The Bikepacker: Bikepacking 2024 - Portsmouth to Hindhead

Day #

State of Legs

:-)

	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	36.4 miles	km	2073 feet	metres	1
Trip Totals	1298.7 miles	km	47455 feet	metres	1

Today's Route

Route So Far

Travelogue

Today we cycled roughly half way home from Portsmouth.

Neither M1 nor M2 enjoyed today very much. There was rarely a time we could hear ourselves think. There was just so much traffic almost all of the time and regardless of the type of road we were on, including on the narrowest of country lanes.

There were cycle lanes in places but they were very fragmented, ending abruptly and dumping you onto the road, only to resume 10 metres later. Or starting with a ramp to take you off the road and out of harm's way but with so much broken glass, you had to miss the ramp. Or with cars parked right in the middle of the shared cycle lane and footpath. Or on the road but with so little space for cars, they passed close to you anyway, regardless of the cycle lane.

A lot of the route followed the A3, often on a path that ran right alongside it. This is a road with multiple lanes and a 70 mph (120 km/h) speed limit and we were right next to it for many miles. It was noisy and the polluted air made our eyes sting. And this, it is believed, is part of Britain's National Cycle Network. After the cycle network we just used in France, it's pretty dismal.

At one point, M2 nearly got squished. M1 was ahead of M2 and heard a horrendous squealing of brakes from what sounded like a huge vehicle somewhere behind. It turned out to be a tractor towing a trailer that was wider than a single lane. Why it had had to brake so hard as it got to just behind M2 we don't know but it does suggest that the driver wasn't paying attention. Scary stuff. But no harm done, thank goodness.

Very few photographs were taken as we didn't see much we wanted to photograph and to be honest, we just wanted to get the day's cycling over and done with.

So, we're in a pub/hotel for this, our final night. We cycle the remaining approximately 40 miles home tomorrow.