CTC six go mad in Dorset

It's a ride out to Compton Abbas again and once again the sun is shining and the skies are blue, so it's a bit of a surprise that there are only six of us heading out on the ride. We meet at Wimborne recreation ground and head off along the back roads to Witchampton where we pause at the junction to admire the beautiful bench that circles the trunk of the tree. It would be a wonderful place to sit in the shade and while away an hour or two but we have lanes to cycle and places to be. We continue on our usual route and the steady climb up to Compton Abbas airfield. There is one unscheduled stop on the way for a puncture that is quickly fixed with the usual help, support and banter from the group.

Tiger Moth

At the airfield the Tiger Moths are flying taking people up for joy rides over Dorset in the full 'Biggles' flying kit. We are also here for the airfields annual microlight fly in day so as we sit  outside with coffee and cake we get to enjoy lots of microlight activity. The cafe is certainly very busy but on lovely days like this it is possibly one of the best places to come and enjoy a coffee in this part of Dorset.

Start of the descent

Once coffee is over we drag ourselves away from the airfield and head off in the general direction of Margaret Marsh for our lunch stop. We negotiate a short stretch of the main road before turning right and the fabulous decent off the escarpment down into Sutton Waldron. From here we pedal on through East and West Orchard in our search for Margaret Marsh. The search takes us initially down the wrong road quite literally as we have to climb back up it once we realise our mistake! Eventually we find the churchyard and stop for lunch under the shade of the trees.

Dorset lanes

A shady spot for lunch

After a restful lunch we continue on our ride now slowly working our way back home via Sturminster Newton, home to the Dorset Cheese festival,  to join the North Dorset trailway and a stop at the old station at Shillingstone for ice cream and a cold drink. We also take a look at the weather forecasting stone and decide that it is probably ................. sunny!













After the stop its on to  Blandford where we leave the trailway and use the back roads to Wimborne. At Wimborne we bid farewell to the rest of the group and continue home looking forward to a cold refreshing drink and a shower after 70 miles in 24 degrees heat.

cycling the trailway.

re-hydrating?

CTC Thursday ride to Bashley

CTC Thursday Ride to Bashley

As we are on holiday this week we can join the Thursday ride with CTC and we meet up with everyone at Hurn stores to do the run to Bashley for coffee. As Kathy is still suffering from a bad head cold we have decided to head for home after coffee.

Terry, John, Jim and John

As Hurn Stores is closer to Bashley than the normal leaving points we take a more scenic route to get there which gives us more time to enjoy riding in the beautiful morning sunshine. It's going to be hard when the British weather resumes as we are getting quite used to this more mediterranean weather. Kathy has even invested in a sleeveless cycling jersey!

Our route to the Redcliffe Garden Centre takes us on a detour around Bransgore past Avon Tyrell and through Thorney Hill down to the A35 for a short stretch before turning off for Hinton. Most of us are relieved to get off the A35 which has a fearsome reputation as an accident blackspot. However, a big thank you to the truck driver who stopped to let 20 cyclists turn right in front of him - Chapeau! The route continues up the hill through Beckley, past Sammy Millars Motorcycle Museum and onto coffee.

At coffee we sit with Terry and his Grandson who is down from Scotland and who has been 'press ganged' into riding in true Terry form by his Grandad! As we are two of Terry's roadside converts the discussion turns to Terry's nack of signing up cyclists. Let me explain, Terry is the President of the Wessex branch of CTC and is renowned for always carrying with him copies of the CTC flyer. If he spots lone cyclists he will ride with them for a while to find out if they ride with a club. If you answer no you find yourself with a flyer including runs list in your hand and as with Kathy and I you are hooked! A second Chapeau! of this blog  as every club needs a Terry.

Barton on Sea ....

.....photo opportunity

After coffee we say goodbye to the group as they head off for Brockenhurst and we ride to New Milton and alongside the coast at Barton on Sea where we stop to take some photographs. Its a beautiful day to be alongside the sea as there is a pleasant breeze so we decide to head for Mudeford Quay for lunch. We enjoy our lunch under the shade of a pine tree and people watch - always a fascinating and worthwhile activity!

