Horsham and Crawley CTC

Snow - F'all

2012-02-05T19:12:00.000Z

It snowed this weekend ("Did it?" I hear you cry).

I didn't turn up for the start of the ride and I haven't heard that anyone else did.

Because of the snow I'd only had about two hours sleep - my girls had been to Brighton on Saturday evening and were stuck on the A23 at Handcross Hill on the way back. Even though they're no longer children, I can't help but worry, hence no sleep until they were safely home.

Not cycling meant that I could enjoy my Granddaughters first experience of snow and I took her out on a toboggan, built a snowman and threw snowballs with her - she loved it.

Next weeks ride is one of our regular Introductory Rides. It will start from Three Bridges Station at 10:00 hrs and will be a very easy loop suitable for all abilities with the aim being to finish at midday. Obviously, if the snow and ice are still around, the itinerary will be subject to change - watch this blog and/or our website for last minute information.

Wiston Rendezvous

2012-01-29T19:42:00.000Z

A Horsham start and, as usual, I'm running late (this is probably the most common theme running through this blog)! The K2 carpark was full due to a swimming event and I switched my bright red flashing rear light on before venturing onto the A23 and up Pease Pottage Hill. I was nice and warm on reaching the top and with an empty roundabout, I didn't have to stop at the top. Suddenly a car blasted his horn right behind me. What the ......! Some twerp in a sliver Aston Martin Convertible (last three letters of the reg were DVB) had come up the hill behind me and then simultaneously tried to overtake me and turn left onto the motorway sliproad going north. I can only assume the horn blast was to tell me off for using the correct signal when going straight on over a roundabout and also for not taking my cycle onto the motorway!!

It was cold riding along Forest Road but the sky was brightening up and I was glad to be out on my bike. Everything seemed a bit quicker today and, without really trying too hard, I actually pulled up at Horsham Pavilions in the Park at exactly 10:00hrs! That's a first :-)

Barbara was waiting and ..... that was it. We waited for ten minutes just in case and then set off.

Firstly we headed through the centre of town and then out on the Worthing Road as far as The Boars Head where we turned right. That little climb from the junction to the Tower Hill corner is always awkward - it's too narrow for cars to pass and the road surface is not that smooth, but once over the crest and round the corner, the road widens and one can get ones breath back freewheeling down and under the A24. We took the next right and went past Christs Hospital and over the railway. There were several runners going in both directions along this road and also when we turned left near Itchingfield. A short hill and a long glide took us to Barns Green. Here, for a change, I took us over the railway level crossing and along the quiet Emms Lane to Brooks Green. Here a quick left then right took us onto Lackenhurst Lane - this is the convenient link lane that doesn't seem to be on the Goldeneye map (if it is, it's obscured by a couple of placenames and impossible to see). Going right at the triangular junction, we followed Bakers Lane down to The George and Dragon where we turned south and crossed the A272.

At the next junction Barbara turned left for Shipley and to head for home whilst I carried on.
Smithers Hill Lane took me to Countryman Lane which led to Broomers Corner and Hooklands Lane. This lane finishes off as Spear Hill and a short descent onto the Billingshurst Road. From here it was south through Ashington and then under the A24 and onto Hole Street. Just over a mile later I pulled up at Wiston Tea Rooms.

Walking my bike into the garden, I could see the inside tables were all occupied mainly with cyclists but didn't recognise any of the faces. I placed my order and sat down at one of the outside tables. Just then an old friend burst through from behind the clouds - The Sun put in an appearance: not as warm as he can be, but pleasant enough. Shortly after, my mug of tea and my poached eggs on toast arrived. As I was just starting to wolf them down, Anne from Bognor and Chichester arrived - like me, she was on her own but enjoying the day. We were joined at the table by a lone cyclist from Sutton - he'd come to Sussex by train and was enjoying a (relatively) hill free ride around the vicinity.

After a pleasant chat, it was time to head for home. I took Spithandle Lane across to the B2135 then headed north through Ashurst to Partridge Green. As I was by myself I decided to head straight back to Crawley on a route I was familiar with from the days when I regularly rode between the two (my brother lived in Partridge Green back then). So it was through Littleworth, right onto Stonehouse Lane and over the A272 onto Burnthouse Lane. This road has a couple of hills, one of which features a barking dog (usually safely behind a fence, but one it was out in the road). Another hill followed on turning into Newells Lane. At the end of the lane I turned right onto the A281 and then left onto the B2115 to Lower Beeding. Next it was north down Church Lane. Near the nothernmost end of the lane is a small business estate - this is where a small local brewery is based called Kissingate - try their beer if you get the chance.

