England : Berkshire Reading CTC night ride to Lymington Friday 19th September 2014

[srw]

At least two of us are back and had a fantastic night ...until the point when we discovered that our flange had failed - again.

We left the gang (minus @AKA Bob, who wimped out of running the risk of making his love-life more complex, and @Lisat who very sensibly made her travel home easier) walking along the Hythe ferry pier, and found our way back to Guildford. We fell asleep, and are about to have some naan bread for a late brunch before going out shopping and then having a late lunner.

I rather expect that breakfast was consumed, beer was drunk, and various attempts at getting back to the far-flung corners of the south of the still-United Kingdom were made.

 

[Lisat]

Really enjoyed that ride and nice to meet you all. Leaving the ride at Southampton meant that I was back home tucked up in bed for a nap at 8am. The trains were in my favour.
Hope everyone else got home safely.

 

[srw]

Anyway. Men (and women) of England (and Wales and Scotland and Ireland and Belgium) who were still abed should think etc etc etc

I'm so used to a frustrating couple of hours escaping from the Great Wen that being in a lane within 30 minutes of leaving was a bit of shock. We had a little bit of company on the way into the 24-hour Tesco outside Amazingstoke, a lorry overtook us (very safely) on the way out. We were passed by 4 cars on the way through Winchester city centre. Other than that - nothing, nada ,zip, until we started meeting the early shift on their way to work in Southampton sprawl. It was as if the rest of the world had taken a leave of absence for 5 hours. Dark lanes, made darker by lingering mist and cloud, pierced by the occaisional red flasher and even more occasional streetlight. Twisty turny routes across and under motorways. The welcoming end of Southampton - industrial estates, marshalling yards and a boardwalk around the water.

The curry was at one level a genius idea - I hope @Lisat didn't wonder who the hell she'd expected to spend the night with - and at another a barking mad idea - my stomach never reacts well to a stuffing followed by exercise. THe cartons and bags we transported have mainly survived - an Altura rackpack very neatly takes two foil takeaway cartons in a layer - although whoever decided to put the Biryani sauce underneath the rice needs a lesson in physics.

 

[StuAff]

Sounds like it was brilliant, again…and quite right too. Notwithstanding my dislike of unnecessary ferry trips (if it were me I'd bypass Southampton and go down through more of the Forest instead), it's a great ride. Hopefully no clashes next year...

 

[frank9755]

I enjoyed that very much, from the pre-ride drink at the station to the curry and onwards through the night.

Not done many night rides this year so it was great to catch up with friends not seen for too long and also to meet some new faces.

It was a mild summer night with neither moon nor wind but lots of clammy mist and hooty owls, which made for some quite enchanting periods of solitude in the dark, carless lanes between Basingstoke and Winchester. For most of this period I deliberately let go of the wheel and red light in front and found my own little bubble of dark, misty, silent escape. You probably have to have been there to appreciate, but I felt it was quite special. Adrian's shimmering batman gilet was entirely appropriate on such a night.

I rather wished I'd booked a later train as a slight delay on the ferry and the leisurely, but friendly, service at breakfast meant that I had to leave straight after eating, leaving no time for the much-anticipated hour or so of rehydration, reminisence and banter. It was lucky our breakfast venue served a fine pint of Ringwood as Olaf and I, and our two companions, had to make a dash to Brockenhurst to catch the 11:15. But putting our heads down and getting into a line, we made it in 20 minutes, having allowed 40, so there were no scares.

Afterwards, a pleasant snooze on the train back (after Olaf had explained to our Canadian friends that they couldn't have an extra seat to dump their luggage!) set me up for a brisk ride home through a rather busy London.

Very much looking forward to the next time.

 

[Ollie W]

Glad you had a great time. Still smarting from the idiot train man last night, though I know it's silly to get so riled up about it. Hope to actually get to meet you guys soon.

 

[redfalo]

Over the years, several people had raved about the Reading to Lymington ride. After having done it for the first time, all I can say is that it's a real gem. Actually, Reading may even be a better starting point for some London based rides than London itself. Like on the York to Hull ride, urbanity is left behind in a blink. Meeting up two hours earlier and having a joint curry at a excellent restaurant with secure cycling parking facilities was very sociable. Even the supposed architectural nightmare of Amazingstoke was less bad than anticipated, and the transit happened on car-free roads and paths.

The ride was very warm, very dark and at points quite misty. Several firsts for me: Southampton, the historic Hythe ferry, the New Forest (which reminded me more of the Dartmoor than of a forest, but what's in a name?), stroppy Canadians on a train.

Thanks to @sbird for organising the ride, to @AKA Bob for setting up the pre-ride dinner and to everyone on the ride for the great company.

