All ok on bikes 😉

Might give it a look this morning.

Would’ve gone along with you John but the wifes going shopping in Fareham leaving me with the kids.
Not far from me Alver living in Stubbington, am i right in saying you live in Fareham?
I met up with Bikebuoy before xmas and had a really good ride out from hill head up the hamble and over into botley woods. All organised on your thread here.
Email in profile if you fancy a ride any other time.
Mark

Shep – you can come into Alver from the back over Cherque Farm past the old quarry 😉

Cheers Hammy, you gosport/fareham based?

Am I going to find the entrance to this place quite easily? Will ride from home down through Stubb and then along through Lee. By the looks of the map I should at some point on the other side of Lee stumble across Alver, would this be correct?

Yes, in Fareham Mark, will drop you a mail.

I’m gosport.
You don’t need to touch Lee John
Turn right at the Rowner road/Newgate Lane roundabout
At the lights by the Wyvern turn left onto the new road with Cherque Farm on your right
Alver Valley is everything on your left all the way to Browndown Camp/Rowner/Grange
Access track runs right through the middle over the river bridge and will bring you out next to the Tip/BMX track
Heath across Cherque to Browndown Road
The section from the Tip across to Browndown is the MoD area with loads of drops, Singletrack, duckboards, etc
Google Earth is your friend 😉

Oh well, family stuff gets in the way once more so I didn’t manage to suss out the Alver Valley. Maybe this weekend coming.

Anyone else get out in Hampshire last weekend?

Yeah bit of SDW before a mechanical cut it short. Wasn’t too bad round Butser/QE.

Hammy you the same guy from the dig days?

Yes he is eranu

Might have to arrange a ride over there then sounds interesting. Once you’ve built my bike that is 😉

Ok so tomorrow is supposed to be ok weather wise, I am going to try and find this Alver Valley place.

Been today, got muddy, was a bit lost as to where to go but after a while realised you could go anywhere. Found some fun bits, found lots of muddy bits, will be good when a bit drier. Thanks Hammy.

hi John,went up to Beacon Hill and Old Winchester hill on the road bike just to get a bit of mileage in, weather great for road riding. Going over to Alver Valley first thing in the morning, if you fancy going again early doors then let me know and we’ll meet up.

I’m not around for another couple of weeks, sorry. However when I’m back I’m more than happy to arrange another pootle, you know just to show the trails I’ve been using for best part of 15 or so years… As far as the coastal path down on Chilling Cliffs goes it’s all rideable, everyone uses it just take care around the bits where it narrows into overgrown trees/bushes towards the little white huts near Meon Bird Sanctuary. There is a sustrans route just at the top of the field from Chilling Cliffs if you want gravel hacking, good fun for a blast but not really that exciting.
Hambles quite good in parts, the old airplane hangers/airfield near Netley Abbey is a good hack, but you do need to shorten your trip over by using the pink ferry, if you hack along the river path along the western shoreline from Warsash (my home village) you end up going through a couple of marinas and ending up at Swanwick Marina on the A27, really nice route and well worth a pootle to look at all the river life. If you then take the A27 over the bridge and into Bursledon you need to turn left up into the village with the marinas on your left and the train station on your left then up the steep hill into Lowford, it’s all road apart from a couple of cheeky bits but it does lead you down to Hamble the long way around.
I’d say for a first time out catch up with Mark, we rode out a few weekends ago and he knows where the good stuff is and I showed him the trails that head north along the western river path upto Botley then into the woods from there. He knows how to link all that from Knowle village back to Fareham via the Fareham lines and cut throughs.

I expect to be home again weekend after next so if you fancy meeting up for a bumble and pootle then pop up on here and we can organise a rideout.

Have fun y’all 😀

Thanks for the invite Shep but unfortunately I have family duties in the morning but if it changes let me know what time you will be there and I will try to meet up. If i do I will be wearing a red jacket, black shorts and riding a black whippet(I might even bring my bike as well)

How did you get on today Shep?

