- Starts: Friday 21 November 2025 9:30 am
- Ride leader/Event organiser: Martyn Roberts
- Category: Pop-up rides
- Terrain: C - Hilly
- Duration: am - Morning only (finishes before lunch)
- Estimated moving average speed: 11-12mph (18-19kph Medium)
Our grading scheme
When grading routes we use the following scheme:
- A - Severe. Route has extreme elevation change, with both short and longer sustained climbs (e.g. Duncton Hill).
- B - Very hilly. Route has major elevation change, with longer sustained climbs (e.g. Harting Hill from the south).
- C - Hilly. Route is undulating with a number of short climbs involved (e.g. Havant to Bishop's Waltham).
- D - Gentle. Route has minor elevation change on gentle slopes (e.g. south coast cycle route to Chichester).
- E - Flat. Route has little or no elevation change (e.g. Portsea Island).
- Cancel or postpone this ride
Start and stops
| Ride start/event venue | Bumblebee café, Rowlands Castle 2 The Green Rowlands Castle PO9 6BN More details and map |
| Coffee stop | The Woodmancote Woodmancote More details and map |
All rides return to the start unless stated otherwise. Use the 'Map' link below to see a map of all locations
Contact us about this event
Send an email to ride leader/event organiser: Martyn Roberts.
Map
This is a short loop to Friday's coffee meet for anyone who would like to join me. Departing Rowlands, we'll work our way east, maybe as far as Up Marden, and then drop south through Walderton to eventually arrive at Woodmancote.
For anyone who wants to join me for the return, we'll go a more direct route back to Rowlands.
Meet - Bumblebee Cafe, RC: 09.15
Depart - Rowlands: 09.30
Coffee - Woodmancote: 10.30-11.15
Return - Rowlands: 12.00
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Bookings for this ride/event
Booking is required for this ride. Please let the ride leader know if you want to join. Please do not turn up for the ride unless you've had your booking confirmed or your name appears below.
The ride leader has not recorded any bookings yet.
Ride leader notes
I've had a bike of one description or another, probably since the age of five. I've cycled lots of different routes all around Britain and some parts of France. For many years I cycled to work using the Hayling Ferry.
Since retiring, I try to get on the bike at least twice a week; usually Wednesdays and Saturdays. Most of the rides I lead are in the region of 20 to 40 miles, somewhere between 3-5hours.
I have three bikes I tend to use: most of the year I'll ride a Spa Elan, which is a general purpose touring bike; in the summer I'll often switch to a Cube Attain, which is more of a light weight sports bike, and if I'm going off-road I'll tend to use my Dawes mountain bike.
It's always difficult to assess cycling speed. I'm certainly no Bradley Wiggins and cycling to me is not about doing a route in the minimum possible time. However, neither am I someone who likes to amble along. So I tend to class my rides as medium-fast. On a scale 1-10 (1 being very slow, 10 being very fast), I would say 6or7, a notch above medium (5).
I'm not a great fan of cycling in and around Havant/Leigh Park when we have the beautiful South Downs on our doorstep, so I tend to start rides in places such as Rowlands Castle, Denmead, Westbourne or occaisionaly the Isle of Wight. Also, I'm not very good at leading large groups of cyclists, so I tend to keep numbers relatively low.
So if you like riding in small groups, somewhere in the South Downs or IoW, at a moderate speed, then you might like to try one of my rides.
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About Pop-up rides
We have certain days when we try to organise regular rides. However, individual ride leaders can create pop-up rides for any day and time.
The small size of some pop-up rides means we might be unable to split a ride if you get into difficulties. We will do all we can to escort you back to the start point, but please be prepared to navigate yourself home or to call for support from a partner, relative or friend.