Fordingbridge Town Centre Car Park
(ref SU 147 143)
This ride can be reached either by driving all the way to Corfe, or in the past some members have parked in Poole and taken the Sandbanks ferry and ridden the short distance to the start point. Whatever your point of origin, the ride will start officially from the Norden Park and Ride facility just near Corfe Castle and that is the map reference given above. Please note that there is a car parking charge payable at meters in the Park and Ride facility. The start time will be the usual 10.00am roll out of the car park. Please allow a bit of extra time to get to the start as the roads may well be busy if the weather is good and the tourists will be out in force.
(ref SU 164 083)
This is a popular location situated at the Moyles Court sand pit. From here most of the available routes start with a short sharp rise but once that is out of the way, there are options for rolling on across Rockford Common (firm going) towards Linwood, the Red Shoot and Milkham, or taking a course over Ibsley Common (soft, gritty sand and a little bit of a slog) towards Abbot's Well
and Hampton Ridge. We might even make a foray westwards across the River Avon and have a thrash around Ringwood Forest, Boveridge Heath, Ashley Heath and Horton Common, all well worth a visit.
(ref SU 188 689) (What3Words – busy.relief.crawling)
Lunch stop: bring something with you, such as sandwiches for a mid-ride break .
The map reference is the public car park behind the shops on the main road but you get to it by taking the B3052 local residential road that runs south of and parallel to the High Street which is the main A4 road. There is never a guarantee that car park charges will not apply on Sundays, so it’s best to take some coins for the parking meters, just in case. We could cycle up onto Barton Down and then head east towards the western end of the Ridgeway near Avebury. After this, we could follow the Ridgeway to Barbury Castle and then take a variety of loops to Ogbourne St George. This is good riding country so we don’t have to stick to that route suggestion.