Not too well at Alver Valley, lots of dog walkers and not that many good bits for my liking. The MOD area was a bit better but I ended up cycling along Lee seafront and going along the cliffs towards Warsash then back home.
An hour and a half was enough for me with the wind this morning… 😳

Yes, I was tangled up with dog walkers as well on Saturday. I didn’t find a way in to the MOD section until I had to turn back for home but did notice a few fun bits off the main pathways. Will use it just while I am getting fitness back and then maybe once the fitness is back I will be able to ride it faster anyway which will improve what it can offer.

Can’t wait to get back to long SDW fitness and to a point where those uphill switchbacks at QECP don’t finish me off before I have even started.

Anyone out in hants this weekend? I am going to try my luck and get a pass out for sat and sun

Muddy! Pretty much all I can say apart from the new rear tire was better than my old one

There’s plenty of areas where you can miss the walkers. It took me a few visited to know where to drop in and out.
Skirting to the right past the 16c village, then down across Apple bridge, out right towards Cherque Farm, then back across the heath into the MoD area then there’s loads of routes, literally wherever you want.
Normally pop out across the duck boards by Kingfisher, down the river path behind then into the Bayside cabin for cake tea tap water 😛
Back then into the MoD and take your pick.

How do you get into the MOD area Hammy? I ended up climbing a style to get in

By climbing a big metal stile 😛

The main problem is that the areas and paths that are ok (mud washed away to show the gravel) have massive bits of mud to get through before you reach them (you found the mud that had moved of the good bit:-)). So much so that I retreated to the roads only to find that there was mud on them and a load of rivers/puddles. Still it was good to see some sunshine for a 2 hour pootle.

Going to attempt to get up stupidly early tomorrow and have a bash at QECP before the boys rugby lesson.

Went today, trails are in ok condition to be fair.

Slightly spoiled by my mech hanger snapping within the first mile. Bodged singlespeed lasted though!

Good to hear PJ266. We have been a bit remiss on the maintenance front this year due to building new trails for the blue. We will get back to red as there are a few bits we need to look at.

Any idea if I will have any car park issues if I turn up before 7am?

Will be fine if park by the centre. Open 24 hours.

Cool, thanks. Had a skills coaching session a cpl of weeks ago with Tony Doyle and I need to put it into practice before I lose my bottle again. I am aiming to ride all the drop offs which I normally ride around.

There are drop off a at qecp, where abouts mate. Can you get a decent loop in over there? Cheers.

Don’t base my Idea of a drop off to be anything gnarrrr. Just riding off a curb scares me. There are 3 places I have always avoided on the red trail, the first comes I think in the second section following the initial climb just before a berm on quite a steep decent. The 2nd follows a cpl of humps( I am sure there is a technical term here) and the. The 3rd follows quite closely afterwards. None of them very high, just enough to make me bottle.

I did a cpl at a meter during the training session so feeling good.

Wouldn’t bother with QECP at this moment in time following all the rain we’ve had. Last time I went was early December when the trails were running like it was spring, then came the wet weather!
I won’t be back until it’s been dry for at least two weeks.

Thanks, think I may go down in the near future as fairly local. Last time I was there it was just a couple of trails. The stuff out the back was good though 🙂

It’s in chalk FFS – it’s dry up there with the odd Slippy where the loam has been moved by the rain.
It’s a dig weekend so areas of the new blue climb aren’t in use but the rest is running well.

QECP has been running g very well this winter – in comparison to other centres and trails in south. The mud has washed off most of the lines, leaving chalk rock. Slippy yes, but fun and good for skills 🙂 In fact off there now!

The downed tree is back into its home Dave, the corner still needs tamping and some reinforcing 😉

QE is riding very well ATM, a bit of mud, what with it being a mountain bike trail and February but it’s no worse than it ever gets at this time of year.
Last 2 rides last week were with Nobby Nick up front and Racing Ralph radar and I had no problems traction wise.

Nice to see this thread still going. 😀

(Not going anything to add!)