Talking of Bluebells, yesterday in Botley wood we saw carpets of them and today at our 2nd choice ride of Wickham railway we saw loads again, stunning.

cheers for that cinnamon girl, I have seen tyre marks around there when waling but not seen anyone riding there. I think there is one of the hants council rides that starts near there which I keep meaning to do.

There is a gravel track that runs through there but it’s off limits for a good reason – historical interest.

Itchen Wood is opposite and do suspect that there might be a little single track there, or it’s footpaths! Be aware of the chalk though!

Yes, I think a ride does start from Micheldever Wood. I know that vicinity pretty well so just shout up with any questions. 🙂

is the food at the northbrook arms still good? 🙂

Not been there, sorry. Have stopped for coffee at the Woolpack in Totford, they didn’t bat an eyelid at the state of me! Did sit outside though so as not to frighten their (wealthy) customers. 😀

I went to the northbrook after a particularly muddy stinging nettly ride and all they asked was that we left our shoes outside! this was about 6 years ago though…

That’s fair enough really, if it was a Winter ride obviously!

It’s a bit of a mixed bag in Hampshire, I found Wiltshire to be far more tolerant particularly when on my own. 😀

Hampshire is much better than north essex, One place I refuse to go however is the jolly farmer in cliddesden… not at all jolly, bloody rude in fact…. avoid if possible

Will avoid that one then!

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Ooohhhh epic ride today, truly epic. 78ks of Downs bouncing… I’ve got a great photo but flickrs being a bit of a shit at the moment, once they’ve recreated the world I’ll upload it 😀

As for accessing Botley Woods,,there is/are a number of access points, maybe you should try to get in through Whiteley where the access is directly onto the fire road. You have to head in over J9 and directly over the roundabout with the Solent Hotel on it, (head towards Tescos) then as you approach the large offices on the right take the next right into the office roads and head right to the end, then turn left, park up. The road you are on is quiet and the trails you need are directly behind you, you will see a tree line with a Bridleway running down the middle (you have offices either side now) then I’d head north along it until you hit the trails that turn in towards the fire road, you can’t miss it as there is a large gate across the fire road, head in, ride the trails, they are everywhere.

They need the access for the fire road because they still log it at the top of the hill and also the sub station in the valley needs access too.

HTH

Sounds a good day bikebouy. Just got back from Botley Wood again, rode from my house this time rather than drive. I have to say my full suss bike is shocking to ride on the road 🙂 I was right not to risk the kids on that section of road, will try out the Whitely option you mentioned. Someone needs to get down there with a chainsaw and get rid of the trees that have fallen across the trails, do you know if the forestry lot do much in there?

Well they do yes but only half of it, the other half is split between SW Electric and the farmer who owns the woods across the road, hence only their part gets cut when SEC need access (which you will see the mess they’ve created down there :roll:) the rest is part of Woodlands Trust & FComm. You will see they had a go at clearing the old part of the wood (over 200 yrs old) at the top of the hill, cut all but a few trees down to make way for re growth, but a few they left and guess what ?? Ohhh yes the first winds blew them down 🙄 its a good set of woods to play in, I’ve got some fairly defined routes through them now and only tend to hack through certain trails, but if you look around you will find quite a few good sections.
Try the Whiteley entrance, it’s very near the Tesco/Whiteley shopping complex and very easy to get into..

If you go there Tuesday and Thursday nights you will find a group hacking through it, Meon MTB’ers (MTB club) and Fareham Wheelers (see Dave Palke who runs that part of the club) run through there quite regularly,

I’m around again next weekend if you want showing a route or two I do..

@johnj a pleasure to meet you, the Rocket looked great first one I’ve seen. Our ride turned out to be 3hrs and 30k and our route back to Warsash was quite dull, mostly gravel track or Tarmac. Will explore those woods a bit more but not sure it’s worth the ride in/back so will explore parking options too. Will email you a map so you can see which bits we rode. Look forward to catching up again sometime and should have a suitable bike car in the next month.

