Day 34: Salisbury to Southampton

October 10, 2022

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We started of with one of those Grampie traps that we have encountered in a variety of countries - the lock them in trick. Often (in less advanced countries) they do this with a great big lock and chain, applied at night to keep the invaders at bay. But this one was more high tech. The gate opens with a key code. I went to reception and said "We have a problem, and you have a fire safety risk, the exit gate is locked. " "The code is on your key card" was the lame response. "Yes, well, I gave you my key card because we are leaving, that's the whole idea", said I. "All right, '57648'" said the reception lady. I was 100% sure that her next act would be to try as hard as possible to forget this interaction.

Our way out of Salisbury led by the Cathedral, giving us a last chance to admire it. It's setting in the open green "Close" displays the building to good advantage. And also the buildings surrounding the Close are pretty special.

Here is the most famous Close house, one which we did not seem able to get a shot of.

Today was a day for escapes, seemingly. After escaping the hotel, and going through the Close, we had to escape the rest of the city. This is a matter of watching the GPS and signage closely, while clinging desperately to sidewalks, and twisting this way and that onto multiple streets. We monitored this on our bike computers. It took an hour and a half, and we went less than 10 km. But after those 10 km we were able to get onto some sort of quiet and cyclable road.

It's fight the bushes or fight the cars.

The "cars" team is bringing in the big trucks!

Don't follow this - Downton Abbey is fictional!

The English cottage with roses is iconic. Dodie noted this one because of the purple roses. Purple roses are somewhat rare and lavender roses are extremely rare.

The escape theme carried on in a sense as we came to a sign indicating that our road was closed. "Road Closed" in a sign opens a lot more questions than it answers. Is the road just closed to cars, but pedestrians and bikes might pass? Is the road closed in that no amount of hiking and lifting could get through, or could one hike or lift one's way? Is the road closed today, or is the sign left over from last Spring, or forecasting a situation coming next week? If there is an associated detour sign, where does the detour go? How long is it? Is the detour signed, or will we be immediately abandoned once we are out of the hair of those closing the road?

All these questions mean that the Grampies never respond immediately to road closed/detour signage. Their attitude is "Prove It!".

The main risk on ignoring a road closed sign is that if the closure is real, it could involve a lengthy backtrack. "Road Closed" seldom tells you how far away the problem is. Today's case made for some entertainment on this score. After we ignored the Road Ahead Closed sign, we pedaled on for quite some time and distance. Eventually, I "woke up" and said "hey, we never saw that supposed road closure!". But in due course a second warning sign popped up. Ok, for all the same reasons as before, we carried on. Some kms on, a third sign! This was getting worrisome, because someone had bothered to erect so many signs, and because they were spaced over several km, so backtracking would be a bug.

We cycled on, until I "woke up" again. "Hey, those road closed signs are now facing the other way!" That clearly meant we had passed the road closure epicentre. And we never saw a thing. One of the signs did offer some more clues:

If the road closure is today only, then it's more like someone is planning a parade, than demolishing a bridge. And who or what is Openreach?

The fact that we could pay so much attention to a set of dumb road signs, and the fact that so many inches of this blog can be devoted to that reflect the fact the the ride today was seriously boring. We were looking at ordinary houses, ordinary landscape or shrubbery, and ordinary roads. Well, there was one bit of excitement. We met a herd of cattle. They were a bit unruly at first, and for honesty we will show their photo here:

They did however clean up their act, and we're sure they would be more satisfied with this version:

The villages clicked by, and from my point of view the ride was just a matter of following Dodie. Dodie often says she gets to see little on the rides because she needs to watch the GPS and map so carefully. She relies on the blog to find out what we saw. Today was no different, except that she didn't miss anything.

As i dozed along at the back of our caravan, I vaguely began to be aware that we were approaching Southampton, because the traffic got more busy, the roads more numerous, and the buildings more varied and larger. But there was nothing "worth" photographing. I decided I had better document what I was seeing, whether beautiful, unique, or not. Here is what I was seeing:

The structure on the right is the football stadium

An overpass, or something, used by fans going to the game, I guess.

Low income housing. Nearby, however, we some shops that seemed to make this into a "neighbourhood".

We arrived at a downtown pedestrian mall. The shops were all very normal.

At the end of the mall there was this one unique item, which turned out to be the "Bar Gate". The photo shows that it is just a remnant, surrounded by miscellaneous buildings, including the one with Burger King.

We pushed on, but only saw very plain buildings.

We headed to our hotel, past buildings like this.

Looking at a roadside map, we hoped to learn where the fascinating stuff was, but we were sort of there already. (South is up)

Our hotel. It is basically in the middle of downtown, but we have yet to see anything very exciting, getting to it, or around it. Maybe tomorrow.

I was a little unhappy at the flights of super steep steps to our room at the White Star Tavern, or by the now familiar vista from the window, of exhaust fans. But in fact the room is excellent, with lots of plugs and a desk (where the chair not only exists, but is the correct height).

They choose these rooms with views just for us?

A good room, in fact, with quite a lot of space behind where the camera is, and a very usable desk.

We have now reached the sea, though we have not seen it yet. Unlike today, tomorrow promises excitement as we launch the two or three day seaside pedal to Newhaven, just beyond Brighton. There are ferries and bridges and seaside promenades coming up!

Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 1,347 km (836 miles)

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Bob KoreisMaybe Southampton didn't have the £s to pay for a nice rebuilding after the war. Or maybe a lack of forethought.
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