Commercial Vehicle Run

Todays riders were Anton, Barbara, Bob, Frank, Marian, Pete, Richard and Ros. Let's see if the pictures can tell the story.......

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On the first Sunday in May (exactly six months away from the date of the Veteran Car Run), the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society have a London to Brighton run. This year, there was a service halt at Broadfield Stadium, so we had plenty to look at. When it was time to move on again we couldn't find Frank. We thought he might be chatting about buses with someone - after all, there were plenty about.

But no, we found him chatting to someone about a fire-engine from Wisbech.

We thought we'd get chance to overtake some of the old vehicles on the climb up Pease Pottage Hill, but the only one we managed was a (different) fire-engine that had stalled near the top of the hill. The road was really busy and it was with some relief that we finally left the Historic vehicles route at Staplefield (ignoring the Beer Festival advertised at The Jolly Tanners). Richard bid us adieu here too as he had to head for home.

We turned west, under the A23, through Slaugham, past Slaugham Pond and crossed the B road by The Wheatsheaf. After the short, sharp climb following the Hammerpond, we turned right onto Grouse Road.

and then a couple of miles later we parked ourselves in the garden of The Dragon at Colgate.

A couple of pints of Pickled Partridge, some good food and a conversation about the AV voting system later we were back on the road. Barbara and Norman heading west to Horsham, the rest of us going east to Pease Pottage and then onto Parish Lane before using NCN20 through a sandy Tilgate Forest.

and past the fake tree or "Orange" tree as Mick calls it:

(it's a mobile phone mast really).

Now we were all home - apart from Ros who had a few miles of the Worth Way to traverse before getting home to East Grinstead.

Next weeks ride is a DA Event - the I-Spy.

Starting from the north side of Billingshurst Railway Station at 10:00 hrs, it will involve riding a 31 mile loop spotting the answers to a number of questions along the way. There will be a pub stop for lunch about 19 miles in and refreshments will be available at the finish. The station car park costs just £1 on a Sunday, though I suspect (free) on-road parking will be available nearby.

Please take part and support your club, entry is free and there's always the chance you could win a prize!