Bluebell Railway

Nine thirty on a grey sunday morning, the rain was holding off and there was only one other rider waiting outside Three Bridges station. Norman and I waited a further 5 minutes then set off up Billington Drive and onto The Worth Way. Although we were both on hardtail mountain bikes, Norman was running on medium knobbly tyres and I was on my road slicks. The surface of the trail showed evidence of the recent wet weather but there was plenty of traction and we made good time over to East Grinstead. Here we met the ride leader Ros. Disappointingly, no-one else had turned up.

Ros led us down Brooklands Way, Hurst Farm Road and then out of East Grinstead on Dunnings Road/West Hoathly Road. This took us past Deers Leap Farm where Anton and I went for a ride the other week. We then had the run down to the tail end of Weirwood Reservoir before the climb up past the Girl Guide camp and some good views down the valley, looking at the nice, full reservoir.

At the top we turned right then immediate left onto Chilling Street. This lane gives good views across this part of the High Weald and provides easy, slightly downhill riding. At Cinder Hill we carried on south then climbed up Waterbury Hill to Horsted Keynes which we skirted using Sugar Lane and Treemans Road. Next Ros took us down Sloop Lane to cross first the River Ouse and then the old canal before going uphill and left onto Butterbox Lane. Halfway up the next hill we turned left onto Banks Lane which cut across to the A275 for the final mile to our lunch halt at the Sheffield Park station of the Bluebell Railway.

We sat and ate our lunch on a bench on the platform. It was a sheltered little suntrap and it was very pleasant sitting there watching all the activity in the station: a train came and went, a set of Pullman dining cars was preparing to leave and a couple of light engines were manouevring around.

The return ride took us north to Sheffield Park crossroads and then east towards Fletching and onto Down Street for a nice quiet run up to Nutley. Here, after a couple of hundred yards on the A22 we turned left and headed west to Chelwood Gate where we turned right onto the A275 which we followed to Wych Cross. Next we took Hindleap Road and then at the crossroads we seperated - Ros headed north and back to East Grinstead via Forest Row, Norman and I used Top Road across to Sharpthorne, West Hoathly and thence to Turners Hill. Here I went off past Tulleys Farm and back to Crawley whilst Norman stayed on the ridge and using a combination of road and bridleway headed for Horsham via Pease Pottage and Colgate.

Our next  ride is an easy one aimed at beginners/relative newcomer cyclists and starts from Horsham Pavilions in the Park (Horsham Swimming Pool) at 10:00 hrs. It will be a very easy loop to the South and west of Horsham making use of quiet lanes and bridleways with a stop for refreshments at Southwater Country Park and finishing back at The Pavilions a couple of hours later.