SOUTH BY SOUTH EAST

After the highly successful trip to the Outer Hebrides we returned south and I then headed to my base near Sennybridge to change maps and clothing in anticipation of cooler weather.

I headed across to Bristol for a catch up with friends before briefly dropping in to Frome to plan the walks and rides for the forthcoming weekend with Pete.

Finally I headed to the area known loosely as Cranborne Chase and parked up at the Cashmoor Inn that allowed overnight stays, found via the Park4Night app.

 After a quiet night I set off on the bike for a day of exploring an area unknown to me despite having lived within an hour for three years whilst training forty years ago and then in Bristol for ten years again little over an hour away. Following numerous tracks, trails bridle paths, RUPPS and BOATS I stitched together a very enjoyable ride including the impressive Badbury Rings hillfort and the old WW2 airfield at Tarrant Rushton then heading towards Salisbury before returning along Ackling Dyke, an old Roman road, for a second night at the pub.

A good walk the following day saw me passing through the Rushmore Park Estate at Tollard Royal and checking out the Win Green parking area for an overnight with the guys from Bristol before moving on to another P4N stop at the Rainbow on the lake at Steeple Langford

I'd forgotten a water hose so nipped in to Wilton garden centre for a very useful compact 10m hosereel that uses a microbore pipe that will not kink unlike lay flat and collapsible hoses. In Salisbury I went to the Tesco store to book a flu jab as my GP in Brecon had run out, picked up some touch up paint and bumper stops to prevent bike handlebars catching the tailgate paintwork and then headed back to Win Green to meet Pete in time for a walk back through Rushmore again. Sunny weather and autumn colours combined with extensive views to make for a grand afternoon.

After dusk Nick and Bill arrived for the night and we walked out to the trig point for superb star gazing and the longest shooting star any of us had ever seen.

 

Win Green

 The following morning we set off along the Ox Drove track towards Salisbury, added a loop towards Downton and then cut back past Salisbury race course for a ridge track all the way back to the start. There is a vast choice of tracks in the area and I will certainly be back to explore further.

Nick and Bill headed home leaving Pete and I to enjoy another quiet night before on the Sunday  walking from Bradbury Rings and eventually moving on to a small certificated site for the night as I was in need of water and hook up. The simple field based site amongst woodland was idyllic and allowed us to start a ride in to the New Forest on the Monday without moving the vans. Pigs were hoovering up the acorns on the roadside edges as we crossed heathland, deciduous woodland, some coniferous plantations and various trails in yet another area that I will return to in the near future.

On Tuesday I had booked to visit the Army Flying Museum at Middle Wallop which whilst almost deserted gave me a fascinating insight in to the history of this oft overlooked sector of the British Army.

 

Perhaps the display I found most thought provoking was the home made IRA mortar fashioned out of a Calor Gas cylinder - such devious/deviant tactics made helicopter transport of troops essential as it did many years later in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Nearby I stayed the night up a narrow track near Figsbury Ring, one of the area's many hillforts, and right on the boundary of Porton Down. A speedy and efficient appointment at Tesco saw me duly jabbed and the cupboards filled before I headed down to the Solent and parked up in Lee on Solent for a ride along the coast to Warsash where the small passenger ferry links with Hamble. Further down at Gosport I stayed on another P4N recommendation where the council allow overnight stays for £10/24 hours. From there I walked round to Gillicker fort enjoying the maritime traffic including a cargo ship delivering a wind turbine blade, the IoW hovercraft, the Queen Victoria heading to Weymouth for a Covid enforced winter at anchor, assorted car transporters and freighters and rather poignantly the Brittany Ferries ferry heading across to Cherbourg that perhaps in different times I might have actually been on.

A windsurfer was enjoying the last of the light as I settled in for a quiet night.

 

 

 

First thing the following day I was on the bike to the Gosport ferry terminal where I left it locked up, took the short hop across to Portsmouth with good views of our two new aircraft carriers and spent a day mesmerised by the Mary Rose Museum. The sheer volume of artefacts, information and displays was a credit to the team behind this remarkable project but I was still unprepared for the sheer size of the actual ship's hull that has been recovered, preserved and is now presented for all to see. It is a visit to be recommended but does need a full day to itself.

 

 

 

Back at Gosport it was another lovely sunset and a quiet night with just two other vans for company. 

