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Days 16 - A trip to Winchester by train
Day 17 - From Lyndhurst to Salisbury - 27.5 miles

Day 16 - A trip to Winchester by train

    Mike and Susan spent some time the night of the party talking us out of riding our bikes to Winchester and continuing on with our tour. They both agreed that the traffic and roads between Southampton and Winchester were traffic clogged and would make for a slow paced, frustrating day on a bike. In addition, they said they really wished we'd stay for another day of talking of touring and sharing our experiences of England with them. We felt like we were asking way too much to be hosted for a second evening but Susan and Mike just would not hear no for an answer. They said that they were treated so well on their American tour that they just had to repay the kindnesses received in some way and we would just have to be the beneficiaries.  We were enjoying ourselves immensely with these two wonderful people and easily agreed to stay a second night.

    We shared breakfast with them and saw Mike off to work on his bicycle and then walked across the main road and caught a bus to the train station where we boarded a train to Winchester for the day. One of the first places we visited was the reconstructed water operated mill where Anne, one of the guests at the birthday party, worked. It was fun visiting a tourist attraction where we actually knew one of the people working there and it made us feel a little "special". The mill shares the building with the Winchester YHA hostel, and the hostel uses part of the mill area for it's dining room.

    Other high points of the day included a visit to Winchester Cathedral where we saw the trunks containing the mortal remains of many of England's earliest kings. It seems that when Cromwell was pillaging the properties of the aristocracy, he broke into the tombs of the early monarchs and scattered their bones throughout the interior of the cathedral. The bones, in total disarray, were gathered up and placed in large trunks and set high above the choir's cloister in the cathedral's center. The cathedral also contained the tombs of Isaac Walton, the father of fly fishing (another hobby of mine) and Jane Austen.

    We visited the Great Hall, the only remaining portion of Winchester Castle. The hall has a giant round table mounted on the wall dating from the mid 1200's. The round table has King Arthur at its head and a place marked for each of his knights. It's well known that the table is NOT truly from the mythical Arthur's reign but it does point out that the Arthurian Legend dates from before the 1200's. Supposedly Henry VIII saw the table and had the face of Arthur painted to resemble his own, not that Henry was a vain man!

    We returned to Southampton early enough to visit a local bike shop and pick up a pair of lycra shorts for Jeanette. The weather was so warm that she needed something cooler to cycle in and these seemed perfect. Mike and Susan had prepared dinner and we spent much of the remainder of the evening talking of touring and our experiences. Mike and I took a look at our bikes and it seemed that my rear wheel was far enough from true that some adjustment might be advised. 

    I made an attempt while Mike looked on. I could tell that he was being polite but itching to, "do it right." I asked him if he'd like to help. He went over to his workbench and took down a wheel truing stand that he had built. In short order he had the wheel mounted and analyzed its faults. He commented that the entire wheel was not tensioned sufficiently and tightened all of the spokes, at the same time, being careful not to put the wheel even farther out of true. He then worked quickly, a few spokes at a time, with very small adjustments until the wheel spun with no perceptible deviation. 

    He spent 15 minutes on what would have taken me hours. Mike said that because he and Susan frequently toured far from support, he had wanted to learn what makes a good wheel. He felt that he could best learn the skill by building his own. That's exactly what he did and his acquired skills showed. I was truly appreciative and learned a lot in that short time.

    We talked till almost midnight before we all headed off to bed. Susan spoke with Jeanette about things that would make touring easier for her, both in packing for the trip and while on the trips themselves. She also helped Jeanette with her aversion to hills. Her caring and sharing resulted in a new outlook by Jeanette in the days to come where she realized that hills were just a part of touring, some could be ridden up and others had to be walked up, but none of them were "conspiring" to make her life miserable. They were just hills to be encountered and traversed, not conquered. 

Total cycling miles - 0

Day 17 - From Lyndhurst to Salisbury - 27.5 miles

    We joined Mike and Susan at the breakfast table for a last shared meal. Mike offered to take us out of Southampton in his van to a place in the New Forest where we could have a really nice ride to Salisbury rather than ride through the suburbs of Southampton. Since we weren't putting him out of his way (at least we hoped we weren't), we took him up on his offer. 

    We put the bikes upright into the back of the van and used the panniers and other things to pad them for the short trip. Once at the New Forest, we stopped for a short visit to a small ecological park and shared an hour looking for creatures native to the area in enclosures made for easier viewing. We returned to the van and Mike took us to a place at the top of a hill, especially for Jeanette, where we could unload and he pointed the way. We said our last goodbyes, touched at both his and Susan's kindness and somewhat amazed at how sharing a liking for touring and bicycles opened the door to a friendship so quickly. As Susan said during the previous night, "It's ALL about the bike." Mike left in his van and we were on our bikes and on our way in the warming sunshine of the day.

    The wind was at our back and there seemed to be more downhills than uphills. The forest resembled California in the foothills near our home more than any preconceived idea of England. Wild horses dotted the landscape. We covered 15 miles in record time, passing through the small towns of Stoney Cross, Nomansland and Landford and then decided it was time for lunch. We stopped at a warm and friendly looking pub for sandwiches. When we came back out to the bikes we found that, instead of being full of energy, we felt totally drained. Perhaps the emotion of being on our own again had both invigorated us in the morning and had caused some feeling of loss at the same time. We dismounted and pushed our bikes up even the smallest hills. After a while some of our energy returned and we rode on through one of the cutest set of villages  we had yet seen, Redlynch and Morgan's Vale, with many of the houses dressed up in thatched roofs and flower boxes.

    At Downton, a beautiful little town with a flowing river passing through,  we found that we had missed a turn and ended up on the A338. We decided to backtrack and found a very minor road that took us through farmer's fields and the little towns of Charlton-All-Saints, Whaddon, Alderbury and Britford before reaching Salisbury.

    We rode directly to the YHA hostel and checked in. Jeanette sprawled on the lawn and was soon asleep. The weather had become even warmer, much warmer than the average Englishman is used to, with temperatures in the mid to high 80's. I puttered around and went to town to look around. When I came back an hour later, Jeanette was still asleep on the lawn. I woke her up and we put our stuff in our rooms. We were sleeping dormitory style, Jeanette with the girls and myself with the guys.    

    After a shower, it was time for dinner. We looked at a recommended list of restaurants and decided to ride around town, looking at each, until we saw one we liked. We found one with a fairly large crowd, something we considered a good sign. Two dinners and a few pints later, we returned to the hostel and sat in the lounge, enjoying the warm weather and the conversations of the various travelers until it was time for bed.

Total miles 27.5

Day 18 - A visit to Wilton House - 0.0 miles
Day 19 -  A bus trip to Avesbury - 2.8 miles
Day 20 - Lost in the wilderness trying to reach Bath - 27.5 miles

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