Test Valley and Berkshire Downs

With a good weather forecast and a southerly wind, I decided to continue my exploration of the National Cycle Network by cycling from Romsey to Newbury using principally NCN 246.

I cycled to Woking station to pick up the 1000 train to Romsey via Southampton Airport Parkway. This was not my lucky day. I got a puncture on the way to the station (my old bike had Schwalbe Marathon Plus puncture-proof tyres and never had a puncture; my new bike has cheap tyres: I must upgrade them); and there was rail chaos following a fire at Vauxhall. I actually got a delayed train earlier than my planned 1000, but this was further delayed by "signalling problems in the Eastleigh area", meaning a long wait for the Romsey train at Southampton Airport Parkway. So I decided to start my ride from the latter station. The map of my GPS track is below.

After a brief start along NCN 23, I branched off onto NCN 24 to Romsey. This was excellently signed (as were all today's routes), and is a good example of an inter-urban cycleway, making the most of back roads and paths, and cycleways beside busy roads. In Romsey, I diverted to view the fine Abbey, before picking up NCN 24 again to its junction with the NCN 246, which was to take me all the way to Kintbury. The first 10 miles follow the River Test Valley using a disused railway to just short of Chilbolton. It is mostly close to the main road, although I was not really concious of that, and prior to Stockbridge, it loops out through the countryside. A follower of this blog points out that the railway was known as the Sprat and Winkle line, which connected Redbridge, Southampton to the Basingstoke-Salisbury line at Andover. There seems to be no one explanation for the name: possibly it refers to a nickname for a type of railway coupling. At Horsebridge, I passed a well preserved station, which has been restored and now serves as a venue for weddings.

After Chilbolton, the route takes back roads to the outskirts of Andover, which is then traversed using the Anton Way.

For the second half of the ride, from Andover to Newbury, I climbed gradually on surprisingly quiet lanes to leave Hampshire and enter Berkshire at Combe Hill, a fine viewpoint on the Berkshire Downs. Upon reaching Kintbury, I picked up the NCN 4 East to Newbury, the final few miles being along the Kennet and Avon Canal Towpath. (This is part of the Kennet and Avon Cycleway which I cover in full in this post.)

From Newbury station, I got the train back to Guildford via Reading. A long day, but a great ride (52 miles), mostly traffic-free or traffic-light. It's a tribute to the folks at Sustrans who have sorted out the route, improved it and signed it for the enjoyment of us cyclists.