Test Valley Pootle 27th-29th June (avec camping, bridges and a special mission)

[nikki]

Updated 24/06/2014



A weekend of cycle camping in the Test Valley, Hampshire Friday 27th - Sunday 29th of June.

All ages and most definitely all cycle persuasions welcome.

We'll be camping at Hill Farm Park http://www.hillfarmpark.com/, where we've got the use of the overflow field (no electric hook-up) for £10 per person per night. There's a cafe for all your bacon requirements.

See this post for photos and more information https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=80534.msg1693748#msg1693748

I suggest people arrive on Friday afternoon/evening or early on Saturday morning. Although we need to have de-rigged by noon on Sunday, they'll store our stuff for us until such time as we want to leave properly.

Nearby railway stations include Mottisfont & Dunbridge, Romsey, Dean (Wilts), Winchester and Southampton. [google map]

On the Saturday we'll be undertaking a special mission to take my partially-sighted godmum Muriel on a gentle tandem ride along the Test Valley up to Stockbridge and back. More informations and proposed route(s) here: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=80534.msg1704135#msg1704135


Food:
Friday night - I'm trying to organise the campsite café to organise a vat of vegetable chill for us.
Saturday breakfast - self cater or the campsite café.
Saturday lunch - Picnic onna bridge if weather permits, pub lunch if not.
Saturday dinner - I'll book a table at the Hatchett Inn, 10% of your food bill if you're camping.
Sunday breakfast - self cater of the campsite café
Sunday lunch - we'll improvise this based on the weather and how fast/far we can mobilise for a ride in the New Forest. Pubs will be busy, so again this may be a bit of a challenge.

Proposed ride into the New Forest for the Sunday morning before people have to head off to catch trains: http://cycle.travel/map/journey/7637


Who'd like to come and play?

Forumite(s)	Friday meal	Saturday pub meal	Leaving time
Nikki	Communal Chilli	Yes	Mid afternoon
Kim	Self catering	Yes	Mid afternoon
Cycleman	Communal Chilli	Self catering	Flexible
Mr and Mrs Wow	Communal Chilli	Yes	Before the Sunday ride
RichForrest & Miss Silverback	Communal Chilli	Yes	No rush
Flatbar Steve	Communal Chilli	Yes	Before 4pm
Canardly	Communal Chilli	Yes	As and when
The Clariflies x4	Communal Chilli	Yes
dasmoth, Emily & micromoth Sophie	Communal Chilli	No	Saturday evening

? matthew

[Kim]

Absolutely.

[andrewc]

Not sure,  Mum & Sis are in France that week, so I'm supposed to be on old codger minding duties     Can't bring him with me as he'd insist on the 2 very excitable Rottweilers coming as well......

[Butterfly]

Ooh, that sounds interesting. I'll put it in the diary and hope our fitness has improved by then!

[Polar Bear]

It's possible but very unlikely.       Particularly annoying because we will be cycling fit and we're looking for a camping trip or two.

We return from Shetland on 26th snd expect to deal with builders, roofers, plumbers, sparks and the inevitable snagging resulting from replacement roof and completely new bathroom.

OTOH, Mlle PB may take one look and want out! 

[cycleman]

I be there  .

[Charlotte]

Count Julian and myself in 

[nikki]

Yay! to those that can come 

he'd insist on the 2 very excitable Rottweilers coming as well......

hmmm, yeah, not sure they'd contribute to the desired atmosphere!   

Ooh, that sounds interesting. I'll put it in the diary and hope our fitness has improved by then!

Other than the journey between wherever you are and the campsite, I'm not envisioning fitness being a big issue with this one! Muriel's not cycled for a number of decades, so we'll be taking it nice and easy.

We return from Shetland on 26th snd expect to deal with builders, roofers, plumbers, sparks and the inevitable snagging resulting from replacement roof and completely new bathroom.

Good luck with that!

[JBB]

Bugger  why does my only sportif of the year http://www.laplbmuco.org/plb-muco/presentation/ always clash with something else- this sounds lovely and is local to me.....

[nikki]

Bugger! I'm amused at how opposite-ends-of-the-spectrum the clash is, through 

I'll need to go down and do a recce ride at some point to check that the path is passable for trikes etc. If I'm organised enough with that I'll post a heads-up here and maybe you can join in with that if you like.

[matthew]

Sounds Good, and unlike the Long Itch weekend I stand a good chance of being available. Always assuming work hasn't mobilised me overseas in May!!

Please put me down as a possible.

[JBB]

Bugger! I'm amused at how opposite-ends-of-the-spectrum the clash is, through 

I'll need to go down and do a recce ride at some point to check that the path is passable for trikes etc. If I'm organised enough with that I'll post a heads-up here and maybe you can join in with that if you like.

That would be great - I'd also suggest http://www.dandysfordfishery.co.uk/find_us.html for Sunday breakfast, it's excellent value and very popular with the local club cyclists.  It may also be worth checking that the campsite have found someone else to run the tea room as it's closed at the moment.

It's a good site though - my brother stayed there a few years back - see http://www.fuseperformance.co.uk/fuse_Performance/Gallery/Pages/The_Caravan_Show.html for interesting arty stuff!

