Autumn Tints - CYCLEWight

Visit the Autumn Tints Website HERE

The major objective of the Autumn Tints Cycling Comrades (or Tints, as we like to be known) is to promote comradeship among past and present cycling enthusiasts over the age of fifty. Most of the activity is in the north of England where there are six sections:- Calderdale, Kirklees, Wakefield, North Yorkshire, Craven, Bolton. A seventh section is active on the Isle of Wight but there are Tints scattered all over England and Scotland and even Canada!

Isle of Wight Autumn Tints Last Mainland Ride of 2011

9 Tints turned out on a day where the weather was decidedly unsettled, for a ride from Lymington to Portsmouth. It was the authors first mainland foray and the experience did not disappoint! A nice gentle start round the quiet roads of the New Forest led to a tea stop in a quiet garden centre, where some tints had to be advised that it was not a good time to grab Christmas bargains, especially not cut price Christmas tree's! Then on to traffic dodging around Southampton City Centre. [an experience to be missed if possible] A stop at a quiet backstreet pub introduced us to the more basic side of life. A fun crossing of Victoria Country park was next, with a bit of unsheduled Cyclo-Cross thrown in, where we spent an enjoyable 30 minutes touring a WW1 Cemetary, trying to find our way out. Eventually on to the Hamble, where the ferryman was engaged in quiet conversation with some locals, when 8 Tints started to negotiate the fact that we could all get on the ferry in one go. Luckily our persistence paid off, as he gave up arguing and crammed us all in. With light fading fast we sallied forth down a quiet cycle path into Gosport, where the increased cost of the ferry across to Pompy caused two younger tints to age a few years and get discount! The short ride to the Car Ferry involved crossing a traffic light junction, where the only method of getting to the ferry was close your eyes and be lucky!

I had a great day out with some nice people and will definately be there next time