Leith Hill Ride

I woke up to a bright, sunny morning - perfect for cycling. Full of enthusiasm I set out for Horsham, my bike equipped with the new Brooks saddle I'd been given for my birthday, my wallet equipped with my National Trust card so that I could go up Leith Hill Tower.

Arriving at the Pavilions in the Park I was met by Norman and ........... no-one else! We hung around for ten minutes but the good weather hadn't enticed anyone else out. Due to other commitments, Norman would only be riding for an hour so Leith Hill was now off the agenda. I revised my route and instead of heading west out of Horsham I took us north.

Using North Heath Lane, I decided that we would use the middle of the three routes up the ridge to the north of Horsham. For some reason as a club we usually use the most-westerly of the three, up Langhurstwood Road, past the smelly tip, but I thought the middle was a revelation! It was very quiet, not smelly and although the climbing may have been steeper in places, I found it much more enjoyable than the other two routes (the eastern route, up Rusper Road is best avoided due to volume, speed and type of traffic - not enjoyable whilst climbing a hill).
On cresting, we turned right onto the always quiet Green Lane, before finally turning left onto (a relatively level) Rusper Road. From here it was but a few minutes before we were in the centre of Rusper.

Now we had a decision to make - Norman was at the halfway point of his morning for riding, so needed a route back to Horsham, I would be on my own - did I want to go on to Leith Hill solo?
Norman decided to turn right, go down through Faygate, cross the A264, up Tower Hill to Colgate and turn right to take the Forest Road back into Horsham.
I decided I would ride back home and then I could help my wife and daughter get down to the coast to watch their friends take part in the Brighton Marathon.

So, by 10:30 the club ride had finished without going anywhere near the intended destination and having only used an hour of what was a perfect day for cycling!

Postscript: a week later I found out that not only had two club members attempted to rendezvous at the lunch pub (The Six Bells), two riders from another part of the West Sussex member group had done the same - shame I hadn't known on the day.