Equipping my trusty commuting hybrid bike, the Specialized Sirrus, with two 10 litre panniers, some experimental pedals and two water bottles, I pedalled off for a cycling holiday down south in August. The plan was to meet up with my good friend R who would be cycling from Brighton. We would camp near Petworth, attend the Marriage of Figaro at Petworth House, then cycle on to West Dean for the annual Chilli Fiesta, staying one night at their accommodation and then returning home.
I printed out OS maps at 1:50,000 scale, covered them with sticky back plastic of course, and shoved them in the back of my cycling shirt.
Having cycled 60 miles and run a Half Marathon the other weekend, I was pretty confident about my ability to finish this trip in one piece, but there’s always more trepidation involved when the route is A to B and is completely new.
The B road to Reading was fairly quiet, and the hill from Watlington a good tough test of my pannier weight and lack of low gear – standing up on the pedals was more exciting than I’d have liked.
I arrived in Reading at the same time as a huge black cloud, so sheltered in an attractive looking doorway for half an hour, eating my lunch, and then swore continuously as I first lost my map, then attempted to make my way across the M4 and find the route to Fleet with only mobile phone instructions from F. I didn’t think to use the GPS on my phone, because although I’m a hardened nerd in the daytime, I still have a stupid preference for paper and sticky back plastic. Arriving in Fleet, still mapless, I harrassed a local shopkeeper who tried his best to help out, but admitted he didn’t really know Fleet at all and didn’t live there. I have an uncle who lived in Fleet once, but he rarely answers the phone and lives in the Wirral now.
After Fleet the route and weather improved as I approached Farnham. This should have been a really nostalgic moment, as I spent a year at art college in Farnham. However, my memory was as reliable as ever and I didn’t experience even the faintest twinge as I cycled through the exceptionally twee and pretty town. When I lived around there I spent most of the time drinking lime and soda in a pub near the river as far as I do remember.
The route out of Farnham then went up the hill on quiet little roads through Tilford, where the cricketers were out in their whites in an absolutely idyllic setting, then finally up and on the big climb up to Hindhead (894 ft). From here it was a beautiful country ride through small villages and over pretty bumpy terrain towards the final destination of Duncton and the camp site. With unerring timekeeping I arrived within one minute of my estimated time at 5pm, parked the tent and waited an hour for R. Apart from the Reading experience, this was a fantastic route. There’s nothing like the feeling of having covered large swathes of countryside, moving ever onwards across the map towards the sea.
We missed the opera and I slept pretty badly on a stomach of late night Aloo Palak and Tiger beer and a bed of pine needles in the forest.
Sunday’s smaller adventure was a short ride to West Dean to the hugely popular Chilli Fiesta packed with enchilladas, chilli dips, chilli beer, belly dancers (?), and chilli plants. Thankfully the B&B rooms at the old manor house, now a college of art, were beautifully quiet and restful, so we chilled after the chillies and I met up with some friends to wander around the beautiful arboretum within the 6,000 acres of grounds.
Here’s a map of the trip:
<a href=”http://www.mapmyride.com/ride///406128104376278693″ mce_href=”http://www.mapmyride.com/ride///406128104376278693″>Oxford to Duncton / Petworth long ride</a><br/><a href=”http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride//” mce_href=”http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride//”>Find more Bike Rides in , </a>
