[ blog » 2019 » UK_tour ] d19, England pt. 6: Salisbury to Arundel (by Philipp Gesang, location: Arundel)
2019-06-18

Rough start

After a chat with the two Dutch tourers next "door" I left the campsite and climbed up to the Old Sarum hill. The core part of the hillfort-gone-castle was closed and would open too late for me to wait so I went on my way.

Some hours of light rain had made the roads extra slippery which I realized when I crashed near Winchester in an otherwise completely innocuous braking manoever. Once again I caught myself with my hands but this time unfortunately I wasn't wearing gloves so I rode the rest of the day with a bruised left palm.

Winchester itself is a surprisingly nice small town with a vibrant center and a cathedral that seems to be a tourist magnet. Which meant that after looking in vain for postcards in every shop along the route I finally got some nice ones at the cathedral store.

South Downs

My strain of bad luck continued. About halfway into today's route near Petersfield while negotiating a right turn on a rather busy junction I noticed how a small part came off the bike with a loud zing. When I stopped at the roadside to inspect the issue I almost couldn't find it: turns out pne of the plastic bits for tightening the straps on the Blackburn cages on the fork was broken in two. I managed to fix it temporarily by tying the strap to a knot. That seems to prevent the tent from falling off the cafe but I need to find a permanent solution when I'm back hone.

The South Downs would have been a scenic section to traverse if it hadn't been for the torrential rain that rather ruined the afternoon for me. I dug the rain jacket out of the pannier and put it back on after a day and a half of respite.

Reaching Arundel became a messy endeavor because I had to take an alternative route to avoid the busy A27. Unfortunately this involved a section of muddy, partially submerged gravel track on which the bike developed a thick brown coating.

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