Sun worshippers at Mudeford

On our way to Mudeford Quay

Our lunchtime view

After lunch we continue to follow the coast and the cliff top as far as Boscombe before regrettably cutting inland and home. It's another wonderful hot day so for me there is only one way to end it and I think I deserve this.............

 .......... my reward!

Yes there are bruises ..........

As predicted Kathy has some bruises to show for her stunt riding yesterday and she is a little stiff.








However, it's all worth it as Andy Murray won Wimbledon









.................. and Chris Froome is still in yellow!!!!

CTC ride to West Holme and Corfe

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CTC Ride to West Holme and Corfe

One swallow does not a summer make?

It's Wimbledon men's finals day with Andy Murray in the final, Chris Froome is in Yellow at the Tour de France and we found the missing lenses for Kathy's cycling glasses. It's going to be a great day.

Upton Country Park

Today we have decided to join up with the Potterer's and ride out to coffee with them before a dash home so we can watch the Wimbledon final. The meeting point is Upton Country Park and after some confusion as to where in the park the meet point is we manage to locate everyone. We set off at a reasonable pace in the general direction of Wareham where Kathy, Bob and I split from the group to drop some maps in at Bob's house that he has borrowed ready for a trip to Sussex.

West Holme - coffee by the pond

We leave Bob's and head for our coffee rendezvous at the garden centre at West Holme getting there just before the rest of the group. Alan and Ann and a couple of the others are already there. We enjoy a lively conversation at the the coffee stop covering le Tour, Andy Murray's chances, british tourists abroad and cycling issues in general. It is soon time to leave and it appears many have the same idea as us and are heading straight for home to watch the tennis; all of us hoping to be celebrating a British champion later in the afternoon.

.......... what a view

Ice lollies ............

...... for two

Kathy and I decide to head for home via Corfe castle and the chain ferry taking in the climb up to the view point above Poole Harbour. Of course by the time we hit the climb it is midday on the hottest day of the year so far - so we suffered, Kathy far more than me especially as she is suffering from blocked sinuses and a summer head cold! We were both very pleased to see the ice cream van at the viewpoint and stopped to enjoy a very refreshing ice lolly and to enjoy the view. What a gorgeous day you could be fooled into believing that what lay before you was a mediterranean resort not the south coast of England. After a brief rest we enjoy the downhill sprint to the chain ferry negotiating cars and people all heading for the beaches every available car space is being taken. We jump the huge queue of cars and onto the ferry enjoying the views and gentle sea breeze as we cross.

one for our diving buddies!
The bell on the chain ferry.

Packed ferry and Haven Hotel

However, what comes next was not at all planned and could have quite easily ruined the day. Kathy while cycling off the ferry somehow conspired to throw herself and the bike at the scenery; in fact from an onlookers viewpoint it was quite a spectacular crash! After disentangling her from her bike and checking that the bike was undamaged I thought I best check she was OK! All joking aside it looked really nasty but Kathy had escaped with nothing more than bruises, grazes and injured pride.
She'll be stiff tomorrow though.

We carry on towards home with Kathy taking strength from Geraint Thomas who is currently cycling the Tour de France with a fractured pelvis - OUCH!

After a couple more climbs we are home and Kathy gingerly gets herself of the bike and off for a shower to rinse the grit out of the grazes and then its ice packs on the bruised bits!

All in all an interesting day and soon to get more interesting - will Andy Murray do it - was Kathy's pain worth it for the dash back to watch?

CTC Inters ride to Mere

CTC Inters ride to Mere

Before I started to write this blog on our latest ride I decided to have a swift count up of the miles completed since we started recording our weekend rides. Well without revealing an exact number I shall just say that the bubbly is on ice to celebrate a significant milestone which we should reach on our next ride.

