One of the joys of cycling is the ability it gives to explore an area in more detail than by car, but more quickly than by walking. On a bicycle, you travel at a pace fast enough to make progress, yet slow enough to stop and look at anything interesting along the way.
When I go for a bike ride, I usually have a destination in mind, but am more than happy to venture off-piste if an interesting-looking path crops up. Even more exciting if I don’t consult a map, and so have no idea where I am going – a proper mystery tour. After all, isn’t it more rewarding to travel than to arrive, and doesn’t every path lead somewhere? Even if “somewhere” turns out to be unknown and/or where you don’t want to be and/or back where you started.
Thu, it was on a recent ride. Ultimately I wanted to investigate a graveyard where I have been told that there are a couple of interesting gravestones. Spoiler alert – I didn’t get the graveyard.
I started my adventures rather tamely in Swaythling, exploring a few paths that were signposted to Riverside Park, but didn’t really seem to go there – not directly, anyway. My next quest (via the university and Southampton Common) was the track that leads from near the Sports Centre to Chilworth – different to the path that leads through the Sports Centre and Golf Course.
Coxford Road heading north (past a Tesco, which used to be a pub) turns into a bridleway. This meant that I could legally cycle along it (so long as I gave way to other users – of whom there were few). You can also walk along a bridleway, and lead or ride a horse – but you cannot drive a horse-drawn carriage – as this sign confirms.
It was a well-made track, easy to cycle along (there is no obligation on the landowner or council to maintain a bridleway in a fit state for cycling). As I approached Chilworth I found this house name, which sounds like a good place to live.
I had almost reached Chilworth village when my eye caught another bridleway sign. It was pointing westwards, which was vaguely the direction I wanted to go. So what if it was heading south-west, and I really wanted to go north-west. There would probably be a right turn somewhere that would lead me back on track – even if the M27 was between the path and where I wanted to be. It was definitely time for an exploration.
This bridleway was fantastic. It led downhill (always an advantage on a bicycle) though a large wooded area that I didn’t know existed. Well, it might have been a small wooded area with a labyrinthine patten of pathways that gave it the impression of being large.
To my surprise, at the end of the track I found myself in a residential area. It was called “Southampton”.
Technically, I wasn’t lost. I just didn’t know where I was – and had a feeling that I wasn’t where I wanted to be. I could have consulted Google Maps (or similar), but that would have been cheating. Maybe if I cycled along the roads a bit I would find another entrance into the woods. I didn’t, and after various circuitous routes I decided to retrace my steps (or wheels).
Soon after I re-entered the woods I greeted a dog walker who remarked that he had no idea where I had appeared from. “Neither do I”, I replied. “and to be honest I’m not sure where I am going either”
I spent another half-hour following various paths that started off looking like promising exit routes but didn’t live up to expectations, generally deteriorating into mud, puddles, and ruts.
Reaching this junction for the third time (from three different directions) I decided I would have to leave the way I entered
I cycled back up that long hill to the start of the bridleway – a little more mud-splattered than when I’d arrived.
When I got home, a look at the map showed that the wood had been Lords Wood, and the houses had been Lordswood / Lords Hill areas of Southampton. Who knew?
But I think I have found a route that will take me via those woods to that elusive graveyard. And “my” bridleways even have names: Lordswood Lane and Chilworth Lane respectively. This suggests that they have a more illustrious past, and were once more important – and better used – thoroughfares than mere bridleways. One of them may even be the remnants of a Roman Road. Further investigation required.
Great post, Chippy. I used to live near Lordswood many years ago.
Years ago, I cycled part of that route from Chilworth Old Village to the General Hospital. A nice feature about cycling through woodland is that it is different every time you go. The leaves bud open and fall, the undergrowth changes and, of course, on a bike, you are in much closer touch with the weather.
I think it will be my route of choice when I cycle to that part of Southampton. You are definitely in much closer touch with the weather on a bike – and with the puddles and mud!
‘Utopia’ is such a lovely name!
A house near ours in Sri Lanka is prominently called ‘The Promised Land.’ It is a useful landmark for our visitors, but I hesitate to give it as it took Moses 40 years to get there, and he died en route.
Someone could do an article on house names.