Penshurst

A 9:30 start from Three Bridges Station saw four riders turn up – Barbara, John V, Bob and John C leading. The weather was overcast but warm enough and after waiting around for 10 minutes in case anyone else turned up, we set off. John chose an ‘unusual’ route going along St. Mary’s Drive and past Tesco’s into Three Bridges before using the Industrial Estate to get onto the NCN 20 through Gatwick…..
Once again I’d fixed a camera to my handlebars with the intention of taking a few snaps and videos as we cycled along. Here’s a shot showing the newly resurfaced path by the lake in Horley:

We went past Horley railway station and out on the Smallfield Road. Passing through Smallfield we continued east on Plough Road before taking Bones Lane across to the Newchapel roundabout. A quick run along a B road took us to Lingfield and on past the racecourse before we turned left onto a quiet yellow road that took us through the grounds of the National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy. Barbara and I had a discussion about epilepsy, what impact it has, what causes it and how to deal with it and before we knew it we’d reached Haxted Mill. The conversation was halted by the effort needed to climb the short hill after the mill and, with the clouds now starting to thin, we shortly arrived in Edenbridge.

Heading south then east on the Hever Road, ignoring the signpost to Hever Castle, we took the next left turn and headed towards Chiddingstone. The village was choc-a-bloc with cars as we passed through – I think the church there is well attended. Resisting the temptation to stop at the village pub we continued on and soon emerged on the B2027 where we turned right to go to Penshurst railway station. Here we hoisted our bikes on our shoulders to use the footbridge over the railway as way of avoiding a climb on the road – looking at the map I suspect that carrying the bikes needed more effort than riding them over the short hill that we avoided!

Five minutes later we were in Penshurst and parking our bikes in a compound at the back of the café. Our four bikes were the most varied group there – a mountain bike, a hybrid and two tourers. All the others seemed to be ‘club racer’ style with varying amounts of carbon fibre involved!
We ordered our lunches and settled back in the sheltered and sunny garden to sup our tea and chat about this and that. We talked about the trip that the two Johns are making to Luxemburg and Belgium next week, the DA Event picnic on Sunday 1st August and Antons recent buckled wheel – he was 300km into a 1000km ride when he had a spoke break on a severe downhill and by the time he’d managed to pull up, his rear wheel was severely bent and he couldn’t continue! Fortunately it hadn’t thrown him off the bike, but it did get us talking about the relative merits of different spoke counts, wheel building/trueing techniques and riding styles – for instance, I know I’m a bit of a porker but I do have a light riding style – I think this comes from off-road riding a hardtail bike for so long: you can’t keep control on the rough stuff unless you’re constantly shifting your weight around and I think I do this even on the road. This would explain why I’m such a cr*p road cyclist – I waste energy unnecessarily but I’ve never broken a spoke!
Anyway, having added further to my girth by indulging in a slice of ginger cake for pudding, it was time to get back on the bike (having settled our meal bills). Leaving Penshurst in a south-westerly direction we turned right and headed uphill past the Penshurst Off Road Cycling circuit where a round of the Mountain Biking Championship was underway – perhaps we could do a ride to that next year? A few miles later we went through Cowden which, as ever, was completely dead – I’ve never seen anyone walking around in this village even though I’ve ridden through it half a dozen times in the last few years!

From here, we travelled on lanes parallel to and north of the A264 before passing through Dormansland and then on back into Lingfield. From here we retraced our morning route until, just short of Smallfield we headed south along Dowlands Lane and Cross Lane before the long drag up to Copthorne Bank. John V set a cracking pace on this gradual climb and I sat in his slipstream (because I’m lazy). At the roundabout we used the old road back to Crawley and parted company on reaching the Balcombe Road – John V to go south, John C to head north and Barbara and I to continue on to Three Bridges station. There I said goodbye and a few minutes later I was home with 54 miles on my speedo and a back garden full of family members enjoying what was now a nice sunny afternoon.

Our next ride is from Horsham Park Pavilions starting at 10:00 on Sunday 1st August. Barbara will lead us to Wisborough Green for the Picnic DA Event. Please come along on what will be an easy ride of no more than 35 miles (OK, there is a hill in the middle, but it’s not very long). My challenge will be to cram my picnic in my bumbag (or fannypack as the Yanks call them) but there’s always the option of a pub lunch at The Cricketers just over the road! Alternatively, if you’ve got plenty of space in your panniers, I’d love to see someone bring a picnic, a folding chair and a marquee!! Come on all you Horsham and Crawley members, let’s have a good turnout and earn the club some much needed points in the trophy competition!