Skimmington Castle

A nice easy ride this week. However a 9:30 start from Three Bridges on a damp, overcast morning saw only two riders turn up. Norman and I waited around for the obligatory ten minutes and then set off. We rode through Three Bridges first - it seemed a lot easier to use the roads than use the footpaths to me - I can't understand why the recent furore about footpath cyclists (pedestrians on bikes?) had erupted in this area. The industrial estate was very quiet and we were soon passing the Beehive. We noticed that one of the office blocks now houses Nestle (they moved from Croydon recently) but the othere all look deserted.

The River Mole was running very briskly and Norman made the observation that perhaps we should try installing small scale hydro electric generators on rivers like this - every little helps.  I was reading about plug-in photo-voltaic cell panels recently. I got the impression that these would be a fairly hassle-free way of reducing ones use of centrally produced electricity although Norman pointed out that it would actually take quite a long time to recoup the cost of buying/installing them (at current prices).

The pond just north of Gatwick Airport was looking very nice, aided no doubt by the work party in reflective gear brandishing brooms and plastic sacks. I think this pond will look spectacular next spring and summer. We continued through the middle of Horley and passed a healthily busy car boot sale before using the subway under the railway.

We'd been following NCN21 since Three Bridges and continued to do so as it went out through the new builds of North Horley, then once we reached the end of a bumpy farmtrack we left NCN21 in favour of a tarmac climb up the hill and across to Redhill Aerodrome. The cafe wasn't too busy and we were soon sat down supping our coffees. With the low cloud very much in evidence, it was no surprise that there wasn't a single aircraft movement whilst we were there.

We continued north then headed west and used Philanthropic Road past the cemetery  and then through south Redhill and across to the Woodhatch crossroads. We continued west and onto Slipshatch Road, followed by Clayhall Lane and then right onto Flanchford Road. This took us round onto Reigate Heath and then a right turn onto Bonny's Lane led us up to the lunch stop at The Skimmington Castle.

The food and beer was good and we spent a pleasant hour at the pub before setting off for home. We headed south through Leigh, Norwood Hill and then Charlwood. As we arrived at Ifield Wood I noticed a cyclist heading in the opposite direction and somehow I realised it was a chap called Ed who posts on the Crawley Cycle Forum pages in facebook. He's posted a video on there where you spot us cycling past! Shortly after this we turned right through Ifield Wood to the Rusper Road where Norman headed right towards Lambs Green and Horsham and I turned left towards Crawley.

Pulling up at home I'd covered just over 30 miles, almost all easy with no bad climbs - shame only Norman and me had turned up.

Next weeks ride starts from Horsham Park Pavilion at 10:00hrs. Pete will lead us to Winkworth Arboretum for a lunch stop at the cafe there. It's a National Trust garden so bring your NT membership card if you want to view the spectacular autumn colours in the garden. It should be an easy/medium ride of about 35 miles.