Moving on to this ride, previously I have only ever driven to Mere, and my thought then was that this is a long way to come for a day's paintballing - now we are choosing to cycle there!

Airfield and cafe

We meet up with the group on a gorgeous sunny morning at Wimborne Square and it looks like the day is going to be hot and sunny so the sun screen is out. We head off for Witchampton and on to Long Crichel following our normal route to Compton Abbas and the Cafe at the airfield our first planned stop. Our route takes us through the pretty villages of Chettle and Tollard Farnham before we turn off for Ashmore and onto the airfield. It's funny how your brain works; now bear in mind that the airfield at Compton Abbas is on one of the highest points in Dorset, so why would you forget that the ride to it is mostly uphill? The human brain has a wonderful capacity to only recall the good stuff, hence all those childhood memories of long hot summers. Talking of which, we are cycling on just one of those days as the temperature starts to rise into the 20's. The airfield is really busy today as there appears to be a large flying event on judging by the amount of planes we see arrive.

View over Dorset

Kathy takes a break....

......along with the rest of us!

Church at Mere

At lunch!

After coffee we head off towards Mere down one of my favorite descents down Donhead Hollow you can really get some speed up if you hold your nerve. A  reminder from John our ride leader to take it steady probably slowed us all a little today. Our ride then takes us through a collection of small villages known as the Donheads, as they all share this prefix, before heading to East Knoyle. East Knoyle is famous for being the birthplace for one of England's greatest architects  Sir Christopher Wren who was famously responsible for the design of Saint Pauls Cathedral and also for the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. He was also responsible for the design and rebuilding of 52 other churches after the great fire of London in 1666. Leaving East Knoyle behind we climb steadily further into Wiltshire and on to Mere where we stop for lunch taking our sandwiches in the churchyard under the shade of the yew trees before heading to the pub for refreshments prior to the ride towards home.

Our next planned port of call is Cafe 65 at Blandford and this is reached via Gillingham, Child Okeford and Stourpaine. Gillingham (pronounced with a hard G as in goat) is Dorsets most northerly town and has seen settlement since the stone age through the Romans and is mentioned in the Domesday book. Stourpaine is now renowned for the staging of one of the UK's biggest steam and historic vehicle events in the Great Dorset Steam Fair which is held over the August Bank Holiday every year.

Blandford

Cafe 65

Milkshakes for some and ice creams for others at Cafe 65 and then on to home. Another long but enjoyable day in the saddle and it looks like the after sun lotion is going to be needed - I hope I haven't got 'panda' eyes! 

CTC Inters ride to Beaulieu

CTC Inters ride to Beaulieu

We leave home to once again meet up with the inters at Hurn Stores, this time for a ride out into the New Forest. Fresh in our minds is the experience of our last ride with the inters which was pretty tough but chanting the mantra of 'ride harder to get better' we join up with the group. The plan according to the programme is to head out to Eling tide mill but due to the strong winds it is decided to head for Beaulieu instead and then make the cycle back against the head wind a lesser distance. So to make the ride a similar length as the one planned we head off for a big loop round the top of Ringwood taking in the villages and hamlets of Ripley, Sandford, Somerley, Harbridge, Ibsley and Poulner before stopping for coffee and breakfast at Crow Farm. A welcome break at the farm shop cafe and shelter from what appears to be an increasingly strong breeze, perhaps the change of destination will turn out to be a good idea.

Beaulieu River

Lunch stop at Beaulieu

After the short break we set off into the New Forest National Park en route to Beaulieu passing our Saturday ride coffee stop in Burley before riding on to Brockenhurst. From Brockenhurst it is a fast ride with the wind at our backs to Beaulieu where we stop for lunch by the rive in the shadow of the Abbey. Lunch by the river is enjoyable and the sun is out but the stiff breeze makes it a little chilly so we decamp to the cafe for a coffee before starting the ride home into the headwind.

