Sunday All-Day Intermediates Ride to Bosham

Sunday 24th September turned out to be a glorious day for a bike ride. And where better to head for than the coast! So off we set from Petersfield – that is Derek and Anne, David and Helen, Angela, Peter, Roger and your scribe, along with course creator and ride leader Hilary.

It’s always good to get away from one’s home area and it seems to me that groups are doing ‘train assisted’ rides more often these days. Personally I hope it’s a taste of more to come.

Hilary found some beautiful lanes to get us to coffee at Stansted House, which is a delightful place to stop for refreshments, after which the route flattened out as we continued south. It wasn’t long before we reached Bosham to find that the tide was out, allowing us to ride round the shore road. It was all highly photogenic ….

We still had about an hour to go to lunch, and Hilary had organised lunch at Houghton, where the Hare and Hounds was serving mildly-gastro-oriented pub grub at near gastro pub prices. The food was well presented, quickly served and plentiful so it gets the nod from us. Roger very kindly treated us to drinks so we could toast his birthday one day ahead: Happy Birthday, Roger and thanks for the drink – the beer had much more flavour than the lamb.

I’d seen a signpost saying Petersfield was about ten miles away, so it was with a certain degree of surprise that I saw another sign showing a similar mileage some while later, but no matter…. The sun had gone in and there were even a few drops of the wet stuff in the air, but Hilary’s return route was proving to be equally as enjoyable as the way out and I, for one, was sad that it was ever going to end.

But end it did of course, back at Petersfield, where some headed home by car, and the others on the train. Thanks, Hilary, for a great day out. (And thank you, Curly Hetchins, for giving me such a lovely ride – I should ride you more!)

Where we went is shown below; 50 miles almost with 750 metres of climbing. For a closer look at the route, you can click on this link: https://www.strava.com/activities/1199652458

Woking Midweek Wayfarers Group 4 Ride ~ 7 June 2017

Those chasing dreams rode all the way from home to the south coast and back, and well done to them – a good 100 miles probably. And not without problems either: Don broke a spoke but was saved by  Petersfield Cycleworks who sold him a new wheel – and still he, William, Martin and Matt arrived before the train-assisted bunch (yours truly included) made it to coffee at Stansted House.

This is a ride eagerly anticipated by many each year. Why, you may ask? The answer is easy: we all love the Bosham Ferry crossing. And it wasn’t long before we reached it.

We weren’t entirely sure how much spray might land on our bikes during the short crossing, since it was really quite windy, but there was no need to worry – it wasn’t that bad. As you can see, it was a glorious day, if a little chilly in exposed places.

On the other side we set off again, with John Murdoch choosing an excellent route as ever. It’s nice and flat round here and we were lucky to have the wind behind us for most of the ride. After riding through Birdham Pool we soon arrived at our lunch stop, the Crown and Anchor at Dell Quay, where we enjoyed crab sandwiches and other delectables.

View from the bar

Getting to Dell Quay from Birdham Pool

Lunch

… or maybe waiting for it!

We followed the delightful Centurion Way northwards until we could go no further – unsafe tunnel, so we came off it and back on to roads, at which point the group split, some heading for Petersfield and their cars, whilst others headed homewards intent on cycling all the way. These were those who had cycled down plus one – me!

The tailwind greatly enhanced our journey homewards through Singleton, Cocking, Selham, Lodsworth, Lickfold, Wormley, Hambledon (and a welcome cuppa at the shop) after which we went our separate ways. It was a great day, all in all, and how fortunate we were to enjoy excellent weather following two days when you just wouldn’t have wanted to go riding.

Below are a few shots taken on the ride home, followed by a map showing my ride.

A reviving cuppa at the Hambledon Village Shop

To view the route in detail, please click on this link: https://www.strava.com/activities/1025387614