It all began thirty miles previously in Three Bridges, where the five of us – Barbara, Marian, Bob, John C and Peter S - assembled at nine o’clock for the climb up to Turners Hill to meet Ros.
The traffic seemed lighter than usual which may have been because we were setting off earlier than of late, and it was already pleasantly warm; in fact quite warm, by the time that we had climbed the hill to Turners Hill.
Ros was waiting for us and so we turned south for the mile after mile of freewheeling to Lindfield – it is hard to believe how much downhill there is, until you try the route back from Brighton and, in fact, there are a couple of ‘ups’ on the way. We were saddened to learn from Anton that the coffee shop in Lindfield had closed but we weren’t planning to stop until Ditchling anyway, on this occasion, and so we headed for the exquisitely named Slugwash lane where we met Anton for a brief chat and a catch-up on his Audax (and other) adventures.
Leaving Anton we proceeded further south and eventually arrived at the café in Ditchling. As usual there were plenty of cyclists in there, but we did think that the prices were a bit higher this time – maybe this was because most of us had cake and not our usual toasted tea-cake. John left us to return home for other commitments leaving just the five of us to do the Beacon.
There was the usual amount of traffic which was largely well behaved and at the top a fairly stiff breeze from the south west.
After Bob had his traditional ice cream and we took a few pictures, we headed off south again to find the junction over the A27 log-jammed with cars trying to go in both easterly and westerly directions, making it very hard to go straight over, as very few drivers were prepared to let us through. They were probably jealous of us as they sat in the heat of their vehicles! Once we had all got across we made short work of the slope up by the golf course prior to the long descent in to Brighton.
There was a fair bit of traffic in town, no doubt due to the excellent weather, but we still made good time on the long swoop down to the pier. I’m not sure how Bob got on with his annual effort to set off the speed camera on the way through…….
After lunch there was only Bob wishing to ride back so all five of us piled on the train after a considerable amount of negotiation reduced the ticked price by twenty quid (you’ve gotta love privatisation of the railway – what were the benefits exactly?!). Due to the bridge maintenance at Three Bridges we went to Gatwick and rode back (this also required negotiation to get a ticket for Three Bridges – well done Barbara and Marian) along the NCR 21, so that Barbara could search for where she had parked her car and Ros could whizz along the Worth Way back to East Grinstead.
Thank you all for coming. I think that we all had a really good day out, with nice company and good weather – maybe you should join us next time.
Happy Cycling,
Peter S
Our next ride is on Sunday 2nd October. It will be a family friendly, suitable for ALL abilities, two hour ride along the Worth Way and back. The start point/time is Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs.
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