So, after everyone had recovered enough from the climb, we organized ourselves into two slightly different paced groups, but regroup at various points along the way to Portsmouth or the back group sweep up any stragglers from the front group. The weather, despite the previous day and forecast was great, a gentle breeze, mostly bright and with only one 15 minute shower – which admittedly made the roads a bit slippery in places and the route pretty much pancake flat after the hill out of Swindon.
The plan was to stop half way in “Anna’s Valley” (that’s not a metaphor) near Andover at Wyevale Garden Center where Captain Turdseye had warned them of our impending visit – that we’d be very hungry and wanting cake and tea. They were very accommodating of 20 bikes and riders in bum hugging Lycra and fed and watered us and gave us a generous discount off our bill – amazing what you can wangle if you ask nicely!
Whilst we were queuing for coffee a slightly ruffled and limping Kees walked in – he’d had a mishap at a roundabout involving a stupid driver (apparently he bailed to save damaging his shiny bike - ahem ) and come off on the wet road; not the best start for his trip, and despite a hefty bruised leg (and ego no doubt!) he soldiered on.
After we’d got back on, refueled and ready to go, we took a look at the map… if this stop was half way to Portsmouth, and we’d gone 45 miles how can the total trip be 75 miles? It doesn’t take Carol Vorderman to do that Maths! Captain Turdseye’s trundle wheel needed calibrating and checking for accuracy we thinks!
About a mile after we got going, there was a bit of a kerfuffle… the ride got split, 2 punctures happened, one group carried on along the route (then got a puncture), one group stayed to fix the punctures, one group went completely the wrong way and Giles the support driver of the pick up truck somehow locked his keys in the car – with the Engine running!!? How the hell he managed that is anyone’s guess.
So group one, carried on towards Portsmouth using Deans map and Ian’s trusty Garmin, group two went in search of group 3 via Edinburgh and Giles waited for 90 minutes for a spare key to be delivered to him!
It soon became apparent that we weren’t going to get to Portsmouth in time for our dinner reservations, so we rang to cancel, the roads between Winchester and Portsmouth were heavy going, big rolling hills, rough potholed roads and finally after riding through the Ghetto of Portsmouth (not a great place to get a puncture I’d imagine!) we finally saw the sea and made our way to where the support vehicles were parked.
There was no sign of group 2 or 3 so we began getting the van ready to take our bikes, all hungry, smelly and thirsty (mostly for a pint) and the sweeper group appeared with a slightly irked Captain Turdseye.
Looking at my computer I could see that we’d actually covered 92 miles – not 75. We were all given a bit of a ticking off for letting the group split up from the Captain, with so many of us we had to keep an eye on each other.
Whilst waiting for the Ferry (aka the Party boat) we got ourselves a well earned pint and burger (or Two Pizzas in the case of Kev ;) ) – amazing how amazing that first pint off a 90 mile ride tastes!
Mark had kindly arranged cabins for the crossing so we didn’t have to sleep on the floor of the bar on the ferry, so we had four people to a cabin…. When you say cabin, it was more of a cupboard… Me, Jo, Mark Q and Paul M walked to our cabin, opened the door and saw one small bed and a small sofa…. This can’t be right!? Then one of the others clocked the pull handles in the ceiling gave them a tug and out popped two more beds! It was like James bond! The sofa also spun round into a bed.
It wasn’t the Ritz, but it was a bed for the night and a shower to wash our sweaty pits. Some of us went to the bar for a few more jars and managed at best a couple of hours sleep. Although, Tim said his room had a hot tub, butler service and large flat screen TV – impressive what you can get inside those little boxes!
Stats from Day 1
Distance Travelled – 92 miles
Ascent – 1500m
Approx cumulative Calories burnt – 72,000
Punctures – 3
Offs – 1
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