Today was a perfect ride that wiped all memory of Bournmouth from my mind. We noticed a bridle way leaving our camp site for East Creech and it gave us a couple of kilometres of wooded track which avoided any contact with the A351.
The subsequent lanes were quiet and for the first time in days we saw scores of cyclists- I shouldn't need to emphasise the connection here! We generally kept to the NCN 2 but a more direct line from Wool through Crossways to Dorchester worked well with some off road track.
As we entered Dorchester we visited Max Gate, birthplace of Thomas Hardy. He hosted many notable people including Robert Louis Stevenson who liked the Mayor of Casterbridge so much he wanted to dramatise it. His moral censorship did, however, however get the better of him and he joined Henry James in condemning Tess as a vile book!
Leaving the flat Frome valley we climbed to the Hardy monument, another National Trust tick for the day (not the same Hardy - but the one from the battle of Trafalgar when Nelson said 'kiss me Hardy') and fine views of all of Dorset.
Our decent through picturesque Little Bredy was again on traffic free lanes and terminated at quiet camp site in easy reach of a pub. Great beer and food, we just got a table before people were being turned away, some pubs are surviving very well.
Figures:
Distance:- 54.0 km
Cycle Time:- 4 hours 11 minutes
Average speed:- 12.8 kph
Total Distance:- 5526 km
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