I came back yesterday from a cycle trip around Dorset, Wilts and Hants. Here are the pictures in case you don't want to read all the guff below: http://www.web-options.com/Byway/
Here's a couple of old boys who should join the PDML: http://www.web-options.com/Byway/content/_6185590_large.html I cut the trip short a few days because I blew my accommodation budget in just 3 nights - it was costing me 2-3 times more than anticipated. The prices of B&Bs around there is outrageous, and frankly I got sick of traipsing around looking for somewhere reasonably priced, then having to settle for the top end of the market because there were no other vacancies anywhere. Anyway, the cycling itself was very enjoyable, but difficult at times. I don't know why they call them Downs - they seem mostly to be Ups, into a headwind. I took the train to Tisbury on Monday, cycled to Shaftesbury, which is a lovely town, and spent a very enjoyable evening there. In the morning I cycled across Cranborne Chase via Melbury, Ashmore, Farnham and the Gussages, up to Cranborne, Tidpit and Rockbourne to Fordingbridge, where I had a huge problem finding accommodation, but eventually found a grotty little place in a nearby village. By that time one of my spokes was breaking, which made the back wheel wobble and catch the brake pads. I had to loosen the brakes almost to the point of danger to let the wheel spin at all. I couldn't find anyone to repair it quickly in Fordingbridge, so the next day I cycled up to Salisbury along the edge of the New Forest via Brune Purlieu, Woodgreen, Alderbury, East Grimstead, Farley and Pitton. I found a very good, helpful bike shop in Salisbury (Stonehenge Cycles, if you ever need a bike fixing in Salisbury! http://www.stonehengecycles.com/) and he was able to replace the spoke and true the wheel in the morning. He was also helpful in recommending several B&Bs, but they were all full and I had to settle for the only vacancy I could find, which was humungously expensive - not much cheaper than one of the top hotels in town. Next morning I heard one of the guests had arrived at 2am after searching the whole of Salisbury, accommodation being so scarce. Probably all the druids have booked the rooms. When I had the bike back I headed back to Tisbury via Stratford-sub-Castle, the Woodfords, Wylye Valley and then down across Cranborne Chase via Dinton and Teffont Magna. Including various side-trips (and getting lost) I cycled about 110 miles - over half of it on an out-of-true back wheel. The countryside and villages are quite spectacular. Some of the villages, especially on Cranborne Chase, are quite breathtakingly beautiful, they're so ancient and crumbling. Mostly I didn't even bother trying to photograph them. To get the best shots you need to wait around for the light, and to find the best view, but even then you'd just have a postcard view. To do the places justice I think you need to live there and have the places as a background to the locals' lives, as James Ravilious did in Devon. But it's a wonderful area to cycle (although some of the hills are hard work) and shows the very best of tourist board England. I was very surprised in Hampshire though that so few of the villages still had pubs. I'd planned on pub lunches, but from Fordingbridge up to Pitton not a single village still had a pub. The pub in Pitton wouldn't serve me any food because it was after 2pm and the chef had gone home. Apparently only chefs can make a ploughman's lunch, which probably explains the absence of ploughmen in Hampshire - they've all starved to death. The villages in Hampshire seem dead - just dormitory villages - whereas at least in Dorset and Wiltshire they seem to have something other than rich commuters. Salisbury and the area around the Cathedral Close are really stunning in the summer evening light. Unfortunately the cathedral itself is covered in scaffolding at the moment, but the cathedral close is very beautiful. I'd like to have gone to Filly Loo tonight in Ashmore (that's their annual festival when they have pagan rituals round the duck pond), and earlier I was still debating whether to drive over and back today, but I'm very tired (slept 11 hours last night), so I'll give it a miss until next year. I still plan to cycle around South and West Dorset and visit various Hardy sites, and the prehistoric and Roman sites, but I'll do it from a base near Dorchester. Maybe even next week, if I can find some cheap accommodation at such short notice. Cheers, Bob -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
