Here's this week's news & updates....

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RIDE REPORT
Watership Down 19/04/09

We had a first today. I was due to lead but although I'd checked the
train from Clapham Jct for rail replacement busses, I didn't think to
check the local line as we had a second meeting point at Mitcham
Eastfields. I was running a bit late so I planned to jump on the train
at Hackbridge which is nearer to my home. Disaster - a rail
replacement bus! I wasn't sure if the whole line was affected so I
belted up to Eastfields in time to see the replacement bus service.
Nobody else was there. 3 riders meeting at Clapham telephoned me and I
explained the predicament so they made alternative arrangements for
the day. What I hadn't banked on was the two riders already on the
train and the 3rd rider who had driven to Overton. Fortunately, one of
those riders had the foresight to seek out the leaflet the ride was
based on and download a copy. And so, 3 riders did a very good
approximation of the ride that was planned. Here's Laurence's report:


The options we had were to abandon the ride, ride an on road route
“The Test Valley Tour” around Andover or to try to follow the
Watership Down ride. Having made the journey we wanted to do a ride.
The 33 mile on road Test Valley Tour necessitated waiting for another
train to Andover and therefore we decided to try and ride a variation
of the Watership Down Ride. I had a poor map/diagram from the
Hampshire County Council web site describing the Watership Down
Off-Road Cycle Trail.

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/watershipdown.pdf

However we decided to do more on road cycling than the “official”
off-road route. We made route decisions collectively as we went along.

To join the cycle trail north of Overton station we had to follow a
wet/muddy path for about half a mile and a small road before joining
the official trail going north up a long hill to North Oakley and
Hannington. We rode west from Hannington and picked up an off road
uphill section of the Wayfarers Walk. This path on the chalk downland
met the Kingsclere/Overton Road at the top of White Hill and we then
had a downhill section into cycling north to Kingsclere. It was about
12:15 and so we decided to stop for lunch. The Swan Hotel wasn’t
serving food and we were directed to the Crown Pub which is by
Kingsclere church. The food was good and reasonably priced (home made
Steak & Mushroom Pie and Sunday Roasts with potatoes and veg cost
£6-7).

We cycled west from Kingsclere past Sydmonton and decided to try
another off road section heading south up another muddy path uphill
through trees. There was a very large trees on the path and looking
west we could see and hear the busy A34 about ½ a mile away. At the
top of this muddy section we reached the top of Watership Down again
and joined the Wayfarers Walk which we followed east along the top of
the Chalk Downland where there were practice horse jumping fences. For
those that don’t know the area, there are a lot of horse racing
stables in this area, Clare Balding the BBC Sports commentators’
family train race horses in Kingsclere. We followed the Wayfarers Way
for about a mile back to the Kingsclere/Overton Road on White Hill
again but this time instead of riding north to Kingsclere we rode
south back to Overton.

We arrived back at Overton at approximately 15:30 and because the next
train back to London wasn’t due for another hour and a half the other
2 cyclists went to the pub to wait while I drove home.

20 miles 3 ½ hours of cycling, some of the off road trail was challenging.

See the pix on Flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157617056596092
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc039

Many thanks to Laurence and apologies to those who were let down.

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THE FORTHCOMING CYCLE HIRE SCHEME

TfL have published details of the new Paris-style cycle hire scheme. Click here:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/cycling/cycle-hire-scheme

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NEXT WEEK

Those who have checked the website will see that Nick's ride is
postponed. I've had a hectic week so there's currently no replacement
ride. Therefore, in the spirit of today's efforts, I think we should
have a mystery ride. Those who are interested in having an input,
please email me and we'll concoct a ride destination and vague route
suggestions. There's no need for an outright leader as we've done this
kind of thing before and it worked out well. Most people tend to know
the areas heading north or west so expect it to be a reasonablt flat
ride that will probably end up near the Thames somewhere. But also
expect the unexpected. it'll be another PHC mini-adventure! Meet
outside the library at Pollards Hill for a 9:30 departure.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

http://www.pollardshillcyclists.org.uk
http://www.southlondoncyclists.org.uk