Lewes

It was half-heartedly trying to start raining as four of us met outside Three Bridges Station – Pat, Frank, Bob and John C - but the few spits and spots were not enough to warrant donning our waterproofs. We rather hoped that we might be joined by other riders as about half a dozen or so arrived at the station, but they all seemed to be getting onto trains – probably heading for one of Boris’s traffic-free rides in London.

After waiting the regulation 10 minutes, the four of us set off using the usual easterly route out of Crawley – Worth Road and then Turner’s Hill Road. As we passed Tulley’s Farm we saw the familiar figure of John V ahead and so, as we regrouped at the top of the hill, our quartet had become a quintet. As usual JV was riding strongly and Bob latched onto his rear wheel for a nice fast pace along Selsfield Road all the way to Ardingly. John and Bob waited here for the others to catch up before we continued on along Lindfield Road. At Stonecross Lane Frank and Pat said goodbye as they only had time for a short ride today. The remaining trio followed part of the route the London to Brighton bike ride used to take – Stonecross Lane, Keysford Lane, Plummerden Lane - before heading further east along Monteswood Lane. As we passed under the Bluebell Railway Bob was sad that a train wasn’t going past as he likes to see the steam engines in all their glory (I bet he’s got a trainset at home). Leaving the quiet rails behind, we continued further east along Ketches Lane and went straight over the A275 at Sheffield Crossways. Keeping right at Splaynes Green we soon arrived in Fletching where it looked like they were getting ready for some village activity or other. There was some bunting out and people were milling around looking busy. We didn’t stop in case we got roped in to help and were soon crossing the A272 near Piltdown Golf Course.

As we took the next road on the right we noticed that the woman driving in the opposite direction was busy multi-tasking as she held her phone to her ear and negotiated the awkward t-junction. Glad to be heading away from such a dangerous person, we headed on south through Spithurst and then up a short climb into Barcombe Cross. Here we turned left and headed past the waterworks at Barcombe Mills before turning right onto Wellingham Lane – this meant we could minimise the amount of A-road we’d have to use getting to Lewes. Soon however, it spat us out onto the A26 were we met a group of about 6 youngish (20 something) lads who were on a cycle tour from St. Leonards (about 20 miles away) to somewhere in North Devon (they didn’t say where exactly). They could be potential members for our club because they were looking for a pub!

We then followed the A26 all the way into Lewes where we turned into Malling Street to get to Cliffe High Street. This road was cobbled and didn’t make for comfortable riding but several shops and cafes were open and the street was buzzing with life. We found a café with outside tables and sat down for lunch and a spot of people-watching. Poached eggs on toast seemed to be the order of the day and jolly nice they were too. Sitting there on a pleasant Sunday, I quite fancied the idea of living in Lewes and found myself wondering how much more my season ticket to London would cost. Living in Lewes would make getting to our weekly rides a bit harder though!

After lunch, rather than tackle the steep climb of the High Street to gain the Offham Road, we headed through the Waterloo and Landport areas of the town to pick up a bridleway that would take us all the way to Offham. We didn’t know exactly where the bridleway started and as we were searching for it John shouted “That must be it, there’s a dog-poo bin!”. He was right and we passed under some trees and onto the track. Apparently we were using this route as a treat for me on my mountain bike (and it was easy enough) but just a couple of minutes later there was an explosive hiss as I got a front puncture. My own fault I suppose, as my slick tyres are getting on a bit and I’ve been putting off buying replacements due to lack of funds! As it deflated I rode slowly on until we emerged back onto a road where there were a couple of logs to lean bikes against and sit on in the sunshine. Unfortunately not everyone had been using the dog-poo bin and sure enough my punctured tyre had managed to find it! Once the tyre was off, we hunted for the cause of the puncture and reckon a sharp stone had poked through a previously cut part of the tyre. I replaced the tube but when it came to reinflating things, my pump didn’t seem to work very well so JV took over using his pump (thanks JV), meantime I repaired the damaged tube in case my lacerated tyres caused another flat later on.

Back on the road we turned onto Beechwood Lane just before the railway and this very quiet lane took us northwest and near a hamlet called East Chiltington. I wonder if there’s any relationship between here and West Chiltington? Not long after this we reached Wivelsfield Green and then turned north onto Slugwash Lane. The riding was pleasant if uneventful, although on reaching the end of the lane and doing a right turn onto the A272, I received a blast on the horn from a car driver - I’d pulled across in front of him because I thought he was turning into the lane I was emerging from (and therefore would be braking) but in fact he just hadn’t cancelled his indicator and was not turning (or slowing down) at all! It hadn’t been a near miss, I just think he wasn’t concentrating and had been taken by surprise.

From here we headed up through Lindfield back to Ardingly and the long drag up to Turners Hill. JV disappeared from view on this stretch and I just had to keep my head down and grind away on the pedals. We met up again at Turners Hill church and then enjoyed a fast descent past tulleys farm and back into Crawley.

My mileage was in the region of 52 miles I think (I had to guess as my speedo didn’t work for a while after my puncture repair as I’d moved the wheel sensor by mistake!).

Next weeks ride on Sunday 12th September is the final DA Event of the year, The Arun Crossings Ride. This is a VERY enjoyable ride crossing the River Arun as many times as we can manage. I recommend using at least a hybrid or tourer with grippy tyres as several bridleways are used and we’ve had a bit of rain lately (my mountain bike will be sporting a full set of knobblies). The start is from Pulborough Railway Station car park at 09:30 hrs and parking is free on Sundays. Lunch will be about midday at The Blue Ship, The Haven and the event will finish back at Pulborough Station by about 15:30 – 16:00hrs.