Sunday 8th May 2011
Sunday 8th May 2011
Eight turned up at Loomies for our sojourn into the New Forest. Andries, in the lead, led us a merry dance through the back lanes, criss-crossing the local area. Despite a brisk pace this left us only 6 miles from our starting point (as the crow flies) after 30 minutes of riding. Those with bikes more suited to touring were pleased as we hit the rolling roads that took us out toward Romsey before heading for the New Forest proper.
The New Forest brings with it an inevitability of 40mph running but all that looked nice and safe really wasn't. Keeping up with recent experience of interaction with the local wildlife we found ourselves in a head-to-head with some local Highland cattle running free. No amount of RoSPA training tells you what to do in such circumstances and so we did what comes naturally and panicked. Thankfully we were all stationary at the time so panic involved frantically looking around wondering how we might encourage them to keep their distance. No contact made they disappeared into the distance, car drivers behind us looking similarly panicked as they imagined what damage could be done by foot-long horns!
The original intent was to lunch at the Conqueror Inn but, stopping off for a quick cuppa at Sammy Millers Motorcycle Museum, we all spotted the impressive selection of cakes on offer. Frenzied discussion resulted in a change of plan and we all decided to stay put and dived in for a great lazy lunch.
After escaping the clutches of the 40mph zones we upped the pace as we headed back, aiming for a conclusion at Loomies. On the way to Stockbridge we took a detour along back roads familiar to old timers - a pothole having trashed a set of wheels on a previous ride. Radio chatter discussed where and when and we thought we had spotted to exact location - phew, we'd made it without event. No such luck. Only a minute down the road a flat tyre was diagnosed and, yet again, the well-prepared amongst the group came to the rescue. With time flying we decided to finish for a pot of tea in Stockbridge - a perfect way to end the day. It was intended to make it to Loomies to end the day but didn't, instead had another nice cuppa just out side Winchester (place escapes me)
Many thanks to Andries for leading and to Tim for being tail end Charlie for the day.