Yep, i made it back.

It's been a while since i've had a week of such intensive physical activity, all told i've covered some 732km and climbed 8342m, only 500m short of Everest! Of that total @ 25km was walking on my 2 off bike days so no day was exactly full on rest.

I've not had reliable internet since i departed Devon so sorry for not posting for a week but lets get caught up.

So last Wednesday i loaded Foxy up again and set off for the ride along the coast from Beer to Dorchester. After Wednesdays wet, it looked like a nice day ahead but as i climbed out of Devon into Dorset with barely 10km on the clock, it started to hiss down. Of course, having soaked me it then warmed up, warm soggy gear is not ideal for riding.

Down into Lyme Regis then up and repeat, only the place names changing as i progressed along the coast. Just to compound things, at Charmouth i parked up for a photo op and promptly got soaked by a huge wave hitting the base of the esplanade thingy! By now the sun was out, the added warmth not making the climbing any easier although the westerly did offer a little push as i headed for Abbotsbury.

From there i turned inland for the last few miles into Dorchester, taking the lanes of least resistance but not escaping entirely. I arrived at my destination after a mere 67km which had an impressive 1187m of up along the sawtooth profile.

Before the trip i'd sort of planned a couple of routes from Dorchester and so on Friday i set off on the first, a trip down to Portland Bill. By going anti clockwise, the biggest climb of the day came in the first few kilometres, up to Hardy's monument where i tarried to take in the views across a good chunk of Dorset. Then it was down to Abbotsbury where i crossed yesterdays route to pickup the coastal lanes above Chesil Beach towards Portland. Yes there were more hills but apart from the drag up onto the island, they were quite tame compared to yesterday. Eventually i reached the lighthouse, the cliffs reduced to almost nothing, the Atlantic almost slapping at your feet.

Time to start the return leg but not before a stop for chips as my stomach was a rumble! Back along Chesil then the old railway path into Weymouth, a short loop east brought me back into Dorchester for another 1000m of climbing and 88 more of those kilometres.

Saturday was looking a bit more mixed weatherwise, the roads a bit damp as i headed east towards my first stop at Lulworth Cove. Of course. there was more vertyical challenge before i reached the sea and even more as i headed inland a bit to continue my ride towards Swanage. Luck was with me, the Range road was open, a long, single figure grade through the Lulworth tank/artillery ranges, which was pleasant and kept me off of busier roads towards Corfe Castle. Corfe was packed, the sun having encouraged one last hurrah for the holidaymakers. I could've followed the main road into Swanage but instead i took the decidedly lumpy 'coastal' route, eventually dropping into the very busy resort ready for some lunch.

A burger was a break from all the chips i've had then it was time start the return leg, avoiding the main road back to Corfe by using a very bumpy sigle track lane. Corfe was even busier now and so was the main road which i quickly eschewed in favour of a ride into the extensive Arne nature reserves. The return to Dorchester from here is fairly straightforward, west to Wool then either follow the river on its south side or go up through Bovington and take the bumpier northern option - of course, i took the northern option.

Past the Tank Museum, then through the extensive training grounds eventually returned me to the county town with 101km in the legs and another 1200m of climbing!

Sunday was scheduled as a bike free day of rest, yeah right. We, that is Angharad and myself, went out for a stupidly huge Top o' Town Sunday lunch - i counted 8 veg, 2 types of tater plus the lamb and Yorkshire puds - dessert was not required! It was still early and i needed an apres lunch walk so i set off into the grey and windy afternoon to 'do' Maiden Castle hillfort. three hours later i got back hjaving walked 10 kilometres and taken @ 100 pictures! Did i mention it was blowing a hoolie up there?

Monday and unfortunately time to start heading back to Brizzle. Well at least the wind was sort of favourable as i set off to traverse the various Puddles, Town, Tol, Alf, Brants and Turners to eventually reach Bere Regis. In an attempt to avoid the busy A roads i took to the lanes again which resulted in a lot of jinking about, not helped by a lack of road signs, before i finally reached Sturminster Marshall where i picked up a sandwich for lunch which i decided i would have at Bibury Rings just a short way further on. Any threat of wet had disapeared and i enjoyed my sarnie sprawled on the grass below the hillfort.

The direct route was via an unmade bridleway so instead i looped via the Tarrants to reach the lanes towards Knowlton and Cranborne Chase. The downside to this was a series of short climbs, never uncomfortable but with the extra weight i was carrying, cumulatively tiring, i was glad to reach Knowlton where i took a break to walk the henge and view the church. It was quite warm by now and i had to resist the temptation to tarry longer.

I calculated that it was under twenty kilometres to my B&B but that involved more of those annoying short, steep climbs before i reached the Avon Valley, thats the Hampshire one as opposed to the Warwick or Bristol variants! I was quite tired when i arrived at my digs a bit before five, i may have caught forty winks before going out for a pint and bag of chips! 93km, 926m was pretty intense.

And so to Tuesday, the last day of my mini odyssey. My brother has been taking a coach full of Austrians around the West Country while i've been away, gradually catching me up, today we'd both be in Salisbury at the same time so we had arranged to meet for a coffee. It rained while i was breakfasting but it had stopped as i set off only to see my little bro going into Salisbury ahead of schedule! By the time we rendezvoused, it was warming up and the sky was clearing to blue.

We sat chatting for an hour but we both had timetables, he with his passengers and me with another 100km to go to reach journeys end, reluctantly i climbed back onto Foxy and headed out of Salisbury towards Stonehenge. Its a nice ride up the valley before you plop out onto the Plain then a short ride on the busy A road to reach the stones. You'd think it was a World Heritage site near the autumn equinox or something, the place was rammed! I took the obligatory picture and didn't stop, instead starting my crossing of the Plain, grateful to stop at a burger van near Tilshead for some lunch, a proper mucky job with cheese and bacon!

I was now on fairly familiar roads, i started playing 'count the hills', each one a step closer to the end of the journey. Past Trowbridge, Bradford upon Avon (the Bristol Avon that is), then one last draggy climb and down to Bath. Despite my hour in Salisbury it was still before five when i dismounted for the final time, 116km and a mere 795m of climbing since breakfast. And there it was, done, over, maybe it wasn't the trip i had hoped to take but it was okay with lots of new bike roads and mostly okay weather.

Its back to the normal routine now - well once i've recovered a bit at least! I'll return to the weekly Sunday Gabysode postings and to writing more new adventures as we head towards the autumn.

For now though, thats all
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid