Yesterday,
The Anoraks Delight but starting at Swanmore (70km in) rather than Tadley. Also started at 5:40am due to needing to get back at a reasonable time.
All pretty straight-forward through Romsey, Amesbury and Tadley with some lovely villages around Andover. A bit of a headwind over Porton Down but it felt like the sort of place that would always have a wind. Winterslow to Kimpton gave a glimpse of army towns and firing ranges with lots of warnings about not taking photographs; and I think it might have crossed over with the Stonehenge 200km in points. Lots of hawk type birds seen but I'm not Bill Oddie so that's as much as I can report. Quite a bit of venison available on the roadside...
The route turns to village lanes after Tadley which is very pleasant. Then the fun started; I took refuge in a pub just north of Odiham (Hatch) as the rain got heavy (it looked like I was chasing clouds most of the morning). I waited about 10 minutes and long enough to lose my gloves but thought I better press on as I needed to get home. Rain ceased about 10km down the road and I started to dry until Cheriton when the thunder and lightning started along with hail stones. Flash flooding followed with around 3 to 4 inches of water completely covering sections of roads. The cross roads at Kilmeston (A272) was particularly entertaining wet. At times the hail on the roads made it look like a Christmas card scene.
Fantastic views as I descended back to Swanmore in the afternoon light.
I dried off quite a bit by the time I got to Swanmore - well apart from the shoes which are still drying.
Pleased to get round 'solo' as this was my first 200 since Sept 2015 and pretty much no activity during 2016.
Great communication from the organiser given this was ridden as a perm. Very helpful suggestions to follow around Andover given the increase in residential development and accompanying new round-a-bouts.
Amazing value for money. I'd recommend this as a great route to see the diversity of Hampshire.
Blazer
