A short day ride as the aim today is to visit Paul. Breakfast with Steve and I was soon on the road on what was supposed to be a good weather ride. Calshot has a micro climate so my first few miles were in torrential rain. Soon cleared as soon as I left the area and then the route took me into the New Forest
What a
beautiful ride dodging the horses who wander were they like and the motorists
have to be avoid them. I encountered literally hundreds of them and it was a
joy to see that they were so relaxed and that they had complete right of way.
The scenery of the New Forest was also lovely as there are no major developments.
At one
point I overtook a steam engine towing a trailer that had 2 people in deckchairs
sitting in it 😊 Very relaxed way of travelling as
it was going slower than me. Stood my the side of the road to take a picture
and he tooted his steam whistle 😊
Later I
encountered a fellow cyclist lying on the side of the road so stopped to render
assistance. Turned out he had bonked which happens to us all and is when you
just have no energy left at all to carry on. Luckily I had a couple of power
bars in my back pocket (well they were breakfast cereal bars from the hotel in
London) so I gave one to him which gave him just enough energy to get home
which was only 5km down the road. He was very happy and asked me if I liked
coffee. I said sure expecting him to offer me something from one of his water
bottles (caffeine is used a lot by cyclists) but it turned out he is an
importer with a micro label. He took my address and promised to send me some 😊
Out of the
New Forest and cycling through Dorset was just magic. The roads were quiet, the
route was just about perfect and I passed so many quaint villages with thatched
cottages. Went past Neolithic burial mounds and an old beacon tower that was
used to warn of the arrival of the Spanish Armada in 1588
Navigating
by postcode worked well enough for Steve yesterday because he lived on an
estate. Didn’t work so well for Paul as his postcode is in the middle of a
forest with no mobile reception. So I just cycled on until the reception
worked.
Wasn’t easy
to find but got there in time to get a shower and then join him and his family for
Sunday lunch at a local pub owned by the community, what a great way to ensure
it doesn’t get closed and redeveloped into a house. Paul now works for the Earl
of Shaftsbury so he gave me a whistle stop tour of the estate and we stopped by
an old stone circle (one of a number in the area). Took ther dog Sam for a walk
and then later that evening Paul played in a ukulele band at another pub in the
area and that was an absolute blast. Alison and I sat at the back and had a
good old sing a long. Happy days 😊
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