John, how far do your kids ride, I can recommend somewhere near Liphook that’s good for 5miles or more. No roads and my 4 year old loves it there.

Any good? If so will dig out the OS map and give you a grid ref for where to park.

John, how far do your kids ride, I can recommend somewhere near Liphook that’s good for 5miles or more. No roads and my 4 year old loves it there.

Any good? If so will dig out the OS map and give you a grid ref for where to park.

@bikebouy thanks for the Botley woods suggestion by the way.

garage-dweller, hi. daughter is up to about 15 miles of flat bridleway and son about half that i would say. looking for something that will help them learn that not everything is flat and safe, so some single track and a few short hills, a bit of variety is what’s required. Liphook is close enough as long as it’s worth the drive, thank you. 🙂

Jambalaya – likewise, this weekend is looking good for a ride as rugby is off so if you want toy get out somewhere give me a shout.

bikebouy – would love a guided tour sometime, as above maybe we could meet up this weekend?

Schoolboy error! Didn’t check the master calendar for this weekend. We have a wedding to go to, will be a good wedding so looking forward to it but it does damage my riding opportunities. Probably the only likely time free would be really early sat morning.

Very near to where I was at school. In a county abutting Hampshire in places. And I’m not telling.

Slight hijack, but on past post history I’m calling West Woods near Lockeridge. No need to deny or confirm of course 🙂

Is anybody doing the Houghton ride? trying to chivvy eldest son (8) into doing it in some form, whilst Mrs B does the run. Probably lock the other two in the car 🙂 Or maybe do the shortest route with tag a long and a metric ton of Haribo to keep the energy up.

did the cliddesden round last night, very slippery and muddy hour blast. very quiet but wildlife was abound… well over 30 deer, kites, buzzards, possibly ravens (bloody big, seriously big, crows if not) pheasants enough to fill a shooting season, plus heard one being dispatched then saw a fox with said pheasant hanging from its mouth wandered across the path just after putting my camera away (bugger). got swooped on by an owl too, not sure what sort apart from it being brown.
only saw one other person out all evening and that was just as I was finishing.

one for cinnamon girl…
[url=https://flic.kr/p/nkwqen]IMG_0836[/url] by daftvader77, on Flickr

just by the car park
[/url]IMG_0843 by daftvader77, on Flickr[/img]

not taken on the same day but in the same area…
[/url]IMG_0827 by daftvader77, on Flickr[/img]

Thanks for those daftvader, bluebells are lovely. 8) I recognise pic 2 where you started from but not sure where the wood is, could be near the top of that nice track.

Did you see a herd of deer and what type?

We also have bluebells here in West Sussex (Hampshire is a mile down the road)… as well as some great views. Luckily my lad can cope with the hills as it’s hard to find good riding for younger riders who want to progress beyond disused railways. The new Blue Trail at QE will be a good option once the climb is open.

Some nice pics there, good to see people out riding. Heavens have opened again today and roads were filling up with water again. Hope it stops soon.

CG… you go left out of the school lane and turn right onto the first bridal way, left again at the end of the bridal way and you come to a permissive bridleway at the top of the disused railway embankment. follow that to almost he end and there is a steep right hander. this goes to the bottom of the first climb and the woods are at the top. most of the deer were roe, one heard must have been 20 strong, buggers bolted before I could get my camera out. saw a couple of muntjack too, thought they were dogs at first (forgot my contacts!) I am sure I also saw a sika deer, far too many points on the antler for roe, big too, just stood at the side of the trail where all the conservation ground is watched me then shot off like a bullet.

bartimaeus that looks cool, where is it?

another for cinnamon girl… this was taken just a couple of miles from where I live. one of the smallest groups I have seen, discounting singles and pairs. some of the heards have been well in excess of 20.