Turning left, it was then down over the Hammerpond and up the other side - as I ground my way up the hill, I spotted a pure white squirrel. He was a big fellow, so is obviously thriving, but he was out of sight before I could bring my camera to bear. As I rode along Grouse Road I found myself looking to see if there was any other "unusual" wildlife around but I didn't spot anything. Soon I was back in Pease Pottage and then through a still packed K2 before arriving home at half past two. I'd enjoyed a very pleasant 35 mile outing on my bike and was feeling quite refreshed by it.

Next weeks ride starts from Three Bridges station at 10:00 hrs and will be a fairly easy (ok there will be a couple of hills) ride to lunch at Balcombe tearooms and back - no more than about 3 hours of cycling in total. Go on - you know you can do it!

Horne (or not)

2012-01-22T20:06:00.000Z

For mid-January it was a lovely morning. A little cloudy at first, but with some quite prolonged sunny periods. And not too cold, although with a bit of south-westerly wind. We left Three Bridges station on the dot of about 10.12 or so, and headed through Manor Royal as quickly as we could to arrive on the sumptuous cycle path at Gatwick, in time to have a large aircraft coming in to land pass just above our heads. And moments later to experience the contradiction that is the pond by the River Mole and the A23 two hundred metres from a major international airport, in quite tranquil serenity. But we hurried the bunch along trying not to cause too much disturbance all the time avoiding the dogs. And their owners.

It seemed as if the wind was blowing us gently along as we drifted through the centre of Horley, remarking on how splendid the Wooden Hut (Foresters) looks these days. And so to Lonesome lane, which is sometimes well named but we had several cars share this thoroughfare with us. And they were all courteous. Turning right we reached the A23 after taking in the really quite splendid views to the North, with the Downs all lit up by sunshine – what a lift to the spirits in an otherwise grey and dull January. The traffic on the short two hundred metre stretch of the A23 was kind to us and we were soon heading east and still downwind towards coffee and cakes at the Redhill aerodrome. This place seems to be getting busier every time we go there but we managed to find a table big enough for all of us, and sat for a while setting quite a few issues to rights. But eventually it came time to leave and so, after a fully democratic vote (STV), we decided that we had been lucky enough with the weather and that we would head directly back to Crawley, rather than via Horne.

This gave us the opportunity to visit Rookery Hill (not sure why it’s called that) with it’s brief views south towards the South Downs and then in to the bustling metropolis of Smallfield (where I went to primary school a little while ago). It wasn’t bustling while we were there on this occasion. And not much of a metropolis either, actually. So we turned right, westwards, in to the wind. But it seemed to have dropped off, aided by our being in very quiet and sheltered lanes, causing us no extra effort whatsoever. And soon Burstow Church came in to view – the only event marring this pleasant stretch being a four by four vehicle spewing black smoke – seriously, if you can afford one you should be able to afford to maintain it properly.

And then it was right to the Black Corner where we headed left and south towards good old Crawley town. Turning right at Milton Mount we marvelled at the tiny Worth Park garden where the Council will spend three million pounds to make them look nice (yes, that’s right, three million), while we meandered our way pleasantly through the potholes and past the end of JC’s road, nodding our heads in respect as we passed. One of the Horsham contingent was then pleasantly surprised to find that she was deposited, by various turnings, devious routes, and back-doubles, exactly opposite the Three Bridges railway station in a perfect position to recover her vehicle and head off to Horsham for lunch.

Twenty six miles. Mild. Sunny, mostly. No rain. The wind didn’t bother us. Nothing wild or massively exciting, just a couple of hours of pleasant company, with a bit of exercise, wandering around our own back yard.

I hope that we will be able to welcome you to join us next time.

Peter Smith, Ride leader

Our next ride will start from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 10:00 hrs on Sunday 29th January. It will be an easy ride of about 30 miles heading south to lunch at Wiston tea rooms (and a meet up with the Bognor & Chichester section). The weather forecast is for a cold but clear day - sounds perfect for cycling and I'm sure we'll have some great views of the Sussex countryside.

