The White Horse at Maplehurst

By the time I got to the start at Horsham I was worn out - these winter months of too much sitting around and eating too much have taken their toll. But Anton had a lovely route planned for us and had even sorted out nice sunny weather.

A good turnout saw Anton accompanied by Barbara, Norman, Michael, Pete E, Frank and myself. We left Horsham using the Tower Hill route and headed past Bax Castle and almost to Barns Green where we turned left to go south to Coolham. Here Anton's master plan became obvious - Coolham is the easiest place to cross the A272 because, amazingly the A road has to give Way to the B road!

The first left took us over towards Shipley and past The Countryman. At this point Barbara headed back to Horsham with Norman keeping her company whilst the rest of us carried on to Dial Post and carefully crossed a fairly busy A24. Anton had been concerned there may be flooding on this part of the route but although some fields on either side were well under water, the road was OK. As we passed through Ashurst, a gaggle of riders from Brighton Mitre cycle club overtook us. We carried on up through the edge of Partridge green and then along Mill Lane across to Littleworth. The Windmill looks like it's having a lot of building work done.

We soon arrived at what should have been the lunch stop for today's ride, the Camellia Botnar garden centre, where we were met by John C. However, ALL the tables in the cafe were marked as reserved and they would only serve drinks and cake in the coffee area where we had to sit, so we decided to lunch at The White Horse in Maplehurst instead.  This was just a crossing of the A272 and a couple of hills away. Frank however was feeling a bit tired and decided to stay at the cafe, rest for a while and then head home.

What a great pub - proper dingy interior, great selection of ales (I went for a Hepworths Stout - it was fantastic) friendly staff and plenty of locals propping up the bar. the food was really well priced and included lighter meals as well as the bigger platefuls. 10/10 for this pub. 

As we were finishing we spotted John B strolling in - it is his local after all - so we stopped and had a chat with him. Then we split into two with Michael and Pete heading back to Horsham via Copsale, Anton, John and myself heading up Newell's Lane, through Lower Beeding and on to Handcross. Here we said goodbye to Anton as he turned south towards Hayward's Heath, then a few minutes later John and I were back home in Crawley. I'd clocked up 42 miles and enjoyed it but boy was I tired!

Next weeks ride will once again be led by Anton - he'll probably come up with another good route. It will start from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs and head to the North and East. It's rated as Medium and will be somewhere in the region of 40 miles long with a pub or cafe at the halfway point, just in time for lunch. Will Anton be charmed enough to have a second dry Sunday?