John planned today's route from St Mary Bourne in a loop to Whitchurch, then over to Laverstoke. (Drive to start was just under an hour).
We took our ebikes which were handy on the hillier bits, since we are both cycling tomorrow again, and did not want to wear ourselves out today. (good excuse when reaching for the power button!).
Lovely ride along the edges of the rivers Bourne and Test staying low lying for much of the first few miles, then climbing more in the second half to get out and beyond Whitchurch.
route
Leaving St Mary Bourne, we had an almost immediate climb into Finkley Road toward Middle Wyke where we turned left, followed shortly by another left onto the Walworth Road, then right onto the B3048. This pretty church on our left was St Andrews at Hurstbourne Priors.
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| not in the best light, but pretty St Andrews church. |
We continue passing through a village called Longparish with some very pretty houses.
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| Longparish |
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| Longparish |
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| private water feature in someones garden |
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| waiting for the photographer in Longparish. |
Next, we follow a sign for a ford, which fortunately also has a pedestrian bridge, over the river Teste, and ride on Nuns Walk. This continues to a T Junction which goes under the A34, and becomes Winchester Street into Whitchurch. We knew because of Covid that the pretty Silk Mill Museum and cafe would not be open, but we sat with a snack by the Mill watching the ducks for a few minutes anyway.
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| Ducks in the River Teste at the silk Mill Whitchurch |
Turning back on ourselves for just a few hundred yards, we take Micheldever Road, which is a gradual climb for a couple of miles. We passed a runner on this road three times, as we stopped for some photos.
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| Red poppies in the distance on Micheldever Road |
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| views further along Micheldever Road |
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| Its a long straight uphill road, and at last drops down. John up ahead, to take a photo of me coming down. |
And here it is....
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| Micheldever Road |
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| spotted this whilst taking the last photo |
A left takes us onto Laverstoke Lane, which emerges at the Bombay Distillery. (closed atm due to covid). Shortly on the right, are a curve of terraced thatched cottages. People were sitting out in their garden, so didn't
like to take a photo, but looking it up when I got home they are called Manor Cottages and are Almshouses built in 1939
Freefolk almshouses.
We take the second right turn after the Almshouses and face a sharp steep uphill, Watch Lane. We see a young boy struggling up on his bike, wobbling around, but pass him since we have opted for power assistance! We continue back into Whitchurch crossing over the A34, towards Egbury. Somewhere along the next section, I spotted some pale blue through the hedge, so we stopped to photograph this field of flax.
Almost back to the start, as we drop down to a junction and take a left at the end just passed this splash of colour from pink Loosestrife.
Back into St Mary Bourne, and I loved this detail on this thatch.
