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The South


Dartford. The short non-motorway section of the London Orbital road, which I am viewing from the wrong bridge,... I'm standing near the rim of the quarry which contains the giant Bluewater shopping centre but it's ... ... and the QE2 bridge which I last saw on Saturday. The middle of the bridge. The A2, seen from its cycle lane. Pretty clouds. There's some heavy rain to the West of me, heading my way. With the sun setting behind it, it's quit... The cycle path keeps alterating between narrow sections and very wide sections. I think it's the rem... These weather conditions are giving everything interesting colours. My hotel. My room has a combined ceiling fan and light. I don't quite understand this feedback form. It looks like guests fill it in and the staff then writ... I seem to have had even more encounters with the cogs than usual today. On this trip, I've modified ... I can see the A2's cycle lane from my room. The motorway and high speed railway have high level bridges over the Medway valley but I have to go ... A local train crossing the Medway bridge between Strood and Rochester. Ornamentation on the old road bridge, with the modern bridges in the background. Chatham was the site of the Royal Dockyard from 1622 to 1984. Chatham. Gillingham. The Priestfield Staduim, home of third division team Gillingham. The stand on this side is pretty basic. First game 1983. Capacity 11582. Record attendance 23002.... 79. Gillingham... The Priestfield stadium, looking almost tropical. Oast houses, surrounded by what I assume are hop fields. Just a view along a railway in Canterbury. A park in Canterbury. Canterbury. Canterbury. Canterbury. I've just passed through the city gates, like I did in York and Lincoln. This time though, the first... Canterbury. This is the recommended cycling route to Dover. I think it's also part of the North Downs Way. By the smell of it, I would say this was lavender. That sign's not terribly helpful. The land on top of the white cliffs. The Crabble Athletic Ground, with signs for the rugby club on one side and the football club on the ... There are two rugby pitches on the elliptical grass area on the left. The ornate building is their p... Capacity 5745. Record attendance 7000. 80. Dover Athletic... Gulls. The Crabble. This is a very long way to come from somewhere like Barrow or Gateshead. You would have to be a pret... Near the Crabble ground. I've just come down from the top of the hills and now I've got to go back u... That road runs parallel to mine. They're both quite steep. The Battle of Britain Memorial, on top of the cliffs. There's a notice on the entrance which warns not just of the danger of being on top of a cliff, but ... It's raining pretty heavily now but I can see sunshine further along the coast. Folkestone, seen through the rain. Nine minutes later, it's stopped raining and I'm down by the harbour. A large hotel which dominates the harbour area. It was visible in the picture which I took from the ... I don't know what the point of the bell is. The people underneath it are fishing. The promenade near Folkestone harbour. Folkestone harbour. A funicular railway. I'm now on National Cycle Route 2. I didn't expect it to be quite like this. A ship and some dramatic clouds. In real life, I could also see the French coast quite well but it h... What's the point of a cycle route sign to a cross-channel service which doesn't accept bikes? The beach at Hythe. Dungeness nuclear power station is on the horizon on the left. All the land on t... I would keep seeing depictions of the man in the picture right across Romney Marsh. He turns out to ... The sea wall and part of one of the many military installations which have been constructed here ove... The beach at Dymchurch is large and sandy. I wonder why it isn't better known. Looking towards Folkestone and Dover. The tracks of the narrow-guage Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch steam railway. Pylons striding off into the sunset. The River Rother at Rye. The outskirts of Rye looked familiar. I'm pretty sure I came there a few years ago. I haven't been i... Rye. The stone building on the left is the Old Bell Inn. I'm staying at the Mermaid tonight. I chose it just because it's about the only hotel in Rye with a ... My room. These beams will provide a good place for drying clothes. The light above the window, which appears washed out in this picture, is nearly as bright as a norma... The shower arrangement doesn't look ideal. The windows do open though. If you were to look further to the right, you would see the house opposi... It's one of those wonderful old hotels with holes and corners everywhere. According to the informati... Downstairs in the hotel. If I had entered the hotel by the main entrance, I would have seen the prices on the dinner menu on ... Rye in the daylight. As you might be able to tell