Author: Garry

World cyclist, middle aged, over weight, drinks too much, eats too much. But can ride a bike for miles.
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Dorset Bicycle Ride 1st-July-2015

Garry McGivern’s Dorset bicycle ride, Wednesday 1st-July-2015 Wareham to Langton Matravers. 39 miles. After failing to reach Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door yesterday, I decided to set off in that direction this morning. And this morning, I made it despite having to go up one or two rather steep climbs.

My reason for going to Lulworth Cove was to swim through Durdle Door, a huge arch that the sea has carved out over thousands of years. A friend suggested that I should do it, so you know me, any excuse to go somewhere on my bike. Durdle Door is a couple of miles from Lulworth, so after taking photos of the cove, I set off for Durdle Door. It was a bit of a steep climb to get back out of Lulworth, and I nearly regretted going down there. But I eventually made it to Durdle Door, or rather the car park on the cliffs.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get anywhere near the sea. Reaching the sea meant negotiating a steep gravel path, and even though I may have been okay going down. I don’t think I would have been able to get back up. My sciatica has started to play me up again, plus I didn’t fancy leaving my bike at the top of the cliffs. In hindsight, I should have come here last night and camped at the campsite you pass through to get to the cliff. Then I would have had plenty of time to walk down the cliff. Maybe I’ll return at some other time.

That Was A Wasted Journey

After not even being able to see Durdle Door let alone swim through it, I headed back towards Wareham, not knowing which way to head. After having lunch at the Quay in Wareham, I decided to head towards Toms Field in Langton Matravers. Unfortunately, before reaching the campsite, I stopped at the Square and Compass in Worth Matravers, a lovely little pub that sells scrumpy. And that’s where I stayed until late afternoon, early evening. Luckily it’s downhill from the pub to the campsite.

Drink on table with hills in background
Enjoying a pint of scrumpy at the Square and Compass

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June 2015 Update

After arriving home from my Spanish tour the first thing I did after unpacking was to go and get my ribs checked out at the local hospital. After having an x-ray the doctor told me that I hadn’t punctured a lung, which I never thought I had in the first place and that their just bruised! Not too sure how he could tell as when I went for the x-ray the radiologist couldn’t even read the doctors writing and had to ask me what I was there for and even after I had told him he x-rayed the front of my chest rather than the side! But hey ho I’m sure they knew what they were doing! It’s now four weeks since I fell over and hurt my ribs and they still hurt on the odd occasion if I twist too much or take a deep breath but their definitely getting better.

Julie was on holiday the week after I got back (she always seems to be on holiday when I come back from a tour but then that’s usually the reason why I come back) so we decided to head west for a few days and ended up camping at Wareham in Dorset along the river.Wareham Quay We only stayed there for three nights as there was a cold north easterly wind blowing off Poole harbour and straight across the campsite and no matter where we pitched the tent there was no escaping that cold wind! Despite the wind we still had a good time and went out for a couple of rides on the bikes to Studland Bay and Bournemouth.

After three days like I said we’d had enough of the wind and decided to head for the New Forest about 40 miles away where there would be more shelter from the wind. We again had a nice few days camping in the woods with the New Forest ponies paying us a visit in the mornings. We didn’t really do too much just a couple of short rides through the woods and I was prating around with a load of plastic ducks one day that I’d brought after we’d had a heavy downpour and there was now a pond outside the tent!

That weekend there was a Mini Cooper rally going on at the Beaulieu National Motor museum which is only about 5 miles away so we had dozens of mini coopers both new and old at the campsite, it made quite a spectacle in the morning when they all headed off in convoy to Beaulieu.