The route for home takes us initially south towards the coast at Sowley where we turn to head west into the teeth of what is now approaching a gale. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' we wonder if philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is right but it's still a decent mantra to keep you going! Onwards to Lymington where the usual Sunday sailing crowd are out frequenting the bars so we have to be careful dodging the crowds as we take some interesting short cuts around the backstreet's of the town. There has been a settlement at Lymington since the Iron Age and evidence of the hill fort can still be seen at Buckland Rings. Lymington over its history has been famous for a number of things including the production of salt, in the Napoleonic period it was a major military centre and in more recent times a centre for ship building and yachting. 

White horses at Barton on Sea

Beach Comber Cafe Barton on Sea

From historic Lymington we follow the coast to Barton on Sea where we stop for a drink at the cafe and to catch our breath. The cafe is perched on the cliff top and from here you can see the white horses out to sea and unusually no boats which tell us something about the strength of the wind!

From here we briefly cycle again as a group to New Milton before splitting up to head or separate ways to home, we join a small group heading back to Hurn and from there head for home. We arrive home a lot more tired than when we started but having enjoyed another great ride in good company.

CTC Ride to Blandford and Hinton St Mary

CTC ride to Blandford and Hinton St Mary

Bob

Today we joined up again with our old friends in the 'Potterer's' for an easier paced ride out to Blandford for coffee and then onto Hinton St Mary for lunch. We meet at Wimborne recreation Ground under grey forbidding skies but with the promise of sunshine to come.Ann and Alan arrive on the tandem trike with a front wheel puncture and by the time it is fixed and the offending piece of glass removed from the tyre the sun is out. We take our usual route out to Blandford following the river valley along quiet country lanes..............hang on a minute did I say quiet? What are all these people doing running along our lanes? We have unwittingly shared our route today with a half marathon so as we ride alongside and past the runners we pass on words of encouragement and support. Once we clear Shapwick we have the roads to ourselves again and enjoy the peace and quiet. That is until we catch up with Bob and others who are on there way to join us at coffee having set off from other directions. 

Ann, Alan & Trike

Shillingstone Station

Our now slightly larger band rolls into Blandford and a coffee stop at Cafe 65 where Kathy and I sit with Ann and Alan and listen to stories of cycling in the 1950's, tandem touring clubs and rides in america. As much as i could have listened to Ann and Alan's stories for much longer it is time to set off again in the general direction of lunch and Hinton St Mary. Our route takes us along the North Dorset Trailway by-passing Durweston and back onto the roads through the pretty village of Stourpaine before once again rejoining the trailway. The trailway here is not a tarmac surface and needs a little ore care, especially on the downhill sections, as one of our number discovered when his front wheel hit the loose stuff and so did he! Fortunately no serious injury and we carry on to Shillingstone where the trailway goes along the platform of the old Shillingstone Railway Station. If you want to you can stop here for refreshments but we had a lunch date to meet.

We leave the trailway again and cross the River Stour and cycle through Child Okeford a quintessential English country village that appears in the Domesday Book.  It's history dates back to 1561 when its then vicar William Kethe wrote the hymm "The Old Hundredth" now better known by its first line "All people who on earth do dwell". Hambledon Hill which lies outside the village was the site of an English civil war battle where Cromwell's Parliamentarians took on 2000 Dorset Royalists. Leaving the history of Child Okeford behind we roll through beautiful undulating countryside to Hinton St Mary another village with its fair share of history. It is famous for the discovery of a virtually complete Roman mosaic in the early 1960's. 

Millennium Garden

This early christian mosaic now resides in the British museum. We enjoy lunch in Hinton St Mary's millennium garden which was created by the villages and celebrity gardener Charlie Dimmock.

Mosaic

We leave the garden behind after a leisurely lunch and head back towards the trailway via Sturminster Newton,   which in September hosts one of the UK's largest cheese festivals. Back at the trailway and we now complete the run home on one of those rare out and back routes unlike the loops we normally favour. At Sturminster Marshall we part company with the rest of the group who are heading for another tea stop in favour of a fast hard ride home. This we successfully complete after dodging the revellers and drunk Morris Men at Wimborne folk festival. Another great day out cycling the back lanes and trailways of Dorset and all in glorious sunshine - what could be better?

