Wings Aviation Museum (almost)....

Today’s run was to be Bob’s ride to visit the ‘Wings Museum’.  As only John C and Gordon attended we decided to defer the ride to allow Bob to lead it another day.  The route was still to pass the museum and take lunch at Pease Pottage.

The ride did not start well as Gordon dropped his Blackberry and broke the screen!  We headed off eastwards and UP to Turners Hill.  It had started to warm up by then so John and Gordon were treated to my Hawaiian cycle top.  

A bit loud they said!  Turning west just after the church we headed for ‘The Cowdray’ pub junction, left here then right towards Handcross. After a short rest at the water tower junction we headed towards the museum for a quick stop to check out dates and get some leaflets. 

Having achieved this we headed DOWN Brantridge Lane towards Staplefield.  Over the B2114 and under the A24 took us to Slaugham where we turned right onto a bridleway, they had been doing some drainage work here so the going was as good as usual.  Gordon then took up through ‘The Hyde Estate’, a very pleasant and almost traffic free route bypassing Handcross and bringing us out onto the Pease Pottage road.  We got to the pub at 11:40 so John decided to forego lunch and headed home while Gordon and I waited.

After a relaxing lunch we headed home.  Gordon to buy a new Blackberry and me to fall asleep in front of the TV again!

Our next ride is on Sunday 2nd June. It starts at Horsham Pavilion in the Park at 09:30 and will go to Peaslake and Abinger Common. This will be a really enjoyable easy to medium ride. Who knows, short sleeves and shorts may well be the order of the day, it will be June after all!

I-Spy Ride

Miles Route Instruction/Question
0 Start from Sumners Ponds Reception.
0.1 Turn RIGHT onto road
If B+C=6, what is BG+I?
0.2 STRAIGHT ON (and over L/C)
Where are the two horses and riders?
0.6 STRAIGHT ON (ignore road on left)
What’s between Courtlands and Emms Farms?
What postcode for Appletrees?
Where’s the yellow, green and white BP petrol pump?
1.6 LEFT then RIGHT
No Public Right of Way where?

This was the start of what faced the eleven competitors in this years I-Spy DA Event.

Route instructions interspersed with questions - 29 of them over the 17.5 mile morning section and 25 questions over the 13.5 miles of the afternoon section. Mainly in teams of two, the competitors set off from Sumners Ponds at about 10:00hrs. I sat chatting with Mick and had a coffee and piece of cake before setting off to get to the lunch stop before the competitors. Mick was heading home via Broadbridge Heath whereas I headed out of Barns Green on Two Mile Ash Road. On reaching The Bax Castle I had to decide whether to go onto the Downs Link or stay on the road - as I was tracing part of the afternoon section, I decided to stay on the road so that I could check that the question answers were all still there!

I soon arrived in Southwater and all the answers I'd passed were still in place and visible. I now adopted the Downs Link and sped past the Country Park, down the lane and under the A24. The surface of the Downs Link was nice and firm with only slight sogginess in parts, so my slick tyres were coping well and I was passing all the other cyclists. Generally speaking my speedo was reading anything between 17 and 20 mph as I headed south, though I eased off a little as I went through West Grinstead station as there were several other cyclists around. I was also busy looking at the old station building which looked like it was boarded up, so I didn't notice what I think was an "L" shaped lump of metal or concrete which whacked my rear wheel and put a fairly major buckle into it! Half expecting to have acquired a puncture as well, I gingerly carried on but everything seemed ok and I got my speed up again.

I was enjoying the day, the riding, the smell of the wild garlic and it wasn't long before I arrived at my destination, Partridge Green, and pulled up at the Partridge. It was 11:30 and I was pleased to find that they were already open so I rapidly made a start on a rather nice pint of Partridge. At midday I ordered some food (chilli and chips) and then had a chat with some other cyclists that had arrived. There was a small family group that arrived with one bike and a dog between them - they'd had another bike but that had punctured and, unable to reinflate the tyre, they'd left it chained up intending to collect it on their way back to Dial Post.  Another group of cyclists had arrived. They were from Burgess Hill and had come across country via Bob Lane and Shermanbury. They seemed interested in Sumners Ponds, so I gave them directions and showed them its location on the map.

As I finished my lunch (and embarked on a second pint), the first competitors arrived soon followed by each of the others. They handed their morning answer sheets in and it was soon apparent that everyone had spotted the answer to every clue - I was very harsh and docked one team 1 point for putting Wiston Wood instead of Wiston Estate. But without some differentiation in points I wouldn't be able to determine a winner, so needs must (besides, the organisers decision is final)!

