It's half term and with Lynne and Martina not free to join us, and therefore no school deadline to get back for, I suggested starting a bit further afield today. We met at Mattingley Church. Jeanette kindly transported my bike on her rack, but I came home with John! ( John was due to ride with Dave today, but poor Dave was in a bad way by the time he had ridden to our house, with a very painful arm, and was not up to riding. So, by the time I was part way to the start, John phoned to ask if he could join us ladies? Of course. )
Whilst waiting for John to arrive at the start, Gill and Jeanette sat in the car, and I suggested to Louise we take a look inside the church. As we walked through the church gate, the penny suddenly dropped with Louse as to where we are. (she had just driven here!). She has been here on several occasions on her bike enroute or returning from Hartley Whitney. "Oh, we're here", she announced. Hilarious.
Today's blog has a few extra "what if we went right/left etc" details, since the ladies don't know this area well, but it might make more sense now.)
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| Mattingley Church. |
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| The window light just catching this cross, which wasn't upright btw! |
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| First priority was a comfort stop . John diverting his glance.😂 |
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| Today's route. which was up and down the whole ride. |
Route
We headed through Rotherwick, cut through Tilney Hall grounds, then joined the road once more to drop down, and turn right at the XRoads in Newnham. (Gill was asking where we were? If we had carried straight on on this road, we would have come into Old Basing.)
The road crosses the Lyde River at an old Mill House, and about half a mile further, we turned left into a quiet lane called Pot Lane. A lovely display of snowdrops ahead.
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| Pot Lane, |
It's important to take a left turn just passed this cottage otherwise you will end up on the A30. By turning left into Water End Lane, we do come to the A30, but have a safe place to dogleg across to Andwell. We spotted what we thought were goats in a field at the junction, probably part of Miller's Ark Animals site. (just checked their website and lots of half term activities going on this week with lambs, etc) Must remember for next year with our grandchildren. Kai with us
next week, but not open as far as I can see.)
We ride here with the Lyde River on our right, then climb a HUGE hill to cross the M3 😂 (felt huge today anyway, after my 5th ride in 6 days!) We turned left at a T Junction next, onto Greywell Road, which undulates all the way to Greywell.
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| Greywell Road |
Rather than head into Odiham, we turned right onto a more main route called Bidden Road, which also undulates, but on a fast downhill section, took a left turn onto Ford Lane, and very quiet once more. There was still a point on the lane which was almost flooded, even though we had no recent rain.
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| Ford Lane, flooding. |
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| Eagret? Big zoom in so not great quality. |
We paused here for a few moments. since someone requested another comfort stop. 😂. Further along this road, a tractor with hedge cutter attached. Dreaded thorns, but we got away with it. Straight over the Alton Road now, to climb with RAF Odiham on the left,
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At the top on Hayley Lane as we head into Long Sutton.
RAF Odiham in the distance. |
As we arrived at Long Sutton, a left turn into Wood Hill Lane. (We don't see anything of the village) Wood Lane is lovely and meanders around a bit, and eventually joins Long Lane/Cementry Lane towards Odiham. We pass the landing lights of RAF Odiham.
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| I stopped to photograph the RAF lights, so had to peddle fast to catch them up. |
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Landing lights for RAF Odiham.
(The runway behind me here) |
I caught them up! We didnt go into Odiham today, but took the right turn shortly before the town, into Hillside Road, then first right at the old Oast House onto Roke Lane. Roke Lane got a bit messy at times with tractor debris, especially near the farm which we pass though. (Left would have taken us to the Open Garden we visited a couple of times now.) But straight on we went until a T Junction where we turned right on our way into Crondall.
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| Right here, to go around this large field, then left into Crondall. |
Previously, I have gone straight over once through Crondall onto a pathway to cross over teh A287, then continue to Crookham, (not Church Crookham), but today, we turned right onto Bowling Alley, then found a cyclepath crossing at a newly built roundabout. This was now Redfields Lane, and we were on the lookout for Redfields Garden Centre. Never been before, although Louise and Jeanette had driven here as it turned out.
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| Redfields Garden Centre. Its enormous! |
We used the bike racks and locked up. Once inside, finding the cafe was a bit like finding the exit in Ikea! But we did find it. Since we were just having coffee/cake it was self service, but anything else is table service. It was packed, but we were quickly served, so didn't affect us. There was another cafe upstairs called Rooftops, which we forgot to check out.
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| Louise's coffee and scone. Scone was freshly baked, warm and delicious. |
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| Al the cakes went down a treat. It was almost 12.30. |
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| We opted to sit in this conservatory type of space. Cooler than in the main cafe. |
Exactly opposite the exit, we crossed over into a road called Brandon Road, which is like a serpentine though a residential estate. A few cars were behind us, which we allowed to pass, but a quieter, safer route than taking the main road through Church Crookham. We emerged to join The Street, which continues into Crookham as opposed to Church Crookham, and met the Crondall Road, which I have cycled on before.
Continuing straight into Dogmersfield, we noticed a ROAD AHEAD closed sign. 😟 We pressed on, and with barriers blocking the road, a young man approached us. He said we could walk through, but not to cycle on the new tarmac. Sorted.
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| We got through, only to come to a HALT for a different reason! |
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oh oh. Jeanette had been slowing the last bit, and now
time to fix a puncture. John has his uses. 😅 |
Passed the Barleymow, we took the next left into Station Road, signposted Winchfield. (Had we carried on straight, we would have come into Hartley Wintney climbing back over the M3. OR if we continued on Station Road, we would also have come into HW near Phoenix Green). BUT we turned left on a bend into Bagwell Lane, and soon pulled over at the pretty crocus display at ST Mary's Church.
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| St Mary's Church Bagwell Lane. |
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| St Marys Church |
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| Just one tiny snowdrop display here, unlike many churches atm which have swathes. |
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ok, I'm almost ready to go! The building opposite btw is lovely,
but cars and vans not so good. Haven't been able to find out its history. |
Bagwell Lane continues further, on an annoying slight uphill.... and joins Odiham Road. (The one with the Pet Crematorium). Had we turned left, we would have been able to use the pedestrian underpass to the Canal Centre in Odiham. BUT today, and for the first time, we turned right. Its a fast narrow road, so not been keen to cycle on it before, but it was actually fine. We split up and half a mile later turned into a lane I have been keen to check out for ages, called Potbridge Road. It was lovely, no traffic at all. We went Under the M3 wiggled around then over the railway line.
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| Potbridge Road |
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Once over the railbridge, a debate about
another higher bridge in the distance. We decided a pedestrian bridge. |
Potbridge Road emerges at the A30, Murrell Green, but I had checked Google Street view, and knew that we could use a path next to the road. And very quickly into Borough Court Road, another very quiet road with no traffic. This road loops around the back of West Green Gardens.
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| Borough Court Road, approaching West Green. A pretty quiet lane. |
Almost back, and a final photo at Dipley Mill.... as you do.
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| Dipley Mill. All the winter foliage now cleared, ready for spring growth emerging. |
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| Other side of Dipley Mill bridge. |
A nice route, which we all enjoyed, despite the grey skies, and at times blustery wind, and ALWAYS an undulation just waiting for us. Well done team. Would be nice to repeat in sunshine and fresh foliage later this year.
