Ditchling Tearooms

On a sunny but breezy morning after a night of heavy rain, I met Anton and John Clark at Selsfield Common at 10.15. Anton had already put the miles in by cycling from his home in Haywards Heath to Three Bridges to collect the other riders – just John as it happens! This meant he could alert us to some flooding by Wakehurst Place, which had subsided a little by the time we arrived. We carried on, avoiding Lindfield down Plummerden Lane and on to Wivelsfield via Slugwash Lane. I was happy to take the unearned credit from Anton and John, for the all the neat arrow signs showing us our route! At Wivelsfield we were surprised to see a control stop and many muddy rather tired walkers. They were doing a sponsored walk from London to Brighton and had started the previous day. We chatted to some and encouraged all of them as we cycled past them, being glad that we were on our bikes. They left our route about half way down Streat Lane and I hope they had a good off-road route over the downs.

We enjoyed our wonderful view of the Downs and cycling along them, not up them, along Underhill and into Ditchling tearooms at 12ish where we enjoyed our lunch.

We then returned to the bottom of Ditchling Beacon and cycled further along the downs towards Clayton and Hurstpierpoint College. Quiet lanes to Ansty, short A road and up into Cuckfield. Here Anton being near home again decided no more miles were required of him and left us and John took the ‘fracking’ route (though after the Queen’ s speech this could sadly be anywhere and everywhere) back to Crawley to be home in time for tea.  I made my way home via Borde Hill through a horse event and Ardingly, where I enjoyed a welcome cup of tea and cake in the newly re-opened ‘Gallery Café’ there. Up Chilling Street, one of my favourite roads in this beautiful part of Sussex and home, still in lovely sunny  weather.

I had done 50 miles in total by the time I reached home but if any of you are tempted to join a similar ride in the future there are trains from Hassocks and Wivelsfield and even Cuckfield I think.

Thanks Ros, sounds like a nice ride.

I-Spy Ride

It's about time that I put (virtual) pen to paper again. After all it's been more than two weeks since I last did so and the I-Spy was a really good event. Coincidentally, it was organised by Pete E, our treasurer, and I should currently be attending a committee meeting with him and Barbara this evening ........  but, guess who forgot?  I've made my apologies and will make reparation at the rearranged meeting next week! Thanks for being so understanding guys.

Anyway, as I said, the I-Spy was really good. There were fourteen participants and Pete started us off from outside the cafe at Southwater Country Park. The route was very pleasant and took us past the Bax Castle, through Christs Hospital and on to Slinfold. Here we managed to overtake all the other groups of riders as they struggled to find one of the answers. We next had a three mile stretch of A road where I used my defensive riding techniques to keep the tin-box jockeys at bay before we headed across to The Haven and then on to Tismans Common. Shortly after, just before we reached Drungewick Lane, I heard a hissing sound and noticed the back end of my bike start squirming. A puncture! I'm never worried about dealing with punctures but it was a bit annoying that as we were busy sorting it out, all those teams we'd passed at Slinfold managed to regain their lead over us :-(.  As we were stood at the side of the road, I noticed an approaching car had a problem with the trailer it was towing and managed to flag them down so that they could stop and sort out their trailer. 

Puncture mended, we were on our way again and managed to catch up the other groups at the canal bridge and then pass them most of them as they struggled to count the number of stakes in the grass outside a property along the lane. From here we headed into Wisborough Green and then out to Fishers Farm Park for lunch. I could tell we needed a break because we missed a clue just yards away but couldn't be bothered to look for it!

Fully refreshed after my lunch of Sausage Baguette and pint of cider, I set off with Barbara and Val on the second part of the test and we promptly missed the next clue! Never mind, on we went up Rowner Road and then east, across the A29 and onto New Road. The route continued, taking us on to Barns Green and then to the Bax Castle for the second time today. This time we turned onto the Downs Link for a slightly bumpy but pleasant enough ride as far as the farm track at Southwater. The last couple of clues were hidden away in the backstreets of suburban Southwater before we pulled up at the finish, back at Southwater Country Park.