from the shape of the picture, my camera is workin... The River Tillingham at low tide. The beach between Winchelsea and Pett Level. I don't know what that is out to sea. I think I could see it yesterday too. At the moment, I'm on flat land like this... ... but I'm going to have to get over that hill soon. The view from part-way up the hill. A view of the sea. Here's the kind of close-up of the power station that I couldn't take yesterday while my camera was ... The beach at Hastings. Near here, I would see a concrete mixer lorry bearing what I think is a brill... Hastings pier. Hastings. A lifeguard. The coastal path. Hailsham. This is where I join something called the Cuckoo Trail for a while. I've noticed segregation of pedestrians, cyclists and horses more on this trip than ever before. It ... I don't know why Michelham Priory gets a French translation, except perhaps because Canadian troops ... Lumpy ground, and a burned field of peas. It's becoming the time of year when you can eat the scenery. Oh, my path into Lewes has been blocked by the river flood defences. I can get round, using the path... Lewes. The traffic was too heavy for me to get across the road to get a clearer view. Lewes. Lewes. Lewes. The light-coloured stonework is part of the castle. I caught a brief glimpse of the main tower but d... Lewes. They don't do things by halves in Lewes. When they have a local debate about building more houses, t... I'm glad I didn't encounter that gigantic swan. Oh, a football ground. I had almost forgotten that they were what this trip was supposed to be about... This is the Falmer Stadium, the home of Brighton and Hove Albion. The club has had that name ever si... 81. Brighton and Hove Albion... I had always been slightly concerned about whether I would be able to access this one because there ... The station next to the stadium. Part of the university. Brighton. There's a good idea. If I had one of those, I wouldn't need to worry about how wet my bike was getti... The A23. I don't have to ride on it because there's a cycle path which runs pretty close alongside. At this point, the cycle route, which is very clearly signed, has deviated a little from the main ro... I've been following the cycle route signs and hardly looking at my map so I wasn't really sure wheth... Fourth division Crawley Town's ground, the Broadfield Stadium. It was opened in 1997 and has a capac... I took this picture but then had doubts about whether this is actually one of the stands so I came b... The Broadfield Stadium. The practice pitch. 82. Crawley Town... When I booked tonight's hotel last night, I deliberately chose one on the North side of the town so ... Here's my hotel, with a car going past. It's an airport hotel really, being only a mile away from th... Hooray! I really thought for a while that my unpowered trip had finally ended. I got as far as press... Gatwick Airport, seen from my room. It took a while to get this picture right. The streak of light is a plane landing. A plane in the daytime. Gatwick's runway lights. A thatched bus stop and bird house in Westcott. This started as a nice wide clear path for walking my bike up one of today's many steep hills. It's ... The village of Abinger Hammer, which presumably gets its name from the blacksmith figure on that clo... The view from a hill. Fifth division team Woking's Kingfield Stadium. First game 1922. Capacity 6036. Record attendance 70... 83. Woking... The Kingfield stadium has only one large stand. At this end of the ground, which I think is the fron... The road which I've just used is part of something called the Mars Trail. I don't know why. The Kingfield Stadium seems to also be called the Laithwaite Community Stadium. There are signs here... While I was having something to eat, this chap wandered into the football ground, then came out afte... I've now moved on to the next ground: The Recreation Ground, home of Aldershot Town. The building on... Aldershot. Aldershot is a major military town. Many former Gurkha soldiers now live here with their families, g... 84. Aldershot Town... In case you're wondering, the previous picture showed last year's results. It's encouraging that of ... The Recreation Ground. The vehicle entrance. Farnham. I've often heard the name but never knew what it looked like. Whitehill has a Gurkha restaurant. For the last couple of hours, I have been on fairly busy straight roads through the woods, surrounde... A cycle path. Petersfield. Up here now, where you can't drive but you can go as fast as you like. The pub in Buriton. A tree with visible roots. Shortly after I took this picture, a tractor would come up the road, completely filling the channel ... Cyclists and all? The sign on the gate says that this is a private road owned by the railway, as specified in the Sout... This very quiet road ran for about 12 km. Almost the only other people I saw using it were cyclists.... The same