On the back front I do feel that there is a slight improvement despite me saying in my last update that I didn’t think that there was! I’m definitely more upright and everybody says that I am moving better and not looking so uncomfortable. I can now walk a bit further too before I have to stop and rest. First thing in the morning is also a lot better I’m not struggling to walk downstairs as much, before it was a real effort to go downstairs, I had to hold onto the handrail as I felt so unstable and wobbly! Once I’d managed to get downstairs I would then have to sit down, take my medication and wait half an hour for them to kick in before I was able to do anything! But now I seem to be able to walk down the stairs relatively easy without having to hold onto the handrail! I’m still very hopeful that my back will recover I just think it’s an extremely long and slow process and that maybe because of my trip to Spain where I was away from my normal home environment for a month and everything was new I never noticed any difference, but now I’m back home and everything is familiar again I can notice an improvement! I guess it’s just a case of being patient which is certainly not one of my fortes! After saying all that my back has actually been hurting me quite a bit this last week or so, so I’ve headed west for a few days on the bike to try and ease it a bit!

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Dorset Bicycle Ride 30th-June-2015

Garry McGivern’s Dorset bicycle ride, Tuesday 30th-June-2015 Brockenhurst to Wareham. 49 miles. After packing up this morning, I left Holland’s Wood and headed towards Christchurch, rejoining the National Cycle Network again. I decided that after enjoying yesterday so much following the cycle routes, I’d do it again today.

From Brockenhurst, I took the main road, the cycle route went off-road, and that’s just hard going. But once I arrived in Somerford, I rejoined the cycle route. I followed the route to Mudeford Quay, where I had to catch another ferry across to Hengistbury Head. That was very busy with tourists and a bit awkward to get my bike on. Once on Hengistbury Head, it’s a traffic-free ride along the prom, all the way to Poole.

Ruins
Corfe Castle

After Poole, I headed off to Corfe Castle, taking another ferry from Poole to Studland. That’s my fifth ferry in two days. I wanted to get to Corfe Castle to try out a pub (the Fox Inn) that had been recommended to me by my mate Mick. Unfortunately, it was too early to be open when I arrived, but it didn’t matter. The place had closed down, with a note on the window thanking customers for their support over the years. It may have closed down due to the landlord, who by all accounts was a bit of a character and quite rude to everybody. That was my reason for visiting. I always like a fellow misery! Such a shame that we are losing so many pubs.

Not That Way

I had intended to camp at Corfe Castle, but there didn’t seem much point with the pub shut. So I decided to head to Lulworth Cove and visit Durdle Door instead. That didn’t work out too well either. The route I chose to take crossed a military firing range. But after slogging up some ridiculously steep hill, the firing range was in use, and the road was closed!

After finding my route blocked, I found another road to follow and found myself near Wareham, where Julie and I had camped a couple of weeks ago. So I decided to stop the night back at the campsite in Wareham. I’m not too sure what I’m going to do tomorrow now. I’ll have a few beers tonight and decide.

I’m not sure whether or not the link below will work. It always brings a smile to my face when the ponies visit!

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Dorset Bicycle Ride 29th-June-2015

Garry McGivern’s Dorset bicycle ride, Monday 29th-June-2015 Bognor Regis to Brockenhurst. 62 miles. Well, once again, I’m off on my bike. This time I’m heading down to the West Country. It’s not going to be the biggest of tours; if I manage to cycle three hundred miles, I’ll be surprised.

I’ve had a nice ride down to Brockenhurst today. And to make a change, I’ve been following the National Cycle network route two instead of my usual route along the main road. It’s been a bit of a pain at times as it twists and turns all over the place. But because I’d never cycled this route before, I quite enjoyed it.

The route involved a few ferries today, which I always enjoy, although none of them for any great time or distance. My first ferry of the day was the crossing from Portsmouth to Gosport. I could have got one before this from Hayling Island to Eastney, but I’m not sure if it’s running at the moment. After getting to Gosport, the cycle route took me to Warsash and the river Hamble. And my next ferry, which was the smallest and cheapest of the day. It was also the most fun. It was bright pink.

After crossing the river Hamble, the cycle route took me to Southampton, and my final ferry of the day, which ran from Southampton to Hythe. Once I’d reached Hythe, I was in the New Forest. I continued to follow the cycle route but lost it and took a detour. All in all, though, it’s been a great cycle route on quiet roads and, on occasions, off-road.

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Little Pink ferry
The little pink ferry at Warsash

 

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