Here are some of the highlights from our off-road day rides this Spring. Thanks to all that participated, it was a lot of fun!
Donna
Downs Link Daffodil – 26th of April
On a warm day on Saturday the 26th of April, our group of eight cut quickly through the Guildford traffic, and onto the old railway track leading all the way to Shoreham-on-sea. With the trail being dry, we made Southwater Country Park cafe within a couple of hours and to Shoreham around 12pm for sausage rolls at the seaside. Everyone was still feeling good, so all made the return journey. There were good testing moments for the group, including a longest e-bike ride, an unfortunate gear cable incident, lost specs into the bin and no one forgets the climb over the one hill at the bat cave.
Shipwright’s Way Wisteria – 24th of May
A keen group of three met just south of Bentley Station on the Shipwright’s Way trail to travel to Hayling Island. It’s a steady 45-mile ride with a mixture of wide bridleways, quiet country roads, long gentle climbs with the main exception of a steep climb in and out of Queen Elizabeth’s Country Park. The weather was warm so the trails were dry and suited our gravel/hybrid bikes well. With the recent spring growth, some track maintenance was needed to clear the way of brambles or just poorly maintained garden fences. We lunched at Queen Elizabeth park, where the cafe is busy with MTBers. The MTB tracks and skills area look great to try and likely worth an organised trip sometime soon.
Reaching Hayling Island is a treat with the smell of fresh seaweed, the moored sailboats and Portsmouth with the Spinnaker tower in the distance. The wind required leaning into and enjoyed by the locals with a kettle of power kites. After a quick ice-cream we headed back on the route, planning to stop at Petersfield at 100k. However, as we all felt good, we found ourselves all the way back at Alice Holt at 7pm and so ended up over 100 Miles for each of us. An unexpected long day but very satisfying to achieve.
Summer Solstice Sunflower – 21st June
On this longest of days, three cyclists headed to Sunny Swindon to cycle round the King Alfred’s Way clockwise through Reading. Starting on Swindon’s Old Town railway we climbed from Swindon over a fun ‘curly-wurly’ bridge and up to quiet roads that form part of the Ridgeway trail itself. Once onto the bridle-path proper, it’s a colourful 30 mile ride with long views over fields with red poppies, purple thistles, golden wheat and many butterflies. The trail varied from gliding over compact white clay, through dust clouds from fast downhills and trying to balance our gravel bikes on tricksy ever-changing ruts.
It’s a fast descent into Goring, where the hot smell of the river, (and wealth?), hits as we crossed the Thames. Lunch was at Viv’s café next to the local art shop, where pictures of George Michael moodily judged the dust on our bikes. Onwards from Goring, there came the ‘staircase of death’, which defeated each of us rapidly – another place a mountain bike may have had the advantage for grip in the dust and sudden steep ascent. The route then follows leafy paths and roads above the Thames, crossing into Reading at Caversham cycle bridge. The section from Reading down to Winchfield was a strain as the sun now beat down and recent rain meant it was very muggy. The Devil’s Highway brought its evil by the many nettles hiding the path but otherwise, this was a reasonably quick section as its mostly on quiet roads. At just over 100k, we made it to the Barley Mow pub where a few local club members joined us for the key part of the ride – cold drinks in the sun!
