South of Horsham

Blimey! Blue sky!!  Get out quick and enjoy it. Sure enough, the ride over to Horsham was very pleasant. Arriving at Pavilions in the Park I didn't recognise any of the bikes parked outside, but on going into the foyer I was met by Michael who had ridden over from Rudgwick. Going back outside I was pleased to see Norman, unfortunately not on his bike, but out for a run and looking fit and well. Then John C arrived and we were ready to go. First I led us through Horsham town centre (I needed to raid a cash machine) and then out to Doomsday Green. We continued along Hammerpond Road for a further mile and a half before turning right onto Golding Lane. This took us down and then up a short, sharp climb into Mannings Heath. If you are of a delicate disposition, please skip the rest of this paragraph and continue reading from the next.        Just as we crested the hill, a dog being walked by a sandalled, beshorted owner, deposited the largest dogturd I have ever seen! As the event was witnessed not only by us three cyclists but the householder upon whose threshold the deposit was made and an oil delivery driver, the poor dog owner had the thankless task of trying to cram what looked like a kilo of poo into what looked like a woefully undersized plastic bag! My, how I laughed - now, if we could just compel cat owners to take ownership of their animals droppings the world would be an even better place!

Recovering our breath after the hill, we turned left onto Winterpit Lane. When I was a teenager I played in a youth marching band and we played at a Childrens Home somewhere along this lane. It was always a nice relaxing gig with a friendly and appreciative audience.

At the end we turned right onto Church Lane and headed up to Lower Beeding. Here we used a short stretch of the A281 to get onto the quiet of Newells Lane. This lane is generally downhill with just one small climb shortly before the junction with Park Lane. Here we turned right and glided down to Maplehurst. There a quick left right took us onto Copsale Road. Just visible from this road is a property I call "Mini Dallas" - someone has equipped their house with a set of large white classical columns.....

Next we headed north on Broadwater Lane and Polecat Lane before heading west through Newfoundout and then south through Southwater. I used the old road bridge to cross over the Downs Link and avoid the traffic lights before turning right onto Church Lane. The far end of this lane has a different name and is known as Bonfire Hill. For a change we turned left onto Marlpost Lane and followed this down through the woods before turning right onto Lackenhurst Lane - this is the lane that doesn't appear to be on the Goldeneye map of Sussex. At Brooks Green we effectively carried straight on onto Emms Lane which took us down hill and over the level crossing into Barns Green. Here we stopped for lunch at The Queens Head. This is a very good pub with four real ales on tap and a good variety of quality food. It appears to be run by the same people that own Burdfields in Billingshurst who are regular advertisers in our Pedaller magazine.

After lunch and with the skies clouding over somewhat, we headed home - Micheal back to Rudgwick, John and I for an uneventful ride back to Crawley.