There are some days when being out on your bike with your mates can be one of the best thing in the world ....and yesterday was the perfect, A1, gold plated example of one.
The Faccombe4 were out on their 3rd running of the Denmead 300 and I think we did most of the ride with only a cursory glance of the routesheet. In my mind the ride really starts once you've crossed the A36 at Wellow and have felt the first rumble of a cattle grid under your wheel as you enter the New forest. The km's before that are just the necessary preamble to get beyond the south coast metroploli. Within 5 mins of entering the forest we were greeted with the site of two Stags and a Doe galloping across the open heathland a fine portent for the day ahead. The sun was well and truely up by now and arm / legs warmers were being stripped off to reveal pale and pasty arms and legs that hadn't seen the light of day on a bike for many months! it was just glorious .....soaking it all up and swapping stories about how cold we had been during all those deep winter 200's which now seemed like a fading nightmare. Sun cream ...yes ...sun cream had to be applied ....surely this is not right in the world of audaxing! My favourite section of this ride is along the coast starting from Bucklers Hard...and as we turned west we picked up the tail wind and were spoilt with sparkling seas, a forground of yellow fields and hedgerows hung with white blossom. It really was a day to inspire the inner poet!!
It was market shopper dodging in Lymington high street but the F4 weaved their way through with no collisions and we wheeled out of town to the theme of the of the Muppets from the Sally Army brass band. At this point the F4 split into a 2x2 formation with myself and Dave heading down to the 'low road' coastal track to Keyhaven and Milford while Lee and Kieran took the 'High road'. The track along the coast wasn't as rough as I remebered and well worth it for the views across the marshes to the IOW. We regrouped and reformed in Milford and headed off further west via the coast road to Barton on Sea and New Milton being spoilt with stunning views of The Needles across a iridescent sea criss-crossed by the wakes of buzzing jet skies.
Ringwood was out next stop and with touring more than audaxing in our minds we had to stop at the Fish Inn for a pint of bitter shandy by the river Avon...'rude not to' as they say! Tempting as it was for another it was back on the bike and off West again to Wimborne Minter and then following the river Stour valley to Blandford Forum....the coast was long left behind and we were now in quintessential English country lanes ....high banks, gateway views of pastoral scenes and shocking road surfaces! Luckily teeth and fillings were still left intact as we rolled into Blandford for the delights of the Gorge cafe after aboput 170k. There was a brief suggestion that we might not stop to eat but they saw the error of their ways and was soon spotted polishing off egg and beans with the rest of us.
The sun was still shining and it was still a great day to be on a bike. It's homeward bound from there ...albeit 130k back home via Salisbury and Romsey, and now heading east we made our way back to the northern part of forest over familiar ground through Cranborne and Fordingbridge and Godshill to Downton. It was time to catch the rays of the sun and time to put on arm warmers and Gilets as the evening set in. We rolled into Salisbury at 7pm and took the usual audaxers 'table for 4' outside the petrol station shops ..i.e sat on the kerb next to the BBQ briquettes and coal! Refuelled once more it was timed to tackle the main climb of the day ...West Dean Hill ....not a mountain but certainly steep enough to engage the granny and certainly high enough to provide a superb view of the Wilshire countryside slipping away as dusk turned into night.
From West Dean its down to Ower services for the penultimate control, meeting up once more with fellow wheelmen we had been yo-yo'ing with all day. 50k to go .....properly dark now and feeling a little chilly ...time for leg warmers, full finger gloves and another layer on top. Now for a little experiment ....we met Judith Swallow the other day on The Dean 300 ...and rode in with her for the last few kms ...we were chatting about PBP and she described PBP as the 'fine art of plodding' i.e keeping on the move at a steady pace ...so we rebranded it as 'intelligent plodding .....or rather i-plodding and so spun our way at a comfortable 20-25kph back to Denmead. All good things come to an end , although the end will be much further away on out next rides, and at 11:45, cash point receipts in hand the Faccombe 4 parted soon to be reunited on the hills in the land of the red Dragon.
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