New Forest April ‘22 with Stuart

We drove to Shoreham where we had booked a caravan from Monday to Friday. Riding around the forest is brilliant, gravel hard pack, loose gravel and deep gravel but some parts are more MTB. Not many places to eat or get a drink unless your in Lyndhurst or Brockenhurst. Both are busy as all the traffic needs to go through them. Some of the roads have deep pot holes, so make sure you look a head before looking at the lovely scenery. The ponies are kings of the road and just go where they fancy, some cars still don’t slow down for them. We found it easier to plan a route before hand than just ride around and have no idea where you are. When we were riding we didn’t have any trouble with too many bikes it was quiet. Worth a place to add your riding list. Doesn’t matter to us if we go down the same bit anyway, go in the other direct and it doesn’t even look the same.We did one ride which included Christchurch and Bournemouth but you can’t ride along the sea front or beach. The place is lacking food and drinks stops and some of the slopes are slow in the forest because the gravel is loose and the going is slow. Some downhills you can nearly be out of control as the stones loose grip and you slide. But that is all the fun.Sway tower was interesting, I had to stop and ask someone but it seems it is the largest and oldest concrete structure which isn’t re-enforced. It was built in the late 1800’s. About 1970 is was brought and made into a B and B the bedroom was on the 3rd floor, and it’s still lived in now. Some of the houses close by were built at the same time and are all made of concrete. A guy said they are a bit cold and hard to heat.