Day One (Friday)

Distance: 16.3 Miles (Romsey to Fordingbridge)

Top Speed: 24mph

Part one can be found here.

During the day I had been keeping a beady and watchful eye on the weather. It wasn’t looking good. Rain had been threatening, and at times appearing, throughout the course of the day. David was certain that this was the end of a weather system, and that though we may get wet today, the weekend itself would be fine and dry - and maybe even sunny. This was it. It was now or never. Setting off at 18.30 ish I immediately learned three rules of touring.

1. Don’t drink too much the night before departure. By late afternoon I was still feeling somewhat heady and wholly dreading the journey ahead. It did not help to put me in the right frame of mind.

2. Check all bikes thoroughly before leaving. Fully loaded, we mounted our steeds, said fairwell to the maidens we were leaving behind only to meet disaster a few feet down the road. A p*nct*re on my cycle buddy’s bike! Oh noes! Fortunately this turned out to be lack of air pressure, and not an actual disaster. How David had been riding to work on a daily basis with an effectively flat tyre is a mystery to me now.

3. Everybody on the trip should be fully aware of the route.

Having provided a rough plan of the intended route in Pt. 1, my cycling buddy had worried about the minor details. He had briefly suggested that he wasn’t a fan of cycling on main roads. I took this to mean that a goodly portion of the journey would be on white roads, which is fine by me. Whilst I don’t mind cycling on busy roads, minor roads do tend to be a little more interesting.

However he had meant that the journey would cover significant portions off road. I wasn’t overjoyed that I had left my semi-slicks on, and this would also put the beam rack to test a little later.

We arrived at Tom’s Field some time after 8pm. The last few miles cycling through relatively heavy rain, but a stunning view over the New Forest landscape. For anyone looking for somewhere to stay in the New Forest, I cannot recommend Tom’s Field highly enough. Yes, it was basic but that’s exactly what camping is all about. It does exactly what it says on the tin - it’s a field, and at one end there are some loos. That’s it.

Pitching the tent in a hurry, we headed off to The Fighting Cocks to refuel and then retired to bed. Certainly tomorrow will be a doddle… (Pt. 3)