This was in a lovely position by a lake. It was only early afternoon so I had plenty of time to explore on my bike. Wandered around all over the place as you can see from my trail of spaghetti attached:-

Wednesday 23rd May.

Similar bike to David's Tractor.

It weighs a ton!

After a good night's sleep I was raring to go next morning to visit my friends David and Jane. I found my way there with ease. It was a 99% cycle path ride of about ten  miles. After coffee and catching up with the news, David got out his "tractor" to take me for a ride. We went all around the centre of the city, had a look at the lovely cathedral and the square then along more paths and around the lake again and then to the western edge of the city. We had lunch at a pub before I took David to show him Dobbin. Then we parted company. I set off to find Fotheringhay Castle whilst David went home.

My mission was to get a photo of the Castle for Ian. It was the birth place of Richard III and the place where the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots was killed.

 Sorry Ian there is not much to see. The whole castle was demolished about 500 years ago.

The remains of the Castle.

Views from the top.

I went on from the Castle to visit the charming town of Oundle. Managed to get onto a very busy road with lots of traffic but at least it had a cycle lane and I did not feel threatened. I did zip along at a good rate too. Then Garmin ran out so I had to trace my last seven miles on the map. It was early evening by the time I got back so I had supper, listened to the news and then was early into bed  again.

Thursday 24th May.

Next morning I was away before the office opened so dropped my key in the box and made good time to King's Lynn. Here I stopped briefly to fill up. For the last part of the journey to Cromer I used lanes and smaller roads. Went through the Queen's Estate at Sandringham, lovely avenue of copper beeches, then soon afterwards found a small business selling decorative metal fabrications in Shernborne. 

All great fun!

Next I discovered a working windmill at  Great Bircham and popped into their café for a coffee. They had a good selection of cakes so I would imagine it is visited by the local cyclists.

A little later near to Cromer I visited another NT Property. Sheringham gardens, one of the best displays of rhododendrons & azaleas I have ever seen. There is said to be over 80 different varieties there.

Had about a two mile walk around the grounds enjoying the flowers and the views. Well worth a visit at this time of year. Several parties of school children doing nature studies at one of the ponds. 

I had a nice snack there too.

I was at the site in Cromer around tea time, so after setting up and brewing a cuppa I went for a walk to the beach. Masses of "holiday homes" in serried ranks rather spoilt it. The weather had turned chilly by now and the sea looked anything other than inviting.

Back at the site I enjoyed fish & chips and a beer in the restaurant on site. Just as I was finishing around 7.30 it started to rain. I went back to Dobbin in my little quiet corner of the site and set up my bed. Listened to folk music on Radio 2 before settling down to the sound of rain drumming on the roof.

Friday 25th May.

Happily it had stopped raining by the time I got up in the morning, but I found I had left a shoe outside. Paris needed to shake himself free of raindrops before I clambered aboard.

My target for today was another NT property. This one Blickling Estate. 
It was quite chilly at first and I needed my gilet and arm warmers with a sea fret blocking out the views along the coast, however when I turned in land it was much better and I was able to shed the arm warmers and unzip.
Apart from the lovely house and gardens there was a very interesting  RAF museum giving the history of the nearby RAF airfield at Oulton. The house and grounds were used by the RAF. A lot of work was done here during the war on counter measures to block the German radar.

Found another route back via Holt. 
Here are my usual details, recorded in two parts:-

Saturday 26th May.

 Packed up as soon as I'd had breakfast and had covered the fairly short distance to Little Melton quite early in the morning. Chris my host for that overnight stop was not expecting me that early, but he welcomed me and Millie his little dog did too, soon climbing onto my lap to have a stroke! I think she must have remembered me from my last visit. 

When I unloaded Paris I discovered he had a soft rear tyre. Only way we could find the hole was by using a sink full of water. A tiny hole. Could find no obvious cause though there was a small cut in the tyre in the area where it had occurred. I changed the tube with a little help from Chris.

Chris took me round to see their allotment, I think it is really Sheila's project with Chris helping. While we were there a local professional gardener came and rotavated the 3/4 of the plot which had not been cultivated for some time.

 We soon had had enough of gardening and returned to Chris's home, changed and got out on our bikes for a ride. 

The immediate area is quite flat with only a couple of short pitches, so it was easy riding.

Our route took us along mainly quiet roads through farming lane growing barley, wheat, rape, sugar beet and other arable crops. Very few animals, just a few horses and one farm with cows. The spring flowers and fresh leaved trees give us a colourful backdrop.

We managed to get lost once and did a mini circle to get back on track. (See the map).

We stopped for a light meal at a "bus" café. As I pulled up I disgraced myself by tumbling off the bike. Don't know how it happened, but believe my front wheel skidded in loose gravel. One moment I was on the bike, the next on the deck. Got gravel rash to prove it on my right knee and elbow. Three ladies came to help me up. One, appropriately, a vetenary nurse got her first aid kit and helped patch up the Old Donkey! Fortunately I was able to continue with the ride. 

In Wymondham we visited the heritage railway line, but surprisingly no trains were running. Then we went into the priory church, lovely roman arches. Surprisingly it has two towers. Apparently one was for the monks and one for the lay people.

That evening I was once more royally treated with a tasty evening meal. Sheila put dressings on my knee and elbow to try to save messing the sheets. I found my  favourite right side was too tender to sleep on but managed on the left.

Sunday May 27th. 
After breakfast the next morning we once again headed west, away from the city and visited a café run by cyclists in a lovely location, in a field where there is space for camping, a pond which had house martins  dipping low over the water, dragonflies, water plants etc. 

We were lucky it was quiet when we got there as there is often a crowd. I did chat to one couple and when I said I was from Hampshire where it was hillier the young lady said "I'm a Norfolk Lass, I don't do hills". 

From there we went to an airfield, now used by light planes, very like Popham, except they have an interesting museum too. We had a light lunch and a long chat with the owner of one of the aircraft. Very interesting. We watched several planes take off. 

I left Chris and Sheila and family about half past four and drove to Cambridge for my last overnight stop with an old friend. 

  
Monday 28th May.

Left Cambridge at 12 noon and was in Tesco's in Alresford by 14.50! Good journey despite the holiday traffic on the M25.

Other Notes:

1.

My second venture cycling with Dobbin support worked out well. Went mostly according to plan but I still need to adjust how I manage the camping side of things. I took far too much "stuff". Forgot the old advice lay out everything you think you want then reduce it by at least 50%!

2.

Winchester CTC Strava for last week.

Made history !

3. 
Finally a very big thanks to my very good friends and family who made this an exceptional week. It reinforced my belief that relationships with friends and family and the kindness of strangers are far more important than money or posessions. 

Gridironman.