It was really hot sitting in the sun and the shadier seats were very popular - an ice-cream helped. We felt that we were in with a chance of winning but then the last team came in and got a lot of points. Oh no!  A draw - that means a tie break. This year we had to count the post boxes we went past - we guessed a fractionally more accurate number than Gordon's team and that meant we won! 

Everyone who took part had a great time on what is one of the two DA Events that Horsham and Crawley organise. Pete put a lot of hard work into this one and it paid off with a superbly entertaining and smoothly run day. The next DA Event is on the first Sunday in July - the Two Weald Ride. We will be running this and will offer the usual four different 25 mile loops from Wisborough Green.

West of Horsham

Michael writes:

Bob had allowed extra time for the ride to HPP, because of the strong headwind, so he was second , after Michael, to arrive at the start.  We were joined by Ken and Barbara.  Peter’s bikes were under repair, Anton was ill, Norman was crossing Asia, Val overslept and it was only 11 degrees.  The four of us set off north by way of Pondtail Road and climbed up towards Capel.  We discovered that the hedges did a good job at stopping the strong winds.  Once on the Rusper – Capel road we were being passed at frequent interval by speeding road bikes on some organised event.  They came up quietly and did not give one much elbow room as they sped by.  Having crossed the A24 we descended Weare Street observing the final flourish of this year’s bluebells.  

After Oakwood Hill Barbara left the group to go home via Rowhook.  We turned right for Ellen’s Green and then to Rudgwick.  Another cycle event had laid claim to the island in Cox Green with their tents and banners.  We carried on south past the Blue Ship and crossed the A29 to reach our lunch stop at the The Queens Head in Barns Green.  After lunch it was a short ride via Two Mile Ash Road back to Horsham.  We would have covered less than the advertised 35 miles but the cold windy weather was not very conducive to big distances.

Next weeks ride is the second of this years DA Events - the I-Spy, a bicycle treasure hunt. Pete has put a lot of work into creating an enjoyable competition, so come along and take part. The start and end point is outside the cafe at Southwater Country Park. Be there ready for a 9:30 start. There will a stop for lunch at some point. Come along and represent your club and have some fun finding the clues.

Commercial Vehicle Run

A nice easy ride today. Sunny weather meant an airing for my knees as I wore shorts for only the third time this year!

Waiting at Three Bridges Station were Frank, Val, Anne and Gordon! With a late running Pete E promising to meet us at Broadfield Stadium. We rode over there along the Black Path into Furnace Green, through Tilgate and through the underpass. Having secured our bikes, we walked around the car park looking at all the various Vintage Commercial Vehicles parked around:

Hey hey!  This is an easy way of filling up a blog - just posting photos!!

Let's do some more:

It's just like being there isn't it?  Apart from the sound that is - oh! And the smells - hot oil, diesel fumes, blue smoke, overheated rubber. It was good fun strolling around chatting with other spectators, some of the vehicle owners and also several other cyclists.

Frank enjoyed reliving his time on the buses and Pete turned up just a few minutes before we decided it was time to do a little bit of cycling. Here are a couple of his pictures:

I was hoping we'd have a slow moving Vintage Commercial Vehicle to slipstream up Pease Pottage Hill but we were out of luck and had to do it completely under our own steam. We all made it though and then it was on to Handcross with Frank towing a bus all the way (I told you he likes buses): 

At Handcross I handed over the leaders jersey to Gordon so that he could take us onto a bridleway through the Hyde Estate - what a revalation - it was a lovely smooth tarmac and took us through some light woodland that was absolutely loaded with Bluebells:

There was even a landscaped lake:

I'm on a roll now, have a video:

http://youtu.be/i_lswfAGHvs

Eventually the track brought us out onto the Pease Pottage Road and it didn't take us long to get from there to Gordons house where, over a nice lunch and drinks, we gathered together to work out our programme of rides for July, August and September.  I have since published them on he runs list page of our website:   www.horshamandcrawleyctc.org.uk

Our next ride will start from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:30hrs on Sunday 11th May. It will be a fairly easy loop to the west of Horsham led by Michael. Come along, it will be fun.