FOREST OF WONDERS

From heathland to seafront to, yes, forest – James Shrubsall explores the charms of the New Forest in southern England, a favourite stamping ground of CW5000 rider Steve Rowe

- James Shrubsall

It’s a bit flat.” As I churned up the 10 per cent slopes of Godshill on the New Forest’s western fringes, I mulled over this statement. It kept me occupied while I tried to ignore the burn in my quads and forget about the many miles still to ride. In fairness to CW 5000 participant Steve Rowe, who had issued this declaration – and designed the route upon which my CW colleague Vern Pitt and I were basing the day’s ride – the New Forest is, indeed, a bit flat. It’s just that we had somehow managed to unearth one of the area’s most testing slopes and on top of that we were riding it completely unnecessarily, having missed a turn at the top of the hill, ridden down it, and only then realised our mistake.

Reading this tale of woe, you might be under the impression that Godshill is Hampshire’s answer to Alpe d’Huez, but alas its Strava stats amount to no more than a third of a mile at 7.3 per cent.

Up to that little diversion, things had been going rather well. We’d set out from one of the New Forest’s extremely convenient car parks near Bramshaw on the northern edge of the forest, and after correcting the first of several wrong turns that day, enjoyed seven miles of brisk progress. Our average of nearly 20mph could be attributed to a combination of three things – ultra-smooth roads, an urgent north-easterly, and my riding partner’s worrisome level of fitness.

Trees for the forest