Horne (or not)

For mid-January it was a lovely morning. A little cloudy at first, but with some quite prolonged sunny periods. And not too cold, although with a bit of south-westerly wind. We left Three Bridges station on the dot of about 10.12 or so, and headed through Manor Royal as quickly as we could to arrive on the sumptuous cycle path at Gatwick, in time to have a large aircraft coming in to land pass just above our heads. And moments later to experience the contradiction that is the pond by the River Mole and the A23 two hundred metres from a major international airport, in quite tranquil serenity. But we hurried the bunch along trying not to cause too much disturbance all the time avoiding the dogs. And their owners.

It seemed as if the wind was blowing us gently along as we drifted through the centre of Horley, remarking on how splendid the Wooden Hut (Foresters) looks these days. And so to Lonesome lane, which is sometimes well named but we had several cars share this thoroughfare with us. And they were all courteous. Turning right we reached the A23 after taking in the really quite splendid views to the North, with the Downs all lit up by sunshine – what a lift to the spirits in an otherwise grey and dull January. The traffic on the short two hundred metre stretch of the A23 was kind to us and we were soon heading east and still downwind towards coffee and cakes at the Redhill aerodrome. This place seems to be getting busier every time we go there but we managed to find a table big enough for all of us, and sat for a while setting quite a few issues to rights. But eventually it came time to leave and so, after a fully democratic vote (STV), we decided that we had been lucky enough with the weather and that we would head directly back to Crawley, rather than via Horne.

This gave us the opportunity to visit Rookery Hill (not sure why it’s called that) with it’s brief views south towards the South Downs and then in to the bustling metropolis of Smallfield (where I went to primary school a little while ago). It wasn’t bustling while we were there on this occasion. And not much of a metropolis either, actually. So we turned right, westwards, in to the wind. But it seemed to have dropped off, aided by our being in very quiet and sheltered lanes, causing us no extra effort whatsoever. And soon Burstow Church came in to view – the only event marring this pleasant stretch being a four by four vehicle spewing black smoke – seriously, if you can afford one you should be able to afford to maintain it properly.

And then it was right to the Black Corner where we headed left and south towards good old Crawley town. Turning right at Milton Mount we marvelled at the tiny Worth Park garden where the Council will spend three million pounds to make them look nice (yes, that’s right, three million), while we meandered our way pleasantly through the potholes and past the end of JC’s road, nodding our heads in respect as we passed. One of the Horsham contingent was then pleasantly surprised to find that she was deposited, by various turnings, devious routes, and back-doubles, exactly opposite the Three Bridges railway station in a perfect position to recover her vehicle and head off to Horsham for lunch.

Twenty six miles. Mild. Sunny, mostly. No rain. The wind didn’t bother us. Nothing wild or massively exciting, just a couple of hours of pleasant company, with a bit of exercise, wandering around our own back yard.

I hope that we will be able to welcome you to join us next time.

Peter Smith, Ride leader

Our next ride will start from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 10:00 hrs on Sunday 29th January. It will be an easy ride of about 30 miles heading south to lunch at Wiston tea rooms (and a meet up with the Bognor & Chichester section). The weather forecast is for a cold but clear day - sounds perfect for cycling and I'm sure we'll have some great views of the Sussex countryside.