Travellers' Tales: Cycling to the sea

I love cycling and wanted to do something challenging so my mum said to plan a three-day cycling trip. I wanted to cycle to the coast and chose Southampton. We had never cycled that sort of distance before, but I ride my bike to school every day and we did a few hilly rides beforehand.

I planned the entire 144-mile trip, sticking to the National Cycle Network. I then found places for us to stay in Swindon, Amesbury, and Southampton. The January lockdown messed up all my plans, so we had to wait until April for restrictions to ease.

We bought waterproof covers for our backpacks, a handlebar bag, and cycling shorts. We were really lucky with the weather: although it was cold in the mornings it didn’t rain. Before we left, I worried that the lockdown would come back, my mum worried that one of the bikes would break, and my little sister worried that we’d crash. As it turned out, we only crashed once – into each other – in Cirencester! 

It was an amazing three days spent outdoors, seeing the spring countryside with lots of fields of baby lambs and rape in full bloom. We also watched a military convoy cross Salisbury Plain. We ate lunch in fields and fuelled on fruit pastels and chocolate. Next time we need a handlebar holder for the phone so that we don’t get lost. Also, backpacks aren’t very comfortable.

I’m now planning a cycling trip across Wales for us.