 Moving on I stayed the night above Goodwood Racecourse in the Sussex downs ready to visit the Weald and Downland Museum of Rural Life, an impressive collection of old houses, workshops and other rural buildings carefully rebuilt on a large 40 acre site. In a corner a large barn and adjacent work area are the set for the Repair Shop which was filming its Christmas Special.

 

It wasn't far then to move on to Amberley Museum which focusses more on transport and machinery as well as rural skills and yet again it was a very worth while visit with displays covering public transport, power and telephone communications, rural skills, lime manufacture, brick making and quarrying. The old chalk mine had been used in the Bond film 'A View to a Kill' doubling up as a gold mine above San Francisco and seeing the demise of Grace Jones.

Some of the quarry wagons are still painted in the green of the evil Zorin whose Z symbol is also visible. I took a night on another small certificated site and was grateful for the shelter of the tree belt as a storm blew through. There was no hook up but my small genny purred quietly outside to reinvigorate the leisure battery and provide hot water. The following morning water and waste were dealt with before I continued eastwards.

A walk up to Chanctonbury Ring on a grey afternoon offered great views but I decided to stay in an empty car park at Cissbury ring with the genny running again to give me an idea of its fuel consumption - around half a litre an hour. Later on a large 4x4 pick up with the BiMobil camper pod attached to the tray arrived so I killed the genny for the night and slept soundly as the heavens emptied.The following day was a much brighter affair so I nipped up to the summit for good views to the IoW, Brighton and inland towards London.

Hastings was an interesting place with its castle and priory after which I moved on to the surprisingly busy Birling Gap at the eastern end of the Seven Sisters Country Park.

The eponymous cliffs were a truly spectacular site and I walked beneath them on the shingle beach before heading over the tops for a view of Beachy Head at sunset. The Beachy Head pub allowed overnight camping so I booked for an excellent meal, a couple of welcome pints and the paper in a comfortable environment - all credit to Vintage Inns for this initiative. As van numbers increase I hope even more rural pubs follow their lead as it would be a welcome boost to their trade and ease pressure on  campsites.

Arriving at Dungeness on a stormy day was surreal as it bore more than a passing resemblance to the barren west coast of North Lewis with single storey houses squatting low on a windswept coastal strip.

I overnighted further east but returned on the bike the following day to see more and take a few photos.

The broody nuclear power station sits behind a shingle bank with the old and new lighthouses close by whilst pulled up above the high water mark were numerous fishing boats.

 Laundry was done in Deal as I passed through in wet and windy weather choosing again to stay on a small site for water and power before heading to Canterbury.

 

 Here again all credit to the local authority who have dedicated a section of the P&R to motorhomes for a few pounds a night with a free bus in to the city and water and waste available. Alongside is the Kent Drive In cinema - not something I have seen before and I question the idea of two showings with over 150 cars at each sat with their engines running for two or more hours at a time...

Anyway it did not disturb me and I enjoyed the cathedral the following day. The sense of history attached is brought home by the tombs of Archbishops, the various chapels, the cloisters and the superb stonework both inside and out. The old streets of the mediaeval centre were interesting to explore and I had a quiet night at the P&R with perhaps half a dozen other vans staying.

 

 

More unsettled weather saw me moving on to the Isle of Sheppey staying high on a shingle bank that offered parking between Minster and Sheerness with good views over the Thames estuary. That night 45mph winds blew constantly but the van was warm and dry and the shipping provided much interest.

News of the second English lockdown began to filter through so I decided a retreat to Wales that was about to exit its local fire break might be sensible in due course. Thus a Tesco at Sheerness saw my supplies replenished and whilst I waited to see if a friend needed a lift out of London I moved on to near Chatham only to find the historic dockyards had closed the previous day for the winter season.

However a walk around the extensive marshlands and bird reserve at Cliffe more than made up for it with much of interest at sea, sand and shingle extraction on land and the old Cliffe fort slowly losing its battle with subsidence and regrowth. This area had once been eyed as an alternative to expansion at Heathrow but this now seems unlikely. The RSPB guy seemed happy to lock me in to the large car park overnight which suited me fine and by 09.30 the following morning I embarked on a trouble free journey west and back in to Wales.

Restrictions here ease tomorrow so I will begin a round of bothy inspections, yesterday Jan and I had a very satisfactory day above Abergavenny dealing with a disgusting pile of rubbish left by irresponsible visitors. Huge thanks to her for the assistance and a place to lie low for a couple of days and to Crad and Dawn over at Sennybridge for the same.

A selection of pics sit here.