Bags, scales and a bit of holiday, can mean only one thing.
It must be time to dust off those panniers, charge up the Garmin and hope that the lungs and legs have recovered enough to get me round the miles and up those hills to a campsite.
Once everything is packed, unpacked, repacked in a different order to make the bags balance, they are unpacked once more for a quick photo, which proves invaluable when it comes to packing again every morning. The evening feels hectic, but finally, much later than planned, it is off to bed for one more sleep till tour time.
Apart from testing my fitness, I’ve a couple of new tools that I hope to test out too, but more of that later.
First a quick trip to Winchester (by van thankfully) to join up with Jo.
Add a splash of water and one Jenny.
Then after a short ride to Loveden lane, add a little Babs to the mix. Stir for three days and you have a perfect recipe for an excellent tour.
It’s only when we stop to greet Babs that I realised my bike was no longer wobbling the way it did at the start. I had already got used to the new way it handled and I barely even notice the added weight. It just felt like a sluggish version of my usual ride.
The rain had stopped, the sun, shining, and Avington hall was just crying out to be the backdrop for coffee and a quick change of layering.
On to Ovington, where a beautiful church spire caught my eye and just had to be photographed. Along with the first of many village houses, topped with thatch and the bricks held together with wood. It never ceases to amaze me quite how much beauty there is within a short cycle of our city borders. I make a mental note to take more trips out in this direction.
I’ve no idea how Jenny spied the coffee machine through the door of a tiny post office in Cheriton, but it was unanimously decided that this was the perfect opportunity for a stop. Jenny and I made the coffees (the machine was a well disguised kettle) whilst listening to the tales of 90 year old motorists ploughing themselves into a tree when forgetting which pedal was which. Apparently, they are still worth keeping an eye out for even now, as they are currently in charge of a mobility scooter!
The coffee was nice, the location, perfect and thankfully not a single electric wheelchair in view anywhere.
We paused to see the church then continued on our way past the Flowerpots Inn and began the first of the two big climbs of the day.
Wheely down Road, took us on a long and tortuous route up towards the South Downs. Unusually, my lungs were complaining far more than my legs - a kickback from recently having Covid I guess.
Not sure if I was smiling or grimacing as I cycled past Jo busily pointing her camera in my direction.
As always, the view from Old Winchester Hill was more than worth the effort. And our hard work was rewarded by a warming coffee from Alans Coffee van which is regularly found in the carpark. We were given a set of deckchairs to rest in while we consumed our beverages, lunch and a sneaky lemon drizzle cake.
Coffee’s finished. Chairs returned and bikes pedal ready, we had a surprisingly short ride before reaching a beautiful array of daffodils which indicated our final stop of the day. After a quick check to see where we should camp, we glided downhill to a green field punctuated by fire pits and pitch numbers and an ominous looking shed in the corner.
Finally the chance to test the first of my new pieces of kit. This is so new, it doesn’t even have a name yet. But thanks to the generosity and patience of David and Jean, who deciphered a garbled description of something I’d seen on a website somewhere, then turned it into reality using their 3d printer.
What is this red disk I hear you ask?
It is a tool that inserts my tent pegs into even the toughest of grounds - no more bending them with my feet or searching fruitlessly for a stone. I have just the tool I need - on hand! Thank you David and Jean, it is brilliant.
Tents erected and coffee made, I watched Jenny gathering twigs of a particular thickness. All would be revealed later, apparently.
It was getting cold and damp so we opted for a blood warming walk around the beautiful grounds of the Sustainability centre. This certainly did the trick and we returned just in time to cook dinner.
This gave the opportunity for more testing. Babs was trying out the jetboil as her cooker of choice. Jenny was using her old faithful gas burner.
But Jo and I were experimenting with a Trangia. Jo opted for a shepherds pie type meal. I went for a Mac and Cheese type thing. It’s amazing what you can learn from You Tube!
If you have never met one before, Trangia is a Swedish made alcohol stove that comes in a kit comprising of a stand, a windshield, a couple of pans and a really cute kettle. The design of which has hardly changed since the Second WorldWar. Though it lacks in speed (particularly compared to the Jetboil) the absolute silence of the flame makes it the perfect accompaniment to the slower life of self propelled camping. Later, I’ll talk more about what worked and what didn’t.
