Southampton - Test Valley Villages and Views - 45 miler

See more, ride for longer and discover more places than ever before with Ride Further. Typically covering around forty miles, these rides will test you and require an added level of endurance, fitness and stamina. You'll need a road bike and be able to comfortably cover at least thirty miles, at an average speed of 13-15mph, to get involved – if you've joined one of our Challenging rides before, then Ride Further could be the next step for you A glorious ride through the stunning countryside of the north Test Valley including the quaint villages of Sparsholt and King's Somborne.The ride starts centrally in Southampton Common, using the cycle paths to navigate our way out of the suburban landscape giving you a nice warm up before we enter the stunning rural countryside. We ride north of North Baddesley, meandering our around Ampfield Wood as we ascend up Nan Trodd's Hill, named after an Old Hursley name dating back to the 13th century. After our ascent we reach Sparsholt, one of our potential stops for the ride. From Sparsholt we descend down forking right towards Kings Somborne, winding through the lovely country roads. Worzel Gummidge was part filmed in and around King Somborne which is another potential stop for “a cup o' tea an' a slice o' cake”. From there we cycle south, continuing through quiet lanes with spectacular views across Hampshire, towards and through Michelmersh and touching the outskirts of Kimbridge. From there we return on NCN 24 around Romsey and through North Baddles as we enter back into the suburban landscape and back towards Southampton Common. Distance 44.5 miles. Total climb 691 metres. Largest climb 87 metres over 1.76 miles.