If anyone is interested, here's the GPX track of your adventure.

And some photos.

 

[mmmmartin]

the New Forest (which reminded me more of the Dartmoor than of a forest, but what's in a name?)

The name forest refers not to the preponderance of trees but to an ancient method of administration in which the laws inside the forest were different from those outside, in particular with regard to the hunting of deer. Common people who killed deer would be executed. Many of these areas are still to this day run by groups known as Commoners.
This was so the king could hunt deer, which were supposed to thrive inside the protected area of the forest. There are other areas known as Forest, one is the Ashdown Forest near me, which is a superbly atmospheric place in the early dawn and dark of night. And would in fact make a lovely section on a night ride.

Thinks.

Goes away to play with Google maps.

Has idea............

 

[redfalo]

The name forest refers not to the preponderance of trees but to an ancient method of administration in which the laws inside the forest were different from those outside, in particular with regard to the hunting of deer. Common people who killed deer would be executed. Many of these areas are still to this day run by groups known as Commoners.
This was so the king could hunt deer, which were supposed to thrive inside the protected area of the forest. There are other areas known as Forest, one is the Ashdown Forest near me, which is a superbly atmospheric place in the early dawn and dark of night. And would in fact make a lovely section on a night ride.

Thinks.

Goes away to play with Google maps.

Has idea............

interesting!

 

[srw]

During the week we took delivery of a 2-together Railcard. Thirty of our British pounds, and it enables two named people travelling together outside of the weekday morning peak to have a 30% discount.

Between Guildford - Reading, and Southampton - Guildford it has already nearly paid for itself. I would recommend it to two people who live close together and ride together on more than a couple of occasions.

 

[mmmmartin]

Some time ago I took delivery of a Senior Person's Railcard. It has provided much loveliness and cheaply delicious train rides ever since. I am however, not in possession of a Free Bus Pass, which @StuartG helpfully reminds me on every possible occasion.

 

[mmmmartin]

The name forest refers not to the preponderance of trees but to an ancient method of administration

The word forest comes from the Latin fores, which refers to the outside (as in outside the walls or outside the usual laws). As opposed to the parcus, which was land inside (the usual law, or inside the walls), where the word park comes from.
Those who lived inside the forest could not hunt but were allowed to take dead wood (not cut down living wood) and to this day each property owner on the Ashdown Forest is visited annually and told by a chappie employed by the Commoners which dead tree they can take. It is sometimes marked by paint so there is no argument.

You can argue the growth in deer numbers resulted in the tree numbers being reduced, hence the tendency to return from tree terrain to moorland.
I'll shut up now.

 

[frank9755]

The word forest comes from the Latin fores, which refers to the outside (as in outside the walls or outside the usual laws). As opposed to the parcus, which was land inside (the usual law, or inside the walls), where the word park comes from.
Those who lived inside the forest could not hunt but were allowed to take dead wood (not cut down living wood) and to this day each property owner on the Ashdown Forest is visited annually and told by a chappie employed by the Commoners which dead tree they can take. It is sometimes marked by paint so there is no argument.

You can argue the growth in deer numbers resulted in the tree numbers being reduced, hence the tendency to return from tree terrain to moorland.
I'll shut up now.

If only you'd been there on Saturday morning when Adrian and I were discussing this very thing. You could have kept us informed and amused all the way to breakfast!

 

[frank9755]

The pre-ride curry was great.
Some of the Essex overnight audaxes do it as well.
Surprising that we've never thought of it before. I suppose finding a suitable place where you can store bikes safely (and where we could get a massive restaurant virtually to ourselves on a Friday evening) might be a bit harder in the vicinity of Hyde Park Corner.

 

[sbird]

Thank you to you lovely people for coming on this ride. And for the way-marking and back-marking.

I'll certainly look into variations suggested although as the route is almost straight as an arrow as it could be any then deviation around Amazingstoke (genius!) and omitting the ferry will certainly increase the distance. Perhaps not a bad thing though as going further west could take in the Test Valley which, in daylight at least, is a beautiful ride in itself.

The 4 of Reading CTC who either hadn't been routed by a bovine blocking manouvre or had a train pre-booked rode back to Southampton via the ferry again. Terrific Tonia gave us another discount on the fare and we took 3 trains (which worked fine) back to Reading arriving at 2pm. A 60th birthday party for one of our members was on for the evening which required a prompt departure from Lymington - not that that stopped us doing a little pre-celebrating on the journey back.

I'm grateful to @dellzeqq for including this ride on the Friday's website so whatever happens for next years Friday's calendar please consider adding this ride in. The date is not inflexible - it just happens to be the same date each year because the first time we did it, the round-up was happening at the time in the New Forest which was spectacular to see but not, as yet repeated.