We will now have a short interlude before the second half

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So the next day I went for a bit of a ride around Salisbury centre just to burn some time. Then at around 11 I parked up at a local Harvester and waited for Steve to arrive. Due to the weather being dry, but next to zero sunshine my batteries were really on the low side, so I left the engine running while i was waiting in the carpark, as the trip to the Verwood site near the new Forest was only 20 miles, so next to no charge from that. When Steve arrived we had brunch at the Harvester, before heading to the site. Verwood was a nice site, but the only way in to town, was down a busy main road, or via a bridle path that went all over the place to get to the local shops. The next day we headed off to find the Moores Country park, which we hoped would be the New Forests version of Bedgebury. After a few wrong turns we finally made it to the park, and began the blue route, which was 5 miles of fun, but very easy cycling, which was over very quick, so we had a coffee and a piece of cake before going round again. By this time the place had filled with families, and as we started the blue route again, we came across a family trying to ride the blue route, where the mother had as much cycling ability as the kids, then half way round, on a blind corner, we found a kid on the phone to his parents blocking the track. Even though it was a stupid place to stop, with no easy way around him, I couldn't really have a go at him, as it sounded like he was getting a bollocking from the person on the other end of the line already.

After one last coffee, we made our way back to the site, stopping at the local Morrisons for a few essential (alcohol mainly). The next day we tried to follow the abandoned rail track as much as possible, but a lot of it was heavily over-grown. But we did manage to reach Burley for lunch, with a few random wrong turns thrown in. Then it was time to go home, so we packed up and went our separate ways, as Steve was going straight home, but I was meeting up with Louis again. It was lucky Steve was there that morning, as due to the naff weather, and me breaking the cardinal rule of not using the engines battery for anything, I had killed all my batteries, so needed a jump to get going. After that Bob started every time, and by lunch time the sun was blazing away, but why it couldn't have done this while I was parked up! After a nice catch up and curry with Louis and Katherine, Louis and I went for a ride on his Bromptons, which ended at a pub stop, as it should. I then said my good byes, and decided to try bombing along the Motorway home. This was the slightly quicker route, and got me home before midnight, but you never realise the number of hills on the A23, until your almost going backwards on them.

My first week back home was full of catch ups and BBQ's, which was great, then as I had no real plans till the Tour starts in July, I agreed to go into work for a couple of weeks to build a new staff room. Which was fun in the fact I had never done half the jobs before, but it was also the two hottest weeks on record, so I lost a shed load of weight just in sweat. Then, with three days to go before my ferry leaves, I remembered the van needs an MOT! But I don't know why I was worrying, as Bob flew through without a single advisory! So I paid up quickly before the examiner realised he'd been looking at the wrong van or something. Also on the list of things i must do before I leave, is fit the new auxiliary battery, which has now sat in the hallway for three weeks, waiting. I was also going to go shopping to stock up the food, but there are Supermarkets all over the place that will be cheaper than here, so I'll wait. I also decided to book a midday ferry just to avoid the tiredness I got last time, after half a day of driving across the water, and i promise there will not be any sign post pics the time, just a shed load of cyclist photos.

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