Insider’s guide: Wiggle Devils Punch
The Devils Punch serves up a cocktail of history, culture and great riding
he Devils Punch mixes the modern with the historic. Large parts of this ride go through parts straight out of a Victorian novel, which should come as no surprise: Jane Austen lived in Alton, where the route passes close to and Gilbert White was born in nearby Selbourne.
It is hard to imagine a sportive that is more quintessentially British, but this comes as quite a shock once on the road given that the start location is so starkly juxtaposed with the
landscape through which the majority of the route passes. Fans of four wheels will recognise the start point, Dunsfold Aerodrome, as home to the Top Gear test track. But once the large planes dotting the runway, and the frequent helicopters and private jets are behind you, the 78 miles of quiet Hampshire and Surrey lanes will soon have you losing track of the number of scenes that could come straight from the pages of Pride and Prejudice. Cricket pitches, flint cottages, gentle streams, thatched houses and parish churches are all in abundance.
Although this is a late-season sportive, the opening stages afford plenty of opportunity to warm up the legs and set a good early pace, with flat roads initially skirting Surrey’s spiky peaks.
But the climbs soon come thick and fast, and the ascent of Brockham Lane, on the outskirts of Alton, offers a particularly rude awakening. The view from the top is worth the effort though — with fantastic far-reaching vistas overriding the leg pain.
The Devil’s Punch Bowl, from which the route gets its name, is where a series of tough inclines lie in wait. The climb up to Hindhead, from Headley Down, took us to the highest point of the course, and our thighs certainly knew about it by the time we had got there. (See boxout).
The good news is that the other significant flat section on the route comes just before that climb up to Hindhead, on blissfully quiet lanes running between Ropley and Selbourne, via the farmland of Tisted. Be sure to take time to recover from the previous climbs here, and take care when crossing the A32 as traffic travels fast along this stretch of road. To complete the full Victorian experience, if you time your ride right you’ll see a steam engine on the Watercress Line as you descend Bighton Hill to the A31. Take care not to strain to see the trains in the station as you go over the tracks because the descent is steep, with fast traffic on the road at the bottom.
After Selbourne you’ll see a new landmark on the horizon — what appears to be a giant golf ball. This is part of Bordon Camp Military Base, bringing the ride back into the modern day. It’s here that you’ll want to tuck into a gel in anticipation of the ascent to Hindhead, as you pass through Alice Holt Forest.
With the maximum elevation now ticked off, it’s a glorious, largely downhill, run to the finish. With favourable weather it is hard to think of a better late-season leg tester. This is one ride well worth adding to any to-do list.