Waiting at Horsham were Pete E (the ride leader), Val, Malcolm, Mick and Anton. We headed out over the golf course and up Byfleets Lane where we noticed several potholes in the middle of the lane - we couldn't help but notice them as someone had helpfully marked them out in orange paint! Half a mile later, we stopped to regroup but Mick and Anton were a long time joining us. When they finally arrived they told us what had delayed them: a middle-aged couple on bikes were heading down the lane, the lady had swerved to avoid the orange-painted potholes only to head straight at Mick and Anton. She'd put her brakes on but too fiercely and had gone over the handlebars with the tail end of her bike going into Anton. Although she'd suffered a cut to her face, she said she was ok and continued on her bike. Anton was ok if a little bemused.
Soon after this we rode up Rowhook Hill, surprisingly with little comment from our resident hill specialist (possibly she was too shell-shocked?). We carried on to Ellen's Green, then up to Ewhurst Green where we headed east and then turned onto a very quiet lane called Lower Breache Road. On reaching a private driveway, this lane turned left and became Lyefield Lane. I don't recall us ever using these particular lanes before. This brought us out on the Ockley Road just short of Forest Green. We carried on, eschewing the chance of a climb up Leith Hill, looming on our left. Ockley church looked very picturesque, then shortly after we ignored the joy of a downhill Weare Street and carried on to Capel. For a change we didn't turn east in Capel but carried on north up to Beare Green where Mick led us on a quick shortcut to avoid using the main road.
At Newdigate we regrouped once more and then turned left to go past the village shop - it used to be called Bobs Shop but now seems to be unnamed. The next left took us onto Henfold Lane and we then just had a half mile or so, mainly downhill, before pulling up at Henfold Lakes fishery.
We were met there by the sight of large groups of (i) Morris Dancers (ii) Motor Bikers and (iii) Pete and Marian. Well no, Pete and Marian weren't a large group, although their tandem was the largest pushbike sat outside the clubhouse. All these visitors meant that the queue to order food and drink was out of the door, but fair plays, the staff got our orders out to us within 15 minutes or so. Coincidentally, 15 minutes was almost exactly how long my first pint of cider lasted.
It was very pleasant sitting in the sun, looking out over the lake and chatting about this and that - so pleasant in fact that it was a real struggle for our illustrious leader to herd us back onto our bikes, but he did and off we rode.
We headed north as far as Red Lane and then headed south, through Charlwood (via Stan Hill) and on to Ifield Wood. Here, the Crawley contingent turned left back to Crawley and the Horsham contingent wen back to Horsham via Lambs Green and Wimlands.
We were met there by the sight of large groups of (i) Morris Dancers (ii) Motor Bikers and (iii) Pete and Marian. Well no, Pete and Marian weren't a large group, although their tandem was the largest pushbike sat outside the clubhouse. All these visitors meant that the queue to order food and drink was out of the door, but fair plays, the staff got our orders out to us within 15 minutes or so. Coincidentally, 15 minutes was almost exactly how long my first pint of cider lasted.
It was very pleasant sitting in the sun, looking out over the lake and chatting about this and that - so pleasant in fact that it was a real struggle for our illustrious leader to herd us back onto our bikes, but he did and off we rode.
We headed north as far as Red Lane and then headed south, through Charlwood (via Stan Hill) and on to Ifield Wood. Here, the Crawley contingent turned left back to Crawley and the Horsham contingent wen back to Horsham via Lambs Green and Wimlands.
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