The end is nigh... Well the UK bit any way :)

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The weather was nice all the way down to the New Forest, with the only hold up being Lyndhurst, where I was only 2 miles from the campsite, so just accepted it, rather than look for a detour. This site was annoying, as reception was only open for a couple of hours in the morning, and pitching was a free for all. Once I'd pitched I did a reccie and got my onboard tank filled with water. Wednesday morning I had booked a ferry to take me over to the Isle of Wight, so wasn't going to be around for reception to be open,but I'd already paid so didn't really mind. The port was only 8 miles away, but not knowing if the route down, would be easy, or a struggle, I gave myself over an hour, which was plenty. The sea was totally calm, so it was a very smooth crossing. Once there I powered up the garmin and loaded the planned route, this for some reason made it crash a couple of times, which in an unknown area, was just what I needed! On the fourth attempt, it worked so I set off. Unfortunately the first road I cycled was the main road out of the port, so it was very busy, but I was soon turning inland and away from the traffic. Most of the roads the cycle route took me along, had been rebuild not that long ago, so were still in perfect condition, especially as I hardly saw a car until I got close to Cowes. This is where the route started getting a bit stressful, as there were signs telling me to go up hills, when my planned route was telling me to go straight ahead. Eventually I found cycle route 24, which heads down to Newport, and is an old disused rail line, so zero cars. Unlike the roads I then had to take through Newport, to get back to Yarmouth, which made me feel like I was riding across motorways! Eventually I turned off this and into a forest with gravel tracks. It was here that I finally tested my theory on my multi tool. Now when I bought my first mountain bike in 2011 from Chainreaction, they gave me two multi tools free, and they have the flat head screwdriver next to the 6mm Allen key, so I assumed this could be combined to make an 8mm Allen key, but never had a reason to try. But by the time I reached the forest my crank arm was loose, and yes, the combination does make an 8mm, but it's not very sturdy, so I had to stop every couple of miles to retighten it. Then with 6 miles to go I was having to stop every mile or less. Luckily in Yarmouth, I found a small cycle shop, who had a proper 8mm and some thread lock. I also don't know how these little places survive, as he didn't want anything for it, just like a shop in Dartmoor I stopped at, and used his stand and tools, but none the less I was very grateful to them both. With only a mile to go, I had less than ten minutes before the ferry departed, and I'd have an hour to wait for the next. When I got there, they were just about finished with loading the top deck, so I was able to roll on with a few minutes till it left. The ride back to camp was fairly easy to retrace from this morning, but by now the heat was really starting to wear me out, and I later realised that I now have tan/burn lines across my arms where the gloves stopped and the t-shirt started. I also found a polite notice under my windscreen wiper, requesting me to book in next time reception was open. Thursday I decided to take it a bit easier, as aswell as having a bit of sun burn on my arms, I had also pulled a muscle in my back, which made sleeping a painful experience if I rolled the wrong way, or breathed in to much. So I booked tickets to see the new pirates of the Caribbean movie in Southampton. To get there I could ride around the mouth of the river and across the main bridge, which I bet would be super busy. Or I can ride to Hythe and catch a ferry. So I chose the ferry, as this would be more fun and the cineworld is only half a mile down the road from the port. The ferry wanted £3 more to take the bike, and I had read on their site that they were using a substitute boat, that didn't have a ramp, so I decided to chain the 920 to a bike railing and walk on to the boat, and to the cinema. I have to say I did not like leaving the bike alone for that long, but it did make the ferry crossing, and the journey to the cinema, much easier, especially as I had a pub lunch near the cinema too. The film was excellent, unlike the cinema itself, which had no ice cream counter! Then the screen that was showing the film, was tiny with the chairs mounted on an almost completely flat floor, so from the seat I booked I was looking up at a 45 degree angle, which is useless for 3D. So I quickly booked another seat, using another card number, just in case they wanted to argue about not being in the right seat, and sat there. This was a good choice, and meant the 3D worked well. When the film finished, I wondered back to the ferry and headed back to Hythe. The crossing this time was a bit rougher and every so often, we'd hit a wave that would then spray inside the boat, which really upset all the guys hunched over there phones, so they moved to the other side. My pone by now was dead, so I just enjoyed the splashes like they I was on a Thorpe park ride, but for free. Hythe pier is fairly long, and all I kept thinking about was whether or not I still had a bike, even though Hythe Hampshire is as quiet as the Hythe in Kent, so I didn't really need to worry, and the bike was exactly as I left it, so I set off back to the campsite.