Utilising a tip seen in a video, I put the pasta straight in to the water, allowing it to cook while the water came to the boil. Once boiling, I could put the pan to one side, with a lid on, enabling me to fry the onion, mushroom and fake bacon bits to make the sauce in the other pan while the pasta finished cooking. As I was trying to keep things simple,
I used a tiny carton of béchamel sauce as a base to which I used nutritional yeast to add a cheesy flavour.
A sprinkle of Garlic granules once everything was together made for a perfect meal. The kettle slowly heated while
I ate, and boiled in time to wash up. (And fill my tiny hot water bottle.)
By the time I was finished and washed up, Jenny was messing with a bag of white stuff that was due to form the evenings entertainment.
Apparently we would have to wait for increased embers before all would be revealed. In the meantime, we busied ourselves making ‘s’mores’ (toasted marshmallows in a rich tea sandwich for the uninitiated)
Finally the white mixture was the right consistency, the logs were glowing and the long sticks came into play as we cooked ourselves twisted bread, which was all the nicer once dipped into cinnamon and sugar. A fitting end to a lovely day.
Wednesday brought a misty start to the day. Jo and Babs were already sipping tea when I surfaced. It has been a very cold night! An unsettled stomach meaning a couple of trips to the compost loo (the one in the big shed) during the night which meant for quite an unsettled sleep. Note to self - reduce the carbs when camping (or pack more indigestion tablets)
I decided a shower was in order. So walked along to the second shed fearing the worst. But the electric heater was surprisingly effective. And the water lovely and hot. I was only lured out by the pinging of my phone as an invite to share a pancake arrived. Jo was getting good at this camp cooking business. I need to up my game!
Breakfast complete, the big pack up began.
We’d not quite got to ‘leave no trace’, when a visitor arrived. Jill had taken the same route from Winchester, just to say hi and sample the coffee at the cafe. We couldn’t resist either so once packed, sat and chatted for an hour.
The day had just slipped into pm by the time we got underway, but the long downhill away from the sustainability centre soon had us clocking the miles. It took less than 15 mins to get to this junction in East Meon.
A few hills later and we were all down to our shortest sleeves.
Selbourne, was the location of our next intended stop.The famed Gilbert White’s house has a beautiful and well kept garden, but also contains a museum and tea rooms. He even has a brewery on site.
We opted to sit outside for lunch and had to crack open the sun cream while enjoying the unseasonably clement weather.
The grounds looked beautiful, and I made a mental note to return to Gilbert Whites house at some point soon to walk round.
Once we had decided which way to go, we reluctantly made a move away from our sun trap in the cafe garden. Our next stop was to find out the year that the ancient yew hit the church as this was my second clue from Cycle U.K.s British cycle quest. Only another 400 clues to go. https://www.cyclinguk.org/british-cycle-quest
You couldn’t fault the weather, blue skies all the way, I just wish I’d not rejected the shorts while packing.
We struggled up the hills together and wizzed down the other side with smiles on our faces. 20 miles of sunshine, great company and beautiful scenery, what more could a girl want? Well, a shop was on my list as it happened. I kept an eye out through every hamlet, but there were no shops. Not even in Selbourne. There was a pub, a cafe and a museum, but no shop.
I lost count of how many churches we passed. Jenny noted that all those that we chose to pause at had female vicars listed on their notice boards. Coincidence?
The blue skies became a little more threatening as we worked our way towards Odiham. As did the sound of the hovering helicopters nearby. But though we needed an extra layer as it was getting cooler, we didn’t need our rain jackets to keep us dry.
Odiham became my saviour. Jo spotted a chemist down the road to our right (we were about to turn left) a quick visit there and the indigestion that I’d been fighting for two days made a swift exit. I was relieved in more ways than one.
A mile or so later we reached our stopping point for the evening.
The Fox and Goose at Greywell allows camping anywhere in their field. Well anywhere apart from where we chose to pitch apparently, but we were kindly allowed to stay there as long as we’d be gone by 12.
Sadly Jenny had to return home this evening so wasn’t staying the night, but she still helped us set up camp until her lift arrived.