[/url]IMG_0429 (2) by daftvader77, on Flickr[/img]

Sorry, everyone, but another day riding outside Hampshire for me today, at Afan (of which more anon).

Lovely local ride yesterday though and a bluebell pic to follow….

Well I’ve stuck to roadie’ing, you know me.

So over the last few days I’ve done the routes, home, West Meon, Old Winny Hill, East Meon, Privett, High Cross, Steep, Selbourne, Four Marks, Ropley, Cheriton, Dundridge, B Waltham, Botley, home … So the eastern Hants cut through the centre, then today I did the western Hants, similar route up then turned left at Arelsford, Bighton, over to Winney, Twyford, Owlesbury. Upham, Botley and home again. All of this (except one small stint on an A road) was done on single track lanes except in Winney obvs.

I’ve seen some fab sights, but the highlight was the Peacocks up near West Tisted near the old Manor House.

I am very happy, I can return to London for a couple of days with aching legs.

😆

As happy as I am for you bikebouy i have to say I am a tad jealous 🙂

bartimaeus – great to see kids out riding!

daftvader – yes, I know where you mean. Normally come from the railway embankment and enjoy the descent to the minor road. Good to hear about the deer, there’s plenty around Hampshire and certainly that area I’ve seen herds of fallow and small groups of roe. Not seen any muntjac so you were lucky. As regards sika, I’ve never seen any but they could have been fallow bucks. Their antlers are impressive – I have one in my lounge as an ornament. 😀

Jeez, I need to get off road! Last 3 rides have been on the cx enjoying minor roads.

Sounds as though bikebuoy has been touring the whole of Hampshire. 😯

Some bluebells from earlier in the week.

^^ niiiiiiiyce ^^

I know Hants reayyyyylly well. I have some very defined training routes that I build fitness on and some rather random “what if I turn here” routes, but I know it well. One area I don’t know that well though is the upper Test Valley. For some reason or other I’ve never ventured north of Winney, anyone know what it’s like? Bare in mind I only ride single lanes or B roads, be nice to have an idea of a route or two.. even something like a sustrans route number or other..
Ta.

I hope no bluebells were hurt in the taking of that pic??? 😉

bikebuoy – The Northern Test Valley is brilliant for mtb (I know it well) but also good for road riding. You can climb up to Coombe Gibet which is next to the highest hill fort in Berkshire and indeed England. Wonderful ridge, stonking views, brilliant in all weathers.

Check this out for route ideas in the meantime, let me come back to you later with some specifics. 🙂

http://hampshirehilly.moonfruit.com/#/routes-for-2014/4584132545

bikebuoy – do you ever cross the A31? There’s loads of good riding over Alresford/Candover Valley area.

As regards North of Winchester, there’s loads of lanes around Sutton Scotney, Barton Stacey and you can head towards Wherwell which of course sits on the River Test. Crawley has a most interesting looking pub!

If you want hills then keep heading North!

Plenty of great single lane riding around Whitchurch, Kingsclere, etc. Get stuck in to your OS maps and get planning!

The Tour de France went through that thar Wherwell back in the day. Combe Gibbet used to fly my rc gliders up there back in the mid 70’s – ouch ! I love this Hampshire thread.

@CFH have you got an aversion to mud, that bike is well fendered ?

Isn’t always like that. Was set up ready for a cheeky day at Afan. Should really take the front one off. Can’t fit anything on my fork and I like cutting out the spray on fast wet trails. Crud Catcher remains on regardless.

If you are comming in from the south there are some pretty nice road routes that can start from Winchester, through all the Worthy’s, the candovers, round Basingstoke, back through Oakley, north Waltham, steventon and back to Winchester… potentially without any length of time on or crossing A roads… I know cos I did it last friday but from basingstoke instead, 50 miles, hoping that by the end of the summer I will be able to do a ton…

Are you in the Stoke, DV?

Yup…. amazingstoke 🙄 😆