Bright eyes and cold bones

It's been a while since my last trip - September last year. Getting a new job and getting into the spirit of Christmas getting in the way of getting out I guess.

So in the spirit of the New Year I thought I would plan a trip as soon as possible in January. And luckily one was suggested in the book that I've been using pretty heavily in my planning of these trips over the last 2 years. And that is "Bikepacking - Mountain bike camping adventures on the wild trails of Britain" by Cycling journalist Laurence McJannet.

My go to place for inspiration

This is one of a number of great reads from Wild Things Publishing - and the link on the image and the text will take you to their site to buy. Must be better than giving even more cash to Jeff Bezos surely?

Anyway - it's well written and each ride has a bunch of detail to go with it - including GPX files. So, highly recommended. The route I chose was No. 10 in the book - Finding Efrafa - so called because it passes the actual Watership Down. Watership Down by author Richard Adams and published in 1972, is about a herd of rabbits searching for a new warren. I most remember the animated film that came out in '78 - because it was one of the first dates I ever went on. Sadly it set the scene - there was no second one!

But for wet and cold January weather it was perfect - short, plenty of bivvying options and easy to navigate. The route basically goes along an ancient drovers path - the Wayfarers Walk. After the slog up Inkpen Hill you are following a glorious ridge - with amazing views in both directions. I could see for miles.

The A34 dogleg

A couple of points though - the first few kilometres are over low ground that gets very, very wet. And the crossing of the A34 (which was insanely busy) requires a 750m detour to get down to an underpass and another 750m to get back. A slog. That, and the fact my initial train from Paddington to Bedwyn was cancelled meant that I had to stop earlier than planned. Watership Down was replaced by the Iron Age fort at Ladle Hill as my bivvy spot.

While the views were great - it was a noisy spot - both close to the A34 and on a couple of flight paths. More importantly for January, and maybe not unexpexectedly, given it's a hill - it was pretty windy.

Luckily the combination of a Hunka XL and Skyehigh 700 together with a silk liner from Decathlon kept me the right side of frozen. And, as always watching the sun rise is such a life affirming and joyful moment. Sadly I was too late to even stop at Watership Down - so I never got a chance to spot Fiver, Hazel or Bigwig.

But even the couple of punctures I got on the way to Overton couldn't stop me smiling - though the fact I missed my train by a couple of minutes and had to wait another hour at one of those stations that are literally a platform and nothing else - did cause a small frown to ripple my brow.

But, all in all, a great route from a great book. Try them both