Hinton St Mary Church

The White Horse

Kathy enjoys a break in the sun

CTC Inters ride to West Tytherley

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CTC Inters ride to West Tytherley

Coffee this way

Today we decided to test ourselves and go out with the 'Inters' who are a faster group than the 'Potterers' and who also cycle further. I am not sure we were expecting the 87 miles we finished with but more of that later!

We met up with the group at Hurn Stores and were made to feel very welcome. It appeared a number of the group had also previously been in the same position as us in making the transition from first group riding with the 'Potterers' to stepping up to more challenging rides.

a quick breather

We set off along the Avon Causeway and on to Burley, no stop here for coffee today, instead straight on to our first big climb of the day up the ornamental drive to Bolderwood. Kathy had a bit of a tough time on this one and took it easy coming up with Bob. Everyone had waited at the top and gave Kathy a quick break before setting off again. We head for Forest Road at Janemoor Pond on a road we have always done coming from the other direction. 'Murphy's Law' kicks in at this point as the wind is against us just as it was in the winter coming the other way! A quick two minute break at the end to get our breath and onward to coffee at Golden Acres Garden Centre, Landford. Much to some of the groups dismay we arrived fifteen minutes too late for breakfast but the sun was out so we could sit outside and enjoy our coffees. At 31 miles it had been a longish ride to the first stop so we were definitely ready for the refreshments and a rest.

Mottisfont Abbey

lunch on the green

After an enjoyable stop it is time to push on towards our next scheduled stop at West Tytherley, Kathy is feeling refreshed and persuaded to carry on as Colin promises no more big hills before lunch. He lies, as we skirt Sherfield English the road once again gets lumpy as we climb Doctors Hill. Then comes the next shock - we are at Mottisfont Abbey, somewhere we have only ever driven to before, so it feels like we are a long way from home. In fact a glance at the computer confirms we have cycled 40 miles and are not yet at lunch - this is going to be a long one!

Having got over the shock of being at Mottisfont we are next confronted with a stiff little climb at Bossington before following the route of the old roman road before eventually turning south again for West Tytherley and psychologically heading for home!

we wonder if they will give us a tow....

The Black Horse, Tytherley

At West Tytherley we stop for lunch and have our sandwiches on the green opposite the Black Horse Pub where a couple of miniature steam engines are in operation. We pop into the pub for a drink, to use their facilities and for a lengthy debate on the best route back to home. Route decided we head off with the warning that there is a 'bit' of a climb.

View across across two counties -
Wiltshire & Hampshire

At 50 miles out we bowl down Rectory Hill and then turn left onto Ashmore Lane this is the 'bit of a hill', in fact a 12% gradient of a hill for the next half mile, to the top of what on the map is named The Hanging. If we had the energy there might have been one - a bit of a hill indeed!! A well deserved break at the top for the view and photos before heading off in the general direction of home via Whiteparish, Redlynch, Downton and  Breamore. After a gentle climb into Redlynch the road home is fairly flat and easy cycling as we follow the Avon Valley through Fordingbridge and onto a swift tea stop at Ringwood where the cafe owner seems none too pleased to be invaded by cyclists half an hour before closing. There follows much hilarity after Colin is served a bigger portion of cake than Jackie and this after no breakfast as well!!

Kathy makes it to the top!

The group now splits up as we all head in different directions for home we join Bob and cycle back to Hurn Stores via the Christchurch Road and the Avon Causeway. We bid Bob farewell at Hurn and head for home a little wearier than when we set out 87 miles and 7 hours ago. It's our longest ride so far and at an average of 12.5 mph on of our quickest. Will we be joining the 'Inters' again? Most definitely, we have had a great day, it has been hard work but great fun. However, we may cycle with the 'Potterers' again next week to catch up with old friends before joining our new ones again in a couple of weeks.