The fun was done. Shrinking sunlight ended the family picnic and I had to set off to tackle Butser Hill alone. I was camping that night at the Sustainability Centre on the ridge and hoped the daylight would hold. Despite a flapjack fuelled start I soon resorted to bike pushing and the occasional rest in the swaying golden grasses, a view of green woodland below and the background growl of the A3. Good tracks and quiet roads bordered by swaying parasol heads of cow parsley soon led to the quiet campsite.

I woke up with sticky, sweaty skin snuggled in a down filled sleeping bag in a fuggy tent. Tiny black insects soundlessly patrolled the exterior of the white tent inner. The deep green flysheet held a fine mist of condensation that coalesced into droplets under my finger and trickled and tickled down my hand. Beyond the tent the air smelt green and sharp.

Seed-swollen yellow rattle spikes, purple pompoms of round-headed rampion, tiny sugar-pink pyramids of fragrant orchids and showy lilac splashed spires of common spotted orchids jostled together.

A wren flew from my dew silvered bike to the nearby hedgerow, its small ruferous body propelled by a fierce whirr of wings. From the dense greenery its call was a staccato washboard scraping sound. A pair of pigeons plodded past with a rolling fat man gait, pecking half-heartedly in the scraggy mown campsite grass. Their short orangey yellow beaks shone, caught in a wash of sunshine.

After a mug of tea, a refreshing solar-heated shower in the straw-bale constructed shower block and a filling double egg and mushroom bap from the onsite café I set off. The first objective was Alan’s coffee van, a justifiable reward after the steep slithery drop from Weather Down to an eye-blink of flat over a River Meon tributary and a grind back up to the ridgeline.

The ladybird emblazoned coffee van was tucked under a huge beech tree where track meets road. This beech also shelters grey squirrels and confident chaffinches, alert to an easy meal from clumsy customers. Once fully caffeinated I followed the quiet lane before turning right into Old Winchester Hill National Nature Reserve.

The trail here is white chalk and thin grey mud with glints of flint. The knee-high grasslands reject cultivated homogeneity in favour of wild diversity. Seed-swollen yellow rattle spikes, purple pompoms of round-headed rampion, tiny sugar-pink pyramids of fragrant orchids and showy lilac splashed spires of common spotted orchids jostled together. A green woodpecker yaffled at me as his muscular swooping and rising flight took him into the dense dark emerald of the ancient yews. A silky black and red spotted burnet moth brazened out the sunlight on a waist-high white thistle.

I carefully wheeled my bike down the narrow slippery descent from the prehistoric burial mounds and ancient hill fort. The track then became enjoyably rideable, especially nearing Exton where it joined the mulchy, tree shaded Meon Valley Railway Line track. Road again and after a scenic diversion through cottagey Exton I hit the Beacon Hill climb. After failing to set a record ascent and, more guttingly, failing to locate any mobile refreshment unit (aka an ice-cream van) at the top I doggedly carried on. Gravel and tarmac thrummed under my tyres, as I passed a busy pub and empty farmyards to finally reach the vast amphitheatre of Cheesefoot Head sculpted by the melt waters of the last ice age.

Accommodation and facilities

Queen Elizabeth Country Park https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryparks/qecp

The Sustainability Centre, South Downs Eco Lodge and Camping, nr. East Meon https://www.sustainability-centre.org/south-downs-eco-lodge.html

The Sustainability Centre, Beech Café http://www.thebeechcafe.co.uk/ open Wed – Sun 8:30 – 16:00

Alan’s Coffee Van https://www.facebook.com/Alans-coffee-253730515541795/

Water taps at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, The Sustainability Centre, Meon Springs Fly Fishery and Lomer Farm Cottages.

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