Southampton and (nearly) Portsmouth

It could have been a five-ferry day today! It was an ambitious plan, but it didn't happen, for ferry-ous reasons.

Last night, there was only one option for an evening meal - a pub right opposite the camp site.  Excellent food at a high price, but I've noticed that almost all pubs on this trip have been expensive.   Is it inflation, or just staying in touristy places?

There's a change in the weather.   Freshening wind from the west, cloudy and a few rain showers.  It rained overnight, and  I woke early and decided to get packed up in the dry.  As a result I was away by 7am, on very quiet roads, just a few miles back to Yarmouth with several detours to see the sea.  There was nobody about save a few dog walkers, and the Menzies van delivering the newspapers.

Totland beach

Victoria Fort 

I rushed to Yarmouth to try to get the 8am ferry, but there wasn't one.  I had over an hour to spend in cold, windy, deserted Yarmouth, so I went exploring.   It's a very small place but there are many cafes and other tourist establishments.  None open at 8am on a Saturday.  I gave up and made my way back to the ferry booking office, and there was a tiny, bustling, fantastic coffee shop, PO41, about two doors away from the ferry.  They had FIVE people serving, and a steady stream of customers.  Excellent coffee and a superb Caramel Cornflake Brownie.  Yum.

Today I'll be making my way from Lymington around the ports and conurbations of Southampton snd Portsmouth.  It will be different ... and interesting.

Off the ferry promptly at 9.45, and very quickly I was back in the New Forest, with the wind mostly behind me.  I whizzed along, enjoying the countryside and relative flatness, to Bucklers Hard, a remnant of a shipyard that built ships like HMS Victory, but not specifically that one.

 

From there to Beaulieu was on a riverside pathway, which has nearly been converted to a cycle way.  Right at the end there was a kissing gate which required unpacking everything and lifting the bike over the fence.  Kissing was the last thing on my mind.

After Beaulieu you cross a cattle grid and you're in the New Forest proper.  There are oak woods, there are grassy commons dotted with gorse, and there are horses.  All just as it was hundreds of years ago,  except for to towers and chimneys of Fawley oil Refinery in the distance. 

I made my way south to Calshot Spit, a WW2 seaplane base, and then north again towards Hythe, where there is a ferry across the river Test.  I had read that it was suspended,  but hoped that it had resumed by now.  Sadly, not, so I got a bonus 11 miles around the head of the river at Totton.

Calshot Spit

By now my tentative plan to get to Hayling island today was looking unlikely.  It would have been 85 miles, and I knew the Hayling Island ferry only operates until 6pm (winter schedule; the website wasn't working so the summer schedule was unknown).

The detour wasn't great.  A busy road north, a few quiet roads leading to Totton, and then mostly dedicated cycle lane alongside a busy dual carriageway into Southampton.  Despite being next to the docks with several multi-storey cruise ships, it wasn't the best introduction to Southampton.  After I crossed the river Itchen, on a huge dual carriageway bridge, it quietened down as I headed south to cross the river Hamble, at the pretty village of Hamble, where there's a ferry to Warsash.

Bridge Over the River Itchen

Another problem.  The Hamble ferry stops at 4pm, and it was 4.15.  I was up a creek without a ferry, or a camp site.  Initial investigations revealed that the local campsites were full.  But there was one on the other side of the Hamble, at Gosport. 17 miles away around the head of the river.  So I did that.

Swimming hadn't occurred to me as an option

Hamble village

Apart from the mile on the A27, it was a lovely ride.  I expected it all to be quite built up, but it wasn't at all.  South of Warsash, in the areas of Hook and Meon, were some giant houses on posh roads, interspersed with tracks across the countryside.  And after Meon came Lee on Solent, with a great cycle track that took me the last four miles to the campsite.  It's been such a varied and eventful day, it's hard to describe.

The campsite was basic but great..  Good basic food at inexpensive prices.  After 75 miles, I felt I had some serious refuelling to do.

It's going to rain again overnight, but I need to do some washing,  having not done it last night.  I just hope the strong wind will dry everything after the rain stops.