First ride on new bikes - Whitchurch to New Forest (circular)

[cyclingfreshers]

Hello all,

After searching the forum and seeing some of the titles (e.g. Naples to London), I fear my up and coming ride may not be on par with what's normally discussed on this site. However, my girlfriend and I have just bought two shiny new hybrid bikes (a Felt QX75 and Avanti Aria 20) and now want to ride. We live in Whitchurch (Hampshire) and were thinking about taking the tent and riding from there to somewhere in the New forest.

The idea would be a weekend ride and to do it in a circular fashion (missing as many busy roads as possible). I've just ordered the sustrans cycling network map, but whilst I wait, can anyone suggest a decent route out and back for this ride?

Thank you in advance,

Neil.

 

[swampy1970]

Any ride is worthy of discussion - it doesn't need to be one of epic proportions, especially if you're just starting out. Many people like to plan rides but sometimes the best way to find a new route is to just head out and ride. A general awareness of the region is required as ending up 80 miles from home when you only planned on doing 20 miles is often not the best if you're not a human road atlas then either a few notes scribbled on some paper, a print out from google maps or mapmyride.com or a smartphone/gps will do the trick. If you do print out notes and you're using an inkjet printer then store said printout in a ziplock bag or similar. The ink will run if it gets wet. Finding new routes is half the fun.

 

[cyclingfreshers]

Thank you for your response, Swampy (that wouldn't be reference to the guy that tunnelled underground to prevent the Newbury bypass, would it?). You're right about finding new routes being fun, it's just that my girlfriend is really new to riding and a couple of years ago for her first ride I ended up doing 10 miles down the A33 (near Reading), which wasn't fun. Therefore, I'm looking for the following, really:

1. Good 'car free' (or few cars) routes.
2. Routes with decent views/nice towns en route
3. Routes with a nice pub on the way

(I guess I should have specified these requirements in my initial post, which would have been helpful)

But I will take your suggestions and pour over the maps and get some rough ideas.

Thanks again,

Neil.