The second day of our trip involved 2 ferry crossings and coastal path views.
Day 2/3
- Distance: 29 miles
- Route: Portsmouth – Southampton
- Cycle route number: 2
After a good nights sleep and a cooked breakfast at the Britannia Guest House we were ready to go.
Gosport ferry
We headed to the Gosport Ferry terminal at Portsmouth Harbour. This ferry is bike friendly but at £4 a person (return only, no one way tickets). If you take this route make sure you have change because you can’t get any at the station or the ferry terminal. Although short, it was a nice journey with good views of the Portsmouth coastline.
Once off the ferry, we followed cycle route 2 (past Stoke Lake) which took us along a coastal path through Seafield Park and the Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve – both beautiful areas. Unfortunately we didn’t take many photos at either location because we were too busy enjoying the views and it would have mean’t getting off my bike and unrolling my pannier bags every time I wanted to take a photo of something!
Hamble ferry
Out of the two ferry trips that day this was my favourite, it felt like a proper adventure. A small pink boat pulled up, operated by a friendly man that looked like Captain Birdseye. The boat could carry 12 people plus around 6 bikes. The fare for this journey was only £1.75 per cyclist and it was slightly longer than our trip on the Gosport ferry.
After reaching Hamble-le-Rice we continued to follow the coastal path, getting hotter and hotter as the day went on. A few hours later we reached Southampton and had some lunch in the Marina.
Later that evening we saw a friend and ate like kings at their BBQ – homemade tortillas, roasted chilli salsa, Kefalograviera (greek cheese), guacamole, asparagus and barbecued pork!
2 days down, 1 more to go. At this point our total mileage for the 2 days was 71 miles, not bad for a couple of noobs 🙂
Things that saved the day
- Green People SPF25 for preventing my pale skin from getting burnt to a crisp
- Jelly Babies for giving us that extra bit of oomph occasionally
- IBIS Southampton for kindly allowing us to store our bikes in the managers office overnight
Cool! You were in my manor! I’ve not been on Hamble Ferry, though some of the Team Honk Sotoners did and it looked fab – digging that pink!
And FYI now I’ve seen your biccy illustrations I no longer hanker cheese on toast – just custard creams. Thank you from my waistline 😉
I thought the Hamble Ferry was great, definitely worth a trip (quite short but lovely). Hope you’ve noshed lots of custard creams!