road. Either this road has always been very narrow or the railway to the left of the barriers has eaten pa... According to its label, the sculpture represents the "Binding Tree": an elm in which the b... The rather smoky village of Rowlands Castle. Rowlands Castle. The two people on the green appear to be playing boules. Is the sign big enough for you? Tonight's sunset. There was no rain yesterday and only a tiny amount of drizzle as I came out of the... This is my hotel. Seriously. Many of the recent guests who have recently posted comments online have... My room has two stand-up fans. They will help to dry my clothes but it would get pretty stuffy in he... It would have been easier to realise that room 182 was within this range if they had quoted the numb... Some funny-smelling water. The camera has stopped working again. Fratton Park, the home of Portsmouth. Just six seasons ago, they were in the top division but they h... Fratton Park. Fratton Park. The signs on opposite sides of the road don't agree on whether there's a match today. There is, agai... 85. Portsmouth... I don't know what the story is behind this. I don't know of any other grounds with a half-timbered entrance. Some building work is being done on... A look towards Portsmouth city centre. I'm afraid the zoom isn't very good on this phone. Bridges. Judging by the boats lying around, I assume this place must fill with water at high tide. One of several vaguely nautical-looking statues in Fareham town centre. That is apparently Fareham's war memorial, unveiled last year. Fareham. A glimpse of a windmill. The River Itchen and an old mill. 86. Eastleigh... Fifth division Eastleigh's ground, Ten Acres. First game 1957. Capacity 3500. Record attendance 3191... Eastleigh have gone to Barrow in Furness today so they won't be back for a while. The bridge leading over the railway lines to Southampton's St. Mary's Stadium. The railway line is incredibly busy. A few minutes ago, I got into the queue at a level crossing. Si... First game 2001. Capacity 32589. Record attendance 32363.... 87. Southampton... Ted Bates. 87 down. 29 to go. Three quarters of the list done. St. Mary's Stadium. This was the site of Southampton's old ground, the Dell, which is on my 1995-1996 top division list.... The Dell. See? I think this is what remains of the actual dell which gave the ground its name. The Dell has changed. A flour mill. Southampton. The docks. I'm now in the New Forest. It was established 936 years ago so it may have outlived its name. The notable thing about the New Forest is that, except on the very most important roads, livestock a... Lyndhurst is the largest village in the New Forest. It doesn't have animals in the streets but it do... Lyndhurst. The sweet shop persuaded me to stop... ... then I ended up coming in here for a cake and some ice cream. Entering animal territory. I would be disappointed not to see any pigs on this occasion. Brockenhurst. Large parts of the New Forest are actually fairly bare heathland. A scene with horses. The New Forest. I'm out of the New Forest now. Here is a field of corn cobs. At a supermarket in Christchurch. Christchurch. The old bridge over the River Stour. There's a sign near here saying that Bournemouth once won a gold medal in the Entente Florale, a Eur... A smaller sports ground near AFC Bournemouth's ground, Dean Court. Dean Court. First match 1910. Capacity 12000. Record attendance 28799.... Dean Court. 88. AFC Bournemouth... A slightly wider view. Near my accommodation for tonight. A notice just for my room. I think I'm over-stocked with sweets. I should stop buying them and start eating them. Modern versions of the MyTracks GPS logging application label each recording with a picture of a wal... Near Boscombe Pier. Strange art. Boscombe seafront. Boscombe Pier. Looking towards central Bournemouth. The structures in the foreground are for people to practise bouldering and are small-scale replicas ... Boscombe Pier. Sunday. Day 30. This is the entrance to Canford School. The village of Wimborne Minster. Summer is back. Scenery. I'm in Blandford Forum and about to get onto another converted railway line. There are bits of the o... Scenery along the old railway line. A bridge. Stourpaine. The old railway line. The dry landscape. The Shillingstone Railway Project. At the moment, it has just the short length of track here at the ... As I was approaching the station, I thought there must have been a train in steam. In fact, the smok... There's a funny little platform on wheels to allow people to reach the carriage door. Is it a clown wedding? Sheep in a field of white flowers. A park in Sturminster Newton. Sturminster Newton. Thatched buildings. Not the only obelisk I saw in the distance today. I'm just enjoying the fact that my zoom lens is working at the moment. A sculpture at a pub next to a metalwork forge. There were a few others round the side. The approach to Yeovil.