Coastal Loop

Ride: Hambledon to Portsmouth Harbour via Hill Head and Lee-on-Solent
Present: Al, Tee

Not an officially sanctioned TCA ride but since (a) we cycled and (b) we went through Titchfield surely some sort of mention is warranted! We set of on a warm, sunny day from Hambledon with a mind to get a pot of tea and a slice of cake in the tea shop in Wickham. With this objective achieved by lunchtime we pressed on via Knowle lane (stamping grounds of yore for the TCA) towards Titchfield. We had a brief stop for our packed lunch of cheese and tomato sandwiches on the beach at Titchfield Haven with the masses who had also hit the coast to enjoy the warm weather.

With the on-shore breeze on our backs we followed the coastal road by way of Hill Head, Lee-on-Solent and Stokes Bay towards Gosport before crossing the harbour by ferry to Portsmouth (below). This was a bargain since you only pay for one bike with a tandem! Tee’s parent’s house in Copnor provided a convenient stop for a rest, a cup of tea and a refill of our drinks bottles before the final push home: There is no easy route home from here so we opted for our usual route through Cosham towards the QA hospital before pushing the tandem up Portsdown Hill. Fortunately the remaining leg of the journey was mostly downhill, through Swanwick and Worlds End (we use a little back-road which joins the main B-road at the Chairmakers Arms).

After a good day in the saddle we got home at about 6pm but we neglected to take the GPS so can only estimate that we did around 30 miles. We also neglected to stop for a beer at one of the many descent boozers along the way... very poor form for the TCA!

(Posted by: Al)