The pub didn’t charge for camping as such, but just asked that we ate a meal there. This was no hardship at all!
I enjoyed a very pleasant vegan burger.
There was an outside toilet and a tap freely available, but no access to a shower.
The night was warmer than before, but that meant a heavy dew had fallen on our tents by morning. It would be a while before the they were dry. We set about making breakfast. Babs cooked water for porridge. Jo made pancakes and I tried a vegan omelette recipe that I’d found on another You Tube channel. But I didn’t add enough water, the whole thing stuck to the pan which then took ages to clean. It did taste ok though.
Ww
So what worked with this cookset? And what just didn’t?
Well the set itself was brilliant. Yes it takes longer to boil water than the jetboil, but it is just so quiet. And is quite fun to use. The fact you can get fuel for it in a supermarket is a bonus too. I am just wondering about getting the non stick version of the frying pan - it did get messy! But apart from that, a big thumbs up for the storm cooker . The chopping board/ strainer was also brilliant. It’s great that it fits into the kit and is multipurpose. I used it as a chopping board, strainer and lid while making my food. The knife is an Opinel. This has such high ratings it had to be good. My only complaint is how hard it is to open. I hope that will ease with time.
Finally the lighter. It was the only thing I hadn’t pre-tested and the only thing that didn’t work. It is USB rechargeable and has a tazer like end. But this spark was just not enough to light alcohol fumes. This meant that I had to borrow Jo’s matches whenever I needed to light up - not a big problem, but wouldn’t be an easy prospect if I ever managed to be up first. The moral of this story - test everything before going away!
It was going to take ages for the tents to dry enough to pack and even longer for me to wash the mess in the frying pan. I was yet again last to be packed. It’s a good job that it’s not a race.
Jenny sent us a photo of her socks for the day and wishing us a good morning. We hatched a plan.
Once we were packed, we took a slight detour to Odium castle. We chatted for a while to the local WI ladies who had taken a stroll down to see the ruins. It was a stark reminder about modern life when one of the younger ladies asked ‘Can you get to Winchester without going on the motorway?’ I was so glad that we were about to find out.
The castle held a lot of history and much was clearly displayed by the surrounding boards.
We did a return shot or two for Jenny, to let her know we were missing her.
Then got back underway. Firstly along the canal path back past the pub, then onto our original route. It was a cooler day, but the scenery was just as stunning. Again we passed through numerous villages, all too small to support a shop these days, though I am sure each would have supported one before the mass take over by the motor car. The bigger ones did still have a church and a pub though!
We wound our way through Upton Grey and Weston Patrick. Farley Warren and Dummer. Pausing to enjoy the scenery and change layers as the weather changed around us.
As lunch time approached, Jo had a brain wave and lead us to the most unlikely set of buildings all advertising the benefits of cricket. I wasn’t sure what she was expecting of us. I’m not well known for my prowess with a bat or a ball for that matter. I needn’t have worried though as our target was the Honesty cafe, which honestly gave us a fine lunch and a good rest before embarking on the final half day.
I particularly enjoyed my vegan sausage roll when it eventually arrived.
But, as has happened on numerous times now. One of us had a puncture as we left. This time it was mine. I was in two minds whether to wheel it back up to the cafe for another coffee, but we had it fixed so quickly that I’m sure they would have been still taking our order by the time we were done.
Now nervous about my tyre as I hadn’t found the cause of the puncture, we gingerly picked our way back towards Winchester.
We rode through Micheldever station but not quite close enough to the famed Micheldever woods to take a detour.
But judging by this small field. There would have been a stunning display of bluebells there.
In no time at all we were saying goodbye to Babs as our routes parted and all too quickly we were back at Jo’s. Tired but satisfied that we had completed our three days. We sat discussing our next plan over coffee while I waited on my lift home.
The next morning was beautiful and sunny, so the kit was aired and dried in no time. Then packed in readinessfor our next adventure.
Thank you Babs, Jenny and Jo for your wonderful company, friendship and laughter. It was just what I needed to kickstart my Easter break. Thank you also for sharing your photos and allowing me to use them here, it is very much appreciated!
If you want to see where we went, take a look at the 3d Relive videos of our journey -
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
