This week I are been mainly camping near Lyndhurst.
Cycling in the New Forest - like the curate's egg, parts of it are excellent. Some really nice offroad trails with reasonable signposting, and some nice rideable roads - but every now and then you run across one of the major arterial roads which transect the Forest, and the drivers there take no prisoners. I am not easily scared off the road, but one half-mile stretch of the A337 was enough for me.
Still and all, it's a nicely human-scale place. You can ride from Lyndhurst to Lymington, Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Southampton, and back - each is an easy ride compatible with spending most of the day at the destination.
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Cycling in the New Forest - like the curate's egg, parts of it are excellent. Some really nice offroad trails with reasonable signposting, and some nice rideable roads - but every now and then you run across one of the major arterial roads which transect the Forest, and the drivers there take no prisoners. I am not easily scared off the road, but one half-mile stretch of the A337 was enough for me.
I have driven along this road recently and it looked like quite a nice cycling route. What's so bad about it?
I have driven along this road recently and it looked like quite a nice cycling route. What's so bad about it?
The bit near Lyndhurst is fairly narrow, fairly straight, has dips and hollows (to hide you from view), is subject to a cultural imperitive to speed (the only possible explanation I can think of for the people crawling up my [censored] when I was driving along there at the speed limit) and has no overtaking for long stretches as a result - which of course doesn't apply to overtaking bikes (ha ha).
Bottom line: people overtake far too close and far too fast, and given the alternative between dangerous overtaking and waiting, waiting doesn't even get a look-in.
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
This week I are been mainly camping near Lyndhurst.
Cycling in the New Forest - like the curate's egg, parts of it are excellent. Some really nice offroad trails with reasonable signposting, and some nice rideable roads - but every now and then you run across one of the major arterial roads which transect the Forest, and the drivers there take no prisoners.
My experience too of the one time I rode in the area on a road bike. This is something I've noticed with some "beauty spots", the fact they may have few roads which by default are main arteries. Makes me appreciate my own back yard which is well supplied with trunk roads and quiet lanes that go nowhere in particular and don't attract motor tourists.
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Cycling in the New Forest - like the curate's egg, parts of it are excellent. Some really nice offroad trails with reasonable signposting, and some nice rideable roads - but every now and then you run across one of the major arterial roads which transect the Forest, and the drivers there take no prisoners. I am not easily scared off the road, but one half-mile stretch of the A337 was enough for me.
I have driven along this road recently and it looked like quite a nice cycling route. What's so bad about it?
It is straight, and quite narrow and the drivers fail to give much clearance when overtaking, while Near Lyndhurst it is quite lumpy. I went along on the tandem trike a few years ago with the family - never again. I was involved in the early years of setting up many of the waymarked trails. When in the area, I now use the forest tracks to the east which come out at Balmer Lawn.
The New Forest is now completely overrun by traffic in the summer and is no longer a pleasant place to visit. Yes there are forestry tracks but they eventually meet the main roads. The A35 is about the worst - it took 25 minutes to cross once, while the A35 and A326 are also difficult to deal with. Places like Brockenhurst and Beaulieu are just congested car parks.
What is galling is that many of those driving into the Forest and thus ruining it for everyone are probably cyclists who could have taken the train or ridden from one of the nearby towns.
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
This week I are been mainly camping near Lyndhurst.
Cycling in the New Forest - like the curate's egg, parts of it are excellent. Some really nice offroad trails with reasonable signposting, and some nice rideable roads - but every now and then you run across one of the major arterial roads which transect the Forest, and the drivers there take no prisoners. I am not easily scared off the road, but one half-mile stretch of the A337 was enough for me.
Still and all, it's a nicely human-scale place. You can ride from Lyndhurst to Lymington, Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Southampton, and back - each is an easy ride compatible with spending most of the day at the destination.
I live 2 miles from the northern boundary of the forest and avoid the Southern side like the plague (for cycling purposes!) Try the north side of the forest, that is north of the M27/A31 axis, good loops of 13 to 40 odd miles using no more than 6 miles of B-road.If anyone wants Autoroute files let me know. As a word of caution I avoid any forest roads after 11am on any sunny Sunday.
Don't forget lovely little Hythe and a ferry ride (bikes are free) back to Soton.
We have done it twice now in the past three years on our visits to the IW... love the New Forest. We stayed B and B at Lyndhurst, YHA at Burley and also ventured up into Wiltshire and stayed at Salisbury YHA and took an easy day ride through the Wooford Valley to Stonehenge and back. Best riding Helena and I have done for a long time. The ferry trips are all part of the fun, plus the Red Funnel back to E Cowes (bikes free again).
Paul
-- Drop Dead if you want to reply personally the Baker-Bealls wrote in message ...
Quoted message said:
">> Still and all, it's a nicely human-scale place. You can ride from
Quoted message said:
Lyndhurst to Lymington, Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Southampton, and back - each is an easy ride compatible with spending most of the day at the destination.
I live 2 miles from the northern boundary of the forest and avoid the Southern side like the plague (for cycling purposes!) Try the north side of the forest, that is north of the M27/A31 axis, good loops of 13 to 40 odd miles using no more than 6 miles of B-road.If anyone wants Autoroute files let me know. As a word of caution I avoid any forest roads after 11am on
