CTC ride Ringwood and Fordingbridge

CTC ride Ringwood and Fordingbridge

Todays ride starts from Hurn Stores but my mind starts working well before we get there as we cycle through Kinson past one of the old thatched cottages. These old cottages now sit amongst the ex council houses that make up the various estates that surround the old village of Kinson. Kinson and the surrounding hamlets all pre date the town which they are now part of - Bournemouth. Kinson's church, St Andrews sits on the site of the original Saxon church and the present day church has its own stories to tell. 

St Andrews Kinson

The area was historically used by the smuggler Isaac Gulliver whose men would carry the contraband up from The Chines in Poole Bay and take it across Cranborne Chase to be distributed to patrons all over Southern England. Gulliver had several properties in the Kinson area; however, the contraband was stored in the tower of St Andrew's Church (the marks of the ropes used to haul it up can still be seen in the soft sandstone walls of the tower) and in several stone graves in the churchyard which were constructed for this purpose and never saw a coffin. A tunnel was also reputed to exist to allow smugglers to escape to the local river under cover (this has never been proved, however).

Also in the churchyard is the grave of one Robert Trotman, who was killed when trying to land contraband on the shore near Poole. Smugglers at the time were regarded by some as folk heroes, as they circumvented high government taxes on goods such as alcohol, tobacco, etc. The presence of his grave on open display in the churchyard, with its rhyming elegy to the deceased, is an interesting comment on the social status at the time of people who were technically criminals.

We meet up with everyone at Hurn Stores and take the direct route up Matchams Lane to Ringwood. It's only a relatively short cycle to coffee and I have just about warmed up when it is time to stop but Derek promises a jaunt across the forest before lunch. The cafe is very busy for a Sunday morning but I think it was full of people meeting prior to going Christmas shopping.

Outside the cafe is a life size bronze of a New Forest pony mare and foal by artist Priscilla Hann.

We leave the cafe and head off into the New Forest out through Linwood and past Red Shoot Wood and on to what we know as the 'airfield road'. 

It is in fact the site of Stoney Cross Airfield which Opened in November 1942. 

The airfields three runways operated R.A.F. Hurricanes and Mustangs of the Army Cooperation Command, then Stirlings, Whitleys and Albermares training Horsa glider pilots.After this D-day support given by U.S.A.A.F. P-38 and B-26s was superseded by R.A.F. Transport Command York and Dakota duties, the airfield closing in 1946. The road we cycle today follows the path of one of the runways but unfortunately no other evidence exists to show that the airfield was ever here.

From here we head out to the Roger Penny Way (rather unromantically named after a Hampshire County highways engineer) and cycle back towards Fordingbridge where we have lunch alongside the River Avon. We don't linger as it is getting colder and no-one seems keen to hang around.

So its back onto the lanes and a brisk cycle back through the edges of the forest to Ringwood. One thing I did notice today were a lot of donkeys out and about. Now we are used to seeing them but there seemed to be a lot of them out and about today, is it just me or was anyone else concerned about what they may be up to? 

View from lunch the bridge
 at Fordingbridge

Donkey's lurking in the hedgerows

From Ringwood it is a brisk cycle home and in for a hot mug of tea and put the heating on!! Thanks everyone for another great ride - see you all next time.

CTC ride Cranborne and Martin

CTC ride to Cranborne and Martin

John of Gaunt

We meet at Wimborne Recreation Ground on a fairly grey and chilly morning, it really is starting to feel like autumn now. We head out on our normal route to Cranborne going past Gaunt House which was, allegedly, once the home of  John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) who was a member of the House of Plantagenet being the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was called "John of Gaunt" because he was born in Ghent, then rendered in English as Gaunt.

Horton Tower

From here it's on to Horton and the tower that sits on top of the hill looking over the road. The tower is a five red brick gothic observation tower designed and built by Humphrey Sturt who was an architect, Lord of Horton Manor and MP for Dorset. 

He was responsible for developing Crichel House at the nearby village of Moor Crichel. At Horton he had already created a 200-acre (0.81 km²) lake, and he resolved to indulge this whim again at Moor Crichel, albeit on a smaller scale. There was only one difficulty: the cottages of the village were in the way. The site of the former village of Moor Crichel now lies submerged beneath the waters of the lake. The entire village was moved to what is now called New Town at Witchampton, leaving only the church (rebuilt in 1850) and a carefully contrived landscape in front of the classical mansion. The site of the old village disappeared under the waters of a large crescent-shaped lake, around which was planted an elegantly landscaped park.

Leaving the tower or 'Sturts Folly' as it is known locally behind us we continue on towards coffee at Cranborne. On route we catch up with Alan and Ann who are finishing repairing the broken chain on their tandem trike. They were doing this alongside a humorous sign (see picture) which the club should now probably replace with one that reads 'On 17 November 2013 Alan and Ann of Wessex CTC stopped here to mend a broken chain.

We cycle on enjoying the changing colours of autumn and avoiding the wet leaves that make cycling more interesting at this time of year!

The road takes us through Edmondsham which appears as ‘Amedesham’ in the 1086 Domesday Book, the name simply means ‘homestead or enclosure belonging to a man named Eadmod or Eadmund’, from an old English personal name and ‘ham’ for homestead. After this it is Cranborne, the garden centre and coffee in The Old Potting Shed Tea Room. The garden centre is actually situated in the old walled garden of Cranborne Manor but at this point of more interest to us is the fact that there is hot drinks and excellent toasted teacakes!

After coffee it is on via Damerham to lunch at Martin. Damerham was an ancient land holding of the Saxon kings and was mentioned in the will of Alfred the Great, who desired that his men of Damerham should be free. In 940–6 Edmond 1 granted a hundred dwellings at Damerham, Martin and Pentridge to his queen Æthelflæd. Damerham may have been the birthplace of Æthelflæd who bequeathed Damerham to Glastonbury Abbey when she died in the late 10th century.

Dr Who

We are fortunate today that the church is open and we can get in for a look around as it is a lovely church with beautiful stained glass windows. Martin has another claim to fame which is very topical as we celebrate 50 years of Dr Who it was used in the episode 'The Awakening' as a film location. For those interested the episode was filmed in 1984, featured Peter Davison as the 5th Doctor and was set during the English Civil War.

Window at All Saints, Martin

Kevin and Derek

A selection of steeds......

After lunch in the churchyard at Martin the group splits with some heading for home by taking the flatter route back through Damerham while the rest of us head for the hills. It is another one of our well cycled routes that takes us up Blagdon Hill and back to Cranborne. We can tell winter is on its way as the pigs that reside on top of the hill in summer are now in their winter quarters in the shelter of the valley. We follow suit and after a brief comfort break at Cranborne follow the valley back to Wimborne and finally home.

Another great day out that has covered Plantagenets, Saxon Kings, Victorian Follies and Dr Who; who said life is dull!

CTC ride to Breamore

CTC ride to Breamore

It's our first ride since the Gridiron as I have been resting an injured shoulder. My top tip following this injury is to watch out for metal drain covers in the wet. I somehow kept upright using a mixture of luck, instinct and brute force the latter probably doing the damage! Anyway enough of that and on to todays ride and we wake up to sunshine but we've seen the weather forecast and and set out prepared for rain. We cycle from home to Hurn Stores with a wonderfully strong tail wind where we meet up with the rest of the group, not a huge number but more than enough for a sociable ride. 

All Saints

Ibsley Bridge

We head out along the Avon Causeway passing through Ripley, Sandford, North

Kingston, Poulner, rockford and Mockbeggar and  before crossing the River Avon at Ibsley Bridge. We pass through the water meadows to Harbridge and the Church of All Saints which rises proud above the flat flood plain.

From here we follow the river valley for a few more miles before making the slight climb to our coffee stop at the Sticky Bun at Alderholt. Here we catch up with a few more members who have ridden from Wimborne direct to coffee. I can recommend the toasted teacakes here and unless you have ridden very hard to get here I suggest you find someone to share with!

Leaving the cafe.

We are just coming out of the cafe when the heavens open and treat us to the first major deluge of the day. Most of us being older and wiser now put that hard earned wisdom to good use and stay under cover while this squall passes through. It's one thing to be out on the bike and get caught in the rain but quite another to set out in it, especially if you don't need to! As you can see from the photo the sun pokes its head out and we set off in a flurry of Hi-Vis!

Our next destination is Breamore and as there are still some very threatening skies above us we decide to take a reasonably direct route to lunch. Somehow we manage to dodge the heaviest of the showers as we cycle through Ashford, Fordingbridge and Burgate. Our destination for lunch at Breamore is the church of St Marys where there is plenty of room in the porch for most of the group while two of our group do their best tree elf impersonation inside an ancient yew tree.

Ayes to the left.....

.....and nays to the right!!

The tree elves!

The original church that stood on this site was built by King Ethelred II aka "the unready", so the site has real historical significance. The current church is built of flint and stone and is Grade I listed. It is probably the most important Anglo-Saxon monument in Hampshire and its cruciform plan with smaller, lower transepts is particularly characteristic of early Christian churches. The church is particularly striking architecturally and the inside doesn't disappoint either.  what remains is a virtually intact original saxon church with old english wording above an arch that dates it to circa 980AD. Also uncovered during restoration work is the remains of a badly damaged Saxon rood. Within the porch is a reminder of the areas more recent history and a relic that is particularly poignant at this time of year. it is a large memorial board which names the men from Breamore, Charford and Woodgreen who went to serve during the First World War. A lot of names for three small villages and note the 'K' and 'W' against the names, 'K' for  killed and 'W' for wounded.

Rush hour at Breamore

One other quick fact about Breamore and it was Derek who got me researching this one with stories of geese roaming free around the village. The fact is that on Breamore Marsh there still persists an ancient right to graze domestic geese and cattle on the manorial green. This is a rare example of this type of common land usage still being followed in the present day.




With the sun still shining but with dark clouds on the horizon we leave this beautiful church behind. We are now all in a race against the weather all hoping to get home without getting a soaking. My guess is that some will be luckier than others!! First stop is Fordingbridge for a comfort stop before heading back to Ringwood via Stuckton, North and South Gorley, Mockbeggar and Poulner. At Ringwood the group splits some choosing to stop for a cuppa and others, Kathy and I amongst them decide to push for home so we say our goodbyes until next time.

Kathy and I set a brisk pace for home but we don't quite manage to avoid the rain but on the plus side the breeze has dropped away and we make good time to home. Another great day out with the Potterers and good to be back in the saddle after my enforced injury break.