I circulated photos of the answers to the morning section and issued the direction/question sheets for the afternoon section. As the last team embarked, I finished off my beer, packed my pannier bag and headed back onto the Downs Link. As I rode back along the track, I was a bit slower than I had been earlier - proof that beer is not a good fuel for cyclists perhaps? The sun now started to break through the clouds and by the time I'd reached Southwater I was getting too hot to keep my jacket on. The last few miles along Church Lane / Bonfire Hill and Two Mile Ash Road were very pleasant and represent my first piece of short-sleeve riding THIS YEAR!!  My knees haven't yet had an airing though.

Arriving back at Sumners Ponds, most of the tables at the cafe were occupied, but once I'd got a cup of tea and piece of cake, there was a spare one available and I settled down to await the arrival of the competitors. First back were Gordon and Michael, followed by Anne, Edwin and John. Paul and Dave were next in, then Pete and Marian on their tandem. As it was nearly four o'clock I phoned Pete E to find out where he was. "Just arriving" he said and yes, there he was along with John C.

Quickly marking all the answers I realised there was a three way tie and that I would have to invoke the tie-break question. Sneakily, right at the end of the afternoon section of the question sheet I'd asked "How many times has the route crossed the word SLOW (painted the correct way up) on the road today?" The teams had each put a different answer and so the result was determined by who had the closest answer to the correct figure.  There had been a total of eleven SLOW's on the route and the team of Paul and Dave, with an answer of seven were closest.  There being no prize and no trophy, Paul and Dave only had the applause of their fellow competitors to reinforce the pleasure of their victory in this years competition.

Next weeks ride starts from Three Bridges Station at 09:30 hrs and will visit the Wings Aviation Museum in Brantridge Lane. This will be the first time we've visited this attraction and I believe there is an £8 entry fee, although if enough people turn up perhaps a reduced fee may be negotiated? I also understand there is a cafe on site. Unfortunately I'm unable to attend this ride but I'll be very interested to hear how it goes.

A Weekend in Dieppe

Six a.m. rendezvous at Turners Hill?  Yes, of course I can make that.  It sounded easy enough and I managed to get all my packing done the day before as well as wake up at 04:30. But somehow, time slipped by and I was 20 minutes late!  I sent JV a text to let him know and the tone of the next hour or so was set - everyone else (John V, John C, Richard, Peter and Marian) riding along on schedule, me riding hard to try and catch up. Every hill seemed to be hard work and with the wind slightly on my front quarter I struggled to get into the twenties on the long run down past Wakehurst and through Ardingly. It was with some relief that I met up with the waiting JV just before Lindfield. He proceeded to pace me as we carried on to Slugwash Lane. I was still finding the hills a struggle but we were keeping up a good pace which meant we caught the others shortly after Wivelsfield Green. No time to stop and chat, we kept going using several small lanes heading east and south east before emerging on the A275 near Cooksbridge. We passed through Lewes as the friday morning rush hour was getting into its stride and continued south past Kingston, Rodmell, Southease and Piddinghoe to arrive at Newhaven Ferry terminal by 08:40 - 31 miles in a little over two and a half hours of cycling - not bad.

Having passed through Passport Control, we hung around the rather spartan waiting room and were surprised by just how many other cyclists arrived to use the same ferry - fortunately one of them was Barbara who had come across from Horsham by car. 

I posted this bleak picture on Facebook - yes, it was as cold as it looks!!

We were soon aboard and with our bikes all huddled together in a space at the stern on deck 3, we found a table in the bar area on deck 8 and settled down for what we were anticipating would be a bumpy voyage. But no, in spite of the strong crosswind the ship provided a fairly smooth crossing and just under four hours of chatting, eating, drinking and snoozing later we were just outside Dieppe.

It was a short ride to the hotel and having checked in and unpacked, some of us had a quick wander around the town and enjoyed a quiet drink in a bar near the cathedral.

We regrouped, and set off to look for a venue for our Saturday evening meal. We soon found one and managed to book a table, after which we headed off to a bar for a couple of pre-dinner drinks.

Then it was time for something to eat, so we popped into a nearby restaurant.

Saturday morning arrived bright and breezy. We walked into the town  centre to find a cafe for a coffee and croissant breakfast and enjoyed a stroll around the colourful market.

Then at 10:30 we set off, away to the southeast of Dieppe, with the wind mainly behind us. It helped as we climbed up to the plateau and on through some woodland. The sun had disappeared and it was trying to rain, but it didn't try hard enough and we didn't need to don our waterproofs. The roads were generally quiet and the motorists gave us plenty of leeway, so, coupled with the scenery the ride was very pleasant.

After twenty odd miles we enjoyed a fast, double-hairpin descent from the plateau and sped down into a town called Neufchatel-en-Bray.

We found a quiet cafe and enjoyed a very pleasant hour and a half away from the wind, eating, drinking and chatting.Thanks to the linguistic skills of Pete, JV and Barbara we even got exactly what we wanted from the menu!

