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Getting lost.
Posted by : Leiba (81.178.200.86) 
Inappropriate or SPAM?
On Thursday 29/08/13 at 17:18:49
Friday, on the way to the Southern Softies meet.
I was delayed leaving the house by workmen turning up unannounced so didn't leave until early afternoon.
It was supposed to be a relatively easy route to follow. Pick up the A3 from the Elephant and Castle, follow it almost to Portsmouth and turn off just before to head for the campsite. But with all the cuffuffle with the workmen there were a few things that got left behind, namely my map and route instructions, (where to turn off etc) so I was now hoping that the signs would help me as that was all I had to rely on.
I got to the Elephant and Castle ok and got onto the A3 to Portsmouth road. After about half an hour I was thinking "I should be getting out of London by now". I didn't recognise any of the places as being on my desired route so decided to carry on until I recognised a place and knew where it was. So one and a quarter hours from when I left home I was at the Elephant and Castle once again. 
Back onto the A3 and start again. I found where I'd gone wrong. There'd been a bus in front of a sign and I'd taken the wrong road. Oh well, it was nice weather anyway, just a two minute drizzle by the roundabout. No sign of that heavy rain that was forecast. 
Just around Guildford there was a horrendous traffic jam. Of course I had no idea what was causing it or how far it stretched but it was now a hot and sunny day and I still had plenty of time so I wasn't overly bothered. As time went on though this creeping along was beginning to get a bit tedious and still not knowing how far this jam stretched I decided I'd have to do the hated filtering to get past it. I had to be careful remembering that my camping gear stuck out further than the bike. What polite drivers they (mostly) were. As I poodled up between the cars and vans, most of them moved over to let me pass. That sort of thing rarely happens in London, they're more likely to move over and deliberately squash you. Well I got to the front, (road works, three lanes down to two) and was soon back on the move.
Suddenly I came upon a tunnel! I hate tunnels, (and flyovers) and I wasn't expecting to see this, the Hindhead Tunnel. It's a new feature opened in May 2011 and bypasses the Devils Punchbowl.
I remember that when, as a child our coach stopped there in a dirt carpark for a packed lunch during our school trip to the Isle of Wight. That old A3 road is closed now and is being returned to nature as the area is a SSSI and AONB and is owned by the National Trust. (SSSI = Site of Special Scientific Interest. AONB = Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.)
A few miles after the tunnel and Ruby was nudging the red so I pulled off the A3 into a little town to look for a petrol station. Aha, a postman, he should know, and he directed me to one just up the road. With Ruby filled up I decided to have a snack as well and then it was time to get back on the road. But could I find the A3? No. I went over it but couldn't find a way to get back down onto it, so I had to ask again. He just happened to be a fellow motorcyclist who did a daily commute to London so he knew the way.
The miles were swiftly passing by and before I knew it I was in Portsmouth. Aargh! I didn't want to be there. I should have turned off miles ago! But too late. Now I was relying on the signs and very unhelpful they were too. Round and round I went seeing signs for places I didn't know if they were heading the right way or not. Somehow I ended up on Hayling Island.
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I rang Wightgi but got his home. The only other number I had who I knew was on the Southern Softies run, was Barkers. But his phone was switched to voicemail. So onwards I went and managed to get to Southampton. Not far to go now. But... every time I tried to get out of the city the signs kept directing me to the M27 and the M3. Round and round I went again and eventually I needed petrol again. Not so urgent this time but I wanted to get a map as well. And what a useless map it was as recommended by the garage bloke. (He said I needed to go to Gosport, how wrong he was.) The furthest west the map went was halfway through Southampton, I needed to go further than that. This map only covered the eastern bits that I now almost knew off by heart. It was getting late now and even if I did make it to the campsite tonight it would be dark and I didn't fancy putting my tent up in the dark. So I started looking for a B&B. No vacancies although I didn't try the ones that looked expensive. I even stopped a police car and asked them but they couldn't help. It soon became apparent that I wasn't going to find anywhere so I needed to find a safe place to stop for the night. I knew of an industrial site of warehouses, that I'd passed a couple of times in my travels, and headed there. There were low hedges around the carparks except for one bit where there was an electrical hut and higher hedges to hide Ruby behind. I didn't put the tent up and it was so warm there was no need for my sleeping bag so I just got my inflatable cushion out and lay down beside Ruby to sleep.
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I didn't sleep well as I was fully expecting the 'boys in blue' to discover me and move me on but we were well hidden from the (unused at this time of night) road. Then what with the owls, the foxes and other unrecognisable noises including a wren who thought it was daylight because of the security lighting in the yards, I was awake for most of the night. Just before dawn I made myself a cup of coffee and had a bite to eat. I listened to the dawn chorus which paused for twenty minutes, (while the birds had their breakfasts?) before continuing until daylight.
Time to hit the road again before the workers arrived.
Not knowing how lost I would get this morning I opted to fill up with petrol again and try to find a better map. This time the garage guy was much more helpful and even used his fancy phone to help me plan a route. He said I didn't need to buy the map I was looking at but I did anyway. I drove to a pub beer garden, (pub was closed, it was around 6am) and wrote out my route naming all the little towns that I needed to pass through. Then off we went.
Hurrah! I finally got past those damn motorways! Past Southampton and onwards towards Lyndhurst. Now...... what happened to that roundabout where I was to turn off for the campsite? I don't believe it. So near yet so far. I carried on thinking that there'd be a road off to the left some where that would take me back to the campsite. I stopped in a lay-by just outside Lymington to consult my map when a car pulled up and a man got out and said to me, "Are you going to the C90 meet?" Well, yes. "Follow me, I've got Satnav". (It was Gareth and his wife Caroline) So after a small tour of a housing estate, (good to know that satnavs don't always get it right) I followed his trailered Cub and we finally made it to the campsite. 
I estimate it took me around twenty hours to get there. 
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