21st September - a midnight excursion from London Village to Southsea.

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StuAff

Silencing his legs regularly
Location
Portsmouth
You might want to try a route along these lines.

Short, steep hill up to Buriton but then mostly gentle downhill all the way to Havant on quiet, lovely back roads through the villages of Finchdean and Rowlands Castle. Once in Havant town you can pick up the cycle route which takes you down Portsmouth's Eastern Road on a cycle track which is just a stone's throw from the promenade. It's my usual route from Petersfield to Portsmouth and is always a pleasure.

And my usual route as well, funnily enough.....
The plan is to follow that route to Havant, down the Billy Trail etc to the Hayling ferry, and over to Eastney.
 

_aD

Do not touch suspicious objects
Good choice! I hope those with road bikes are aware that the Billy is a bit on the bumpy side and will likely be muddy at this rate...
 
OP
OP
H

Hummers

Active Member
The main issue will be the Hayling Island Ferry early sail time confimation (work in progress). Given the reasonably fine September, the Billy line should be fine and I ride with 23c tyres.

On the topic of route checks, I am hoping to ride the route next Tuesday night for a final thumbs up.
 

mmmmartin

Random geezer
Hummers, sorry to say I ought really to help out at a different event, different sport, different county on Saturday and will be needed quite early on Saturday morning so alas I cannot make this ride. Shame, but one cannot be everywhere. I was looking forward to the company, the distance and the area, as I went to college In Portsmouth and have fond memories of the place. The route looks good, too.

Martin
 
OP
OP
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Hummers

Active Member
Hummers, sorry to say I ought really to help out at a different event, different sport, different county on Saturday and will be needed quite early on Saturday morning so alas I cannot make this ride. Shame, but one cannot be everywhere. I was looking forward to the company, the distance and the area, as I went to college In Portsmouth and have fond memories of the place. The route looks good, too.

Martin

No problems Martin.

H
 

Alberto

Active Member
Location
London
Unfortunately I have to pull out of this ride also. Hope you all have a warm night and a tailwind all the way to Southsea
 

CharlieB

Junior Walker and the Allstars
I'm so sorry, people. I, too have to pull out. A myriad of excuses, not least that I and my legs are not 100% at the moment, and after a scary falling asleep experience on the last FNRttC, a risk assessment says no for the moment. That, and the logistics of squeezing in the Lewes-Bexhill thing on Sunday.
A shame - this is one I was really looking forward to, but have a great night, all!
 

StuAff

Silencing his legs regularly
Location
Portsmouth
There have been posts in the other place....
Anyway:
There were fourteen of us at the start (Paul W- Postie on the other place- joined us at Liphook having had to work the previous night) left about ten minutes late because I missed my usual train (by a minute, quite literally) and ended up getting the later train into London Bridge. Apart from the nip in the air and a very light shower early on, the weather was perfect, including that rarest and most pleasant of phenomena, a tailwind. For such a small ride, we had quite a few punctures, five (including a repeat, almost certainly a split tyre, the young lady affected eventually bailed). For that reason, and our generally relaxed pace, we gradually became later and later behind our expected arrival time- we were still at Haslemere at six!- and aborted plans for a second stop in Petersfield and a trip on the Hayling Ferry.

But those were hardly important. For the most part, our route followed the ideas Hummers, self and others had tried and tested. From HPC we went to Putney Bridge (this time via Chelsea Embankment rather than the direct route, a variation that worked very nicely), then through Richmond Park, where John (aka Plodder) impressed everyone with his negotiation of the rather tight kissing gates with his Dawes trike. And as always, riding through there at night was a great experience. We managed to take a very slight detour when we missed a turn in Cobham, but that was quickly spotted and corrected. On we went to Guildford and our halfway stop at Tesco, where we met a few friendly locals both there and on our way out of town (thankfully rather more efficiently than I did the other week).

From there we passed through Godalming, Haslemere (another puncture), Petersfield, before the one climb of note (though there was much of the rolling variety),up from Buriton, where I had to walk part way after fluffing my gear changes. From there, it was mostly downhill or flat through Havant and Pompey.

And as for the cafe at the Castle: Superb. Great location, great food, and very reasonably priced, served up by lovely people. Highly recommended.

Cracking night out!
 
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