For the return trip we split into two groups. The first would head back to Dieppe following the Avenue Verte - a very high quality and direct tarmac route laid on an old railway trackbed. The second group headed southwest, climbed out of the valley and visited a V1 launch site at Val-Ygot. This WWII site was well-presented and was free to visit. A memorial at the entrance was dedicated to the memory of the victims of secret weapons of WWII.

A replica doodlebug was mounted on a launch rail on a compass bearing of 336 degrees i.e. straight at London.

There were a few people around and so it was that I found myself in the middle of a French Forest at a German military site, talking to a German in a mixture of my awful schoolboy French, English and hand gestures (polite hand gestures). You try doing this without mentioning the war - I think I managed to do so and I think I got away with it!   I found this historic site to be both informative and moving - for instance I hadn't realised how many launch sites there were (there were over 100 in this region of France) and Allied bombing, misfiring V1's and the use of maltreated slave labour caused many deaths.

Back on the bikes we now had a nice downhill blast into the valley before a longish draggy climb over the next ridge and past a row of wind turbines lying on their sides prior to being erected. Another nice descent was followed by a few miles of quiet lanes and picturesque villages before we too turned onto the Avenue Verte and managed a steady 16mph into the wind and all the way back to Dieppe.

We arrived back at the hotel at about 18:00 hrs having clocked up 60 odd miles for the day.

Then we all headed out to the restaurant for our celebration dinner where we were joined by Edwin and Peter.

We followed  the meal up with another visit to a bar before taking a leisurely stroll back to the hotel taking in some of the sights Dieppe had to offer:

Edwin and Peter also joined us for the Sunday morning ride which was graced by nice sunny weather but with a fairly constant westerly wind. We enjoyed a twenty-four mile loop to the east of Dieppe and had a pleasant stop at a bar-tabac half way round.

Arriving back at the harbour we found a nice sheltered and sunny table at a restaurant and enjoyed what was probably the best food of the weekend.

It seemed a shame to leave but we were booked on the afternoon ferry, so we said goodbye to Edwin and Peter (their ferry wasn't until Monday), picked up our panniers from our hotel and headed to the ferry terminal.

Back on board the ferry (The Seven Sisters) we once again stored our bikes, claimed our space in the bar area and took one last look at Dieppe as we steamed back to Blighty.

The journey back dragged on and on - probably because the weather was closing in and it was getting dark but four hours after setting off we docked at Newhaven and after a long wait were finally able to disembark and rush around to the Railway Station. A few minutes later our train pulled in and we dispersed ourselves along the three carriages so as not to clog up any doorways - this meant I was all alone in the end carriage.

At Brighton we only had to walk our bikes 10 yards from one train to the next and it left almost the moment we'd all got on board. Forty minutes later we arrived at Three Bridges and just a few minutes later we were all safely home from our French weekend.

Everyone seems to have enjoyed it immensely and I'm hoping we can do a similar sort of trip next year.

Details of our routes can be found at (thankyou Richard):
11/05/2013 Arques La Bataille, Upper Normandy, France
and
12/05/2013 Dieppe, Upper Normandy, France

Next weeks ride is the next DA Event. It starts from Sumners Ponds in Barns Green (free parking available, or Billingshurst station is about 4 miles away) at 10:00hrs. It will be a Bicycle Treasure Hunt with a set route of about 30 miles, a pub for lunch and will finish at about 16:00hrs back at Sumners Ponds. Please join in, people usually enjoy it a lot.

Commercial Vehicle Run

The First Sunday in May sees a London to Brighton run for commercial vehicles. On the way they stop for a service break at Broadfield Stadium. We intercepted them there and walked around admiring the shiny (retired) working vehicles - lorries, vans, fire-engines, charabancs, buses - even a cement lorry!

We finally got back on our bikes and managed to beat a couple of the old vehicles up Pease Pottage Hill before following them through Handcross and down to Staplefield where we had a long and relaxed lunch outside The Victory.

It was very nice sitting in the sunshine but we had to head home, so we headed west through Slaugham, past Slaugham Pond up to Plummers Plain. From here we went past the hammerpond and then turned right onto Grouse Road. At the top end of which, Barbara and Norman turned toward Colgate and on to Horsham whilst Gordon, Michael and myself went back to Crawley.

There is no organised club ride on Sunday 12th May - because it's the Club Weekend away in Dieppe! I thought I'd put this photo here to give a slightly French feel:

The following week, Sunday May 19th is the second DA Event of the year - The I-Spy Ride.
As this one is organised by us, please come along and support our section in the competition.
It starts from Sumners Ponds in Barns Green at 10:00 and will involve cycling about 35 miles and answering a number of clues on the way round. It finishes back at Sumners Ponds sometime around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and there will be a lunch stop in the middle. The Bluebells look and smell fantastic and I've certainly enjoyed planning the route.