Stuck for something to do on Sunday? Withing striking distance of Hampshire? You could certainly do worse than popping along to the Test Valley Cool MTB Challenge (so called because they had a successful “Hot” one in July, but it’s November now). There’s a choice of two routes, 40km or 25km, covering ancient Roman roads and hefty dollops of woodland singletrack. People who’ve ridden previous Test Valley events rate the courses highly – apparently the hills are bigger than you might expect… Both courses are fully waymarked, start times are staggered between 9 and 11am to avoid overcrowding, there’ll be water stops en route and free soup at the end. What more could you need?

Organiser Teresa Bradley says, “Everyone enjoyed the ‘Hot’ Challenge in July so much we just had to do it again. Over 500 of you can’t be wrong! Not the same route – this one is tailored more to the time of year. You’ll follow some great tracks, climb a few good hills, and no doubt find a bit of mud! Hot showers and hot soup waiting for you at the end or perhaps a nice leg massage! Enjoy!”

More details from the multi-faceted Test Valley media machine on 01264 368833, www.exploretestvalley.com or [email protected].