A good start of season ride – medium distance, predominantly flat, off-road on mostly good surfaces, some variety in scenery and a conveniently located pub for lunch
The Basingstoke Canal is the annual spring ride of the ‘Hyde Sometime Scorchers’: this year Steve, Stuart and Paul.
Ride stats
- 35 miles
- Easy going
- 3 hours 26 minutes ride time
- 6 hours 27 minutes start to finish (long lunch & punctures)
- Average speed 10.2 miles per hour
- Saturday 28 March 2009
We rendezvoused on the platform of Hook railway station at 10.20am and, after depressingly consistent forecasts of heavy rain, were surprised to find ourselves setting off in sunshine which stayed with us for most of the ride. This is a good start of season ride – medium distance, predominantly flat, off-road on mostly good surfaces (there has definitely been some upgrading done in the last year, which continues), some variety in scenery and a conveniently located pub for lunch. It is also quite close to the train line so that if an early finish is necessary a station isn’t too far away. The ‘Hyde Sometime Scorchers’ label is more a reference to the renegade speeding cyclists of a hundred years ago than indication of inflated egos!
Refreshments
Lunch after 18 miles at The Swan, Heath Vale Bridge Road, Ash Vale, Aldershot, Hampshire GU12 5ET
Ride gallery
Sources
OS Maps: Aldershot & Guildford (Landranger Map 186)
Ride organiser
Steve