‘Manic Monday’ said the Caversham Bridge Premier Inn receptionist. She was having a busy time booking in plumbers, sparkies, chippies and the odd KAWer who then proceeded to try and jam her bike in the lift and hold things up even more (it did fit, just). A night in a comfy bed was followed by a hungry manual worker’s dream breakfast then, very briefly, an idyllic cycle by the sparkling, swan dotted Thames.

… the next hour was spent exploring every single deserted, graffiti sprayed, zombie film set backstreet not included on the KAW.

In contrast the next hour was spent exploring every single deserted, graffiti sprayed, zombie film set backstreet not included on the KAW. After a second loop round an equally unnerving, un-peopled, American-slick tech park I thought I’d escaped this dystopian world. Not yet. A bridleway, with the casual detritus of urban proximity, and the sound of a frantic traffic exodus on the A33 was my final trial.

The Wellington Farm Shop café restored my mental balance but my scheduled had irreversibly slewed sideways. I focussed hard and navigated carefully along the lanes and trails to reach the scrubby, sandy, unkempt wildness of Hazeley Heath then the linear oasis of the Basingstoke canal.

The canal was a still, opaque, green sheet. Dots of sunlight sprinkled through the cool tree canopy. Nose height elderflower scented, vanilla ice-cream froths of meadowsweet jostled with the white star-centred pink flowers of great willowherb.

Nose height elderflower scented, vanilla ice-cream froths of meadowsweet jostled with the white star-centred pink flowers of great willowherb.

A stocky, young Chinese Water Deer trotted neatly and unhurriedly ahead of me for a few moments. In contrast, my quiet progress spooked the grey squirrels into panicked leaps across the towpath and spiralling sprints up the rough barked trees. Finally lanes, bridleways and a parkland path led me to another soft bed sanctuary, the Farnham Premier Inn.

I’d planned day two to be easier. However the long descent into Farnham on day one held within itself the promise of an uphill slog for the following day. I wasn’t wrong, the route bucked and dipped heading south as it climbed above and then splashed through the transparent River Wey. The sandy soils that sapped my traction nurtured the swathes of purple bell heather and mauve spikes of ling.

Coffee and cake at the National Trust Tern Café by Frensham Little Pond felt like a seaside holiday treat. Small children squealed as they paddled in the water and dog walkers nattered on the little sandy, tree lined beach. The summer sun made the sandy trail across the top of Frensham Common feel mediterranean. The smell of pines, the lemon-yellow, coconut scented gorse, purple heather and the blue of the lakes felt like a long forgotten overseas memory.

Once my circuit of the common was completed, my KAW reconnaissance was done. Lunch and family gossip at Alice Holt Forest visitor centre was my new objective, followed by a much needed dinner and shower, then a dark, hopefully zombie-free, drive home.

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