Friday I was having a leisurely wake up, but them decided to go for a ride. At first this was just going to be a play in the nearby forest area, but then I remembered I lost my cycling glasses in Sway, so followed route 2 there to see if they'd been handed in to the post office I had visited, when collecting my amazon parcels. Unfortunately as it had been over 3 weeks, they had been handed in, but had since been chucked, so I headed back. On the way there, route 2 suddenly just stops, with an "end of route" sign, just before a busy main road ( my favourite!). So I had to ride along this till I found a quiet turn off that I remember being part of the wiggle sportive, but on the way back, I crossed straight over the main road, and headed down to a church that had a byway running down the side, in the hope it would avoid the crappy main road. It eventually brought me out on to route 2 a long way away from the main road which was a result, and one to remember. The next site should have been just the other side of Ringwood, but as signal at this site was none existent, I waited till I was on the ferry to book it, but by this time it was fully booked, due to a bank holiday on a half term. When I was up at Chipping Norton, I was going to book Ringwood for the remaining days I have, but decided to go to Denny wood as it was £5 cheaper, then book the rest later, and though I was kicking myself for not just booking it and ignoring the fiver, if I had, I wouldn't have done the Isle of Wight, or Hythe, so every silver lining and all that. Because Salisbury is only 24 miles away I tried to leaving it as late as possible before heading off, which was still too early for the minimum check in time, until I had to sit in traffic, just outside the city, for over half an hour.

Saturday the weather was supposed to be a bit dodge, but other than being overcast it turned out to be a nice day. So I thought I would catch up on my Pokemon catching, before my little Nephew finds out I've been slacking, but after 5 miles of ridiculously slow riding, I got to a place with no signal, so abandoned the game, and went to find Stonehenge. Now originally I was following route 45, until it reached the village of Lake, then I would take a bridle path up to Stonehenge. Except I kept seeing "national byway" signs, and wondering if it would lead to the byway that runs next to Stonehenge. It didn't. In fact it started heading off in the opposite direction, so I took a bridle path that looked like it connected to another, and would eventually bring me back to the byway I wanted, and it probably would have done if I hadn't got carried away with the ride. So yet again, I found myself taking another bridle path, that would hopefully put me on the byway I wanted, and in a way it did, as it put me half a mile down the road from the beginning of the byway. The down side was that this road was very busy, was uphill, and the winds had now become head winds, so I was in a real happy place, battling my way to the byway, as the red mist was decending. Luckily I reached the byway before I blew a vessel and did something stupid. Even though it had rained heavily in the early hours, the byway was dry with just a few puddles, so it wasn't long before I was trying to work out how to cross the A303, where all the cars were doing 30, and were all bunched up, and there wasn't a crossing to use. Eventually I managed to get across, though one guy at first slowed down, then speeded up as if he thought, I was going to fly across, which just doesn't happen on a push bike. After parking the bike along the fence line and getting the obligatory Stonehenge photos ( where you can only just see it in the back ground), I headed off in the hope of finding a way back. Again it was a random bridle path that happened to head in the right direction, and took me into Amesbury. The cycle route here wasn't exactly easy, as on my map I would have to go down a one way street the wrong way, so I stuck to the pavement, until it was a two way street again, and it turned out to be the route 45 I had started on, so I followed it all the way back.

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