We were up early, hoping to make an early start but our charming landlady liked to chat over breakfast but was very helpful and gave us some home made flapjacks and a banana for our journey, so we didn't get away until nearly 9am. It was a miserable drizzly morning and it was the first time we had cycled in the rain so we couldn't grumble. We left our b&b to join route 23 just a couple of roads away. We now had become experts at looking for blue 23 arrows attached to lampposts at strategic points on the route.We passed through some lovely Hampshire villages with thatched cottages and roses galore but we probably didn't see them at their best. We cycled past rows of watercress beds reaching the lovely town of Alresford, there were some nice shops and buildings in the High street, but shopping was not an option on this trip, the panniers were full! We had decided to divert slightly from route 23 which was going to Medstead,the highest village in Hampshire. We opted for a slightly shorter and less hilly route. We managed the hills today, maybe we were getting fitter, but nothing was as steep as the first day's hills. What goes up always comes down and there was a good downhill stretch to Basingstoke.
The route skirted us round the outskirts of the town so we didn't actually see much of the town (I don't think we missed much) . We seem to be going round Basingstoke for ages and we were getting hungry trying to find a shop when we had our first fall. The front wheel hit a slippery bit of mud going uphill and we did a spectacular fall. Going slowly we were non the worse for wear, and I was quite impressed how Graham rolled across the road, luckily there was nobody about to witness the spectacular acrobatics. Anyway we soon found a shop and having refuelled, we were hoping that the route to Reading would be fairly easy. We planned to miss an uphill to Silchester Roman ruins, but we missed the turning and found ourselves amongst the Roman city ruins and amphitheatre which were quite impressive.
On the way down we opted to take an off road short cut which in time is going to be part of the route, This was one and a half miles of bumping downhill through a narrow track. I sit on the back keeping utterly still not daring even to look what's ahead. We came out the other end unscathed, but when the next optional off road short came along even Graham opted for the longer road version.
The wind turbine of Reading soon appeared and we crossed the M4 and entered Reading at the Green Park business park with attractive lakes and cycle routes. The sun was now shining and we met niece Beth for a quick carch up and continued on our way.We had detailed itinerary of how to get to our accommodation for the night at Trevor and Ann's. We cycled along with me reading out the instructions which avoided all main roads, although Graham was somewhat doubting when my directions lead us through an industrial estate and into a large car park but there was a way out, which lead us to our destination.
So we had come to the end of Route 23 we had seen it nearly all of its way from Sandown to Reading it was a bit like a friend who had been travelling with us all that way. It had gone through spectacular scenery,muddy tracks, through parks ,along rivers, round towns and cities, through industrial estates and housing estates but it nearly always managed to avoid busy roads. Goodbye route 23 it was nice knowing you.
Distance 48 miles