Last time I went down the path - sometime last autumn it was fine if a bit muddy - it doesn't get terribly busy. Also cafes in Stockbridge - Lilies is fine and welcomes cyclists and has a nice garden with ducks although nobody batted an eyelid when 3 drenched and dripping cyclists had coffee and cake in Stokes last October. The Greyhound has also been used as an Audax control.

I'd be happy to help plan a new Forest route for you as well. The only road to avoid as much as possible is the A27 - far too narrow and windy with too many people in a hurry.

HTH
J

[nikki]

Please put me down as a possible.

Done 



Thanks for the links, JBB. Glad to hear it's a good campsite and that there are cycle-friendly eating options. The campsite's cafe will be open and, for the record, Sunday lunch at a (unknown) good price has been offered for those who are that way inclined! (Or if the weather's too atrocious for a ride...)

Lillies is synonymous with Stockbridge for me (that and the trout!). Am I right in thinking that there's a little path through to the watermeadows next to it (and also that this would be wholly unsuitable for trying to take cycles of any sort down)?


Help with planning a New Forest route would be very much appreciated - home home is around there, but my navigational memories are fading and it's all from a car point of view. What do you reckon to Brook / Eyeworth sort of direction^[1] and the roads across the heathland over that way? Maybe mix it up with some Comedy Off Road in one of the Forestry Commission plantations?

[1] Not at all a pub-influenced suggestion. Definitely not.

[Basil]

*Posts meaningless remark in order to make this thread easier to follow.*
 

[JBB]

Please put me down as a possible.

Done 



Thanks for the links, JBB. Glad to hear it's a good campsite and that there are cycle-friendly eating options. The campsite's cafe will be open and, for the record, Sunday lunch at a (unknown) good price has been offered for those who are that way inclined! (Or if the weather's too atrocious for a ride...)

Lillies is synonymous with Stockbridge for me (that and the trout!). Am I right in thinking that there's a little path through to the watermeadows next to it (and also that this would be wholly unsuitable for trying to take cycles of any sort down)?


Help with planning a New Forest route would be very much appreciated - home home is around there, but my navigational memories are fading and it's all from a car point of view. What do you reckon to Brook / Eyeworth sort of direction^[1] and the roads across the heathland over that way? Maybe mix it up with some Comedy Off Road in one of the Forestry Commission plantations?

[1] Not at all a pub-influenced suggestion. Definitely not.

Fritham is nice but gets very crowded, alternatives a bit further away at Linwood - High Corner Inn or Red Shoot Inn (which has its own microbrewery) Both do acceptable food. As regards a route how far do you want to go - I could create a few options maybe?

Julia

[nikki]

Hmmmmm.


What time do we think we might be able to have struck camp and be ready to ride by on the Sunday? 11? We need to be off the pitches by 12.

Then people will also need to be back to collect stuff and have enough time to load up and catch trains etc, so say back by 4pm? (We've permission to use the facilities when we get back from the ride btw, it's just we need to have the tents down and stashed in the office or wherever.)

Say an hour for lunch, sub 10mph cycleman speeds, we're probably looking at 30-40 miles.

How does that sound as a general design brief, folks?

[Canardly]

Possible

[nikki]

Possible

Is that 'possible' to the design brief, or 'possible' for attendance, m'dear?

[Canardly]

Attendance

[JBB]

Hmmmmm.


What time do we think we might be able to have struck camp and be ready to ride by on the Sunday? 11? We need to be off the pitches by 12.

Then people will also need to be back to collect stuff and have enough time to load up and catch trains etc, so say back by 4pm? (We've permission to use the facilities when we get back from the ride btw, it's just we need to have the tents down and stashed in the office or wherever.)

Say an hour for lunch, sub 10mph cycleman speeds, we're probably looking at 30-40 miles.

How does that sound as a general design brief, folks?

I'll roughout a couple of possibilities then - howdid you get your file to display in bikehike cause it seems sense if I do the same?

Julia

[nikki]

Attendance

Added to the list.

howdid you get your file to display in bikehike cause it seems sense if I do the same?

If you've got somewhere online you can upload a gpx file to, you can get it to display by following the format http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=http://gpx.npugh.co.uk/routes/TestValleyPootle/TestValleyPootle01.gpx where you replace the last bit with the relevant URL.

(Has anyone tried files in Dropbox public folders with this, btw? Does that work?)

If you've not got some handy webspace you can email the file to me and I'll put it in the same place as the others.

[Wowbagger]

This is a very good idea but it gives us a decision to make.

I had planned to go to Scotland that weekend to celebrate my 60th Birthday by cycling/pushing a bike up Bealach na Ba.

Wibble.

[cycleman]

No midges down south wow   

[nikki]

This is a very good idea but it gives us a decision to make.

I had planned to go to Scotland that weekend to celebrate my 60th Birthday by cycling/pushing a bike up Bealach na Ba.

Wibble.

Ah, sorry for introducing a dilemma, Wow.

I remember your Bealach na Ba thread ...and the strong impression that it's a long-held ambition. You're only 60 once - certainly no hard feelings if you go for that option!

[Kim]

No midges down south wow   

I have vivid childhood memories of camping in the New Forest that prove this not to be true.