This summer I’ve made a commitment to see a bit more of the UK, there’s so much to see here and I reckon I’ve been missing out – I have a buddy over from India for a couple of months who wants to see just as much as me, so perfect excuse to get exploring!

We started with a camping trip to New Forest this past weekend, after a 3 hour train journey we rented out a couple of mountain bikes and got moving – camping gear making its presence felt (check out the pack I was carrying on my back – not easy cycling uphill with that thing pulling me back) Our campsite was a 3 hour walk from the train station so we figured the bikes would get us there much quicker – wrong – we got entirely lost and eventually found our designated patch of grass 6 hours later!

We pitched and caught some early shut-eye to guarantee ourselves the energy we’d need to get back in the morning, hopefully seeing some more of the forest than the A roads on our way. We made good time (only an hour to get back – mostly downhill – plenty of racing involved) we even had the time to stop for some breakfast at a greasy spoon in Lyndhurst, I crammed in two English breakfasts a cuppa and a coffee and swiftly saddled up again.

Once we arrived back at Ashurst train station we had a few hours to kill before our train home arrived, so decided to have a poke around the local cycling routes. The forest is fantastic around Ashurst and completely peaceful, the bikes humming tyres were the only sound to be heard. If you have a chance this summer, I’d recommend New Forest – be sure to rent a bike! Next stop, the Lake District.

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