The George and Dragon

2012-01-15T18:50:00.002Z

Barbara led us on this ride,
Out of Horshams southeast side.
Near Doomsday Green then Sedgwick Lane,
And down to Copsale once again.

We headed east and I, at first,
Thought we would stop at Maplehurst.
Then realised that's way too soon,
We only stop when it is noon.

Heading southward on we rode,
And on across the main road.
Camelia Botnar uses up
All the syllables in this coup(let).

Littleworth village next was seen
Leading us into Partridge Green.
Over the Downs Link we rode on
Along the B road on and on.....

Spithandle Lane now on the right,
Slow down for horses wearing bright
Yellow vests and looking nervous.
Next Wiston, future rendezvous (well, it looks like it should rhyme!)

North on Hole Street to Ashington,
Under main road - Worthing, London.
Continuing northwards up until,
Turning right onto Spear Hill.

Hooklands lane is undulating
Broomers Corner to us did bring.
Countryman Lane goes to the pub,
For gallons of ale and lovely grub.

But we didn't stop there, oh no,
Up Smithers Hill Lane we did go
Again a Main Road we came upon
Crossed it, arrive at George and Dragon.

A cider each and soup and pate
Made us each feel rather fat, eh?
A second pint washed that away
Then it was back into the day.

Up Bakers Lane and Old House too
Then along Marlpost Road we flew.
Two Mile Ash Road was soon behind
And we had to make up our mind:

What route next? "Straight on," said I
"The Carfax, to the other side,
Then past the Station on North Street
Is the route I think most fleet."

Norman and Barbara now turning home
Left Bob by himself, all alone
Riding along the Forest Road
Back to Crawley ("Field full of crows").

Our next ride is Sunday 22nd January. Starting from Three Bridges Station at 10:00 it will be an Easy ride, led by Pete S, with a lunch stop at The Jolly Farmers at Horne. The weather forecast seems to be for a dry, slightly chilly day - good cycling weather, go on, get out on your bike!

Easy Morning Ride

2012-01-08T19:33:00.000Z

Break out the violin, rub that onion under your eyes ........

It isn't half hard trying to write a blog every week!

Regular readers may have noticed the irregularity of the blog posts in recent weeks. As happened about the same time last year, I've lost my muse :-( and am finding it hard to put finger to keyboard. There's only so many ways I can describe a route or what the weather was like or even what state of mind I was in.

So, as an experiment, I'm going to just jot down a "stream of consciousness" ...........

late, late, change wheels? no, stay with knobblies, out the gate, weather mild, air cold (feel it in lungs). Fast up the hill, out of breath, freewheel down. Traffic? Traffic? plenty of space, accelerate, green light, green light, amber, red! Wait, look around, amber GO! Anyone there? Pink jacketed cyclist, Barbara. Good Morning, Happy New Year. Talk about wedding, happy, happy. Hello John, good Christmas? small talk, small talk. Ten past, let's go. Road, cycle track, quiet roads, subway, VERY LOUD BRAKES. New Fire Station. Buckswood Drive, reminiscences, Dower Walk, winter of '63, Overdene Drive, alma mater, Rusper Road. Countryside, quiet, blue skies, relax.

Avoid horse dung, ignore barking dog, climb to Rusper. The Star. Regroup. Drink (from water bottle). Local drivers must be good - they don't seem to need to wear their seatbelts. Freewheel, fork left. Slightly chilly. Warm up on uphill. Road Closed ahead at Level crossing. We'll be ok with bikes. Downhill, chilly blast. Frog and Nightgown. Road really is closed at level crossing. Discuss options, take bridleway - easy enough, nice and firm underwheel. Back on road, over the bypass, up past Littlehaven. Bye bye Barbara. Roffey, Forest Road, Colgate, Cottesmore, Pease Pottage, K2, quiet roads, bye John, home.

New Years Day Ride

2012-01-01T18:58:00.003Z

Back in the autumn when I drew up the rides list for the first three months of 2012, a rendezvous ride down to Amberley to meet with the other groups on New Years Day seemed a really good idea, BUT the reality of a night out seeing the New Year in and then having to get out of the house by 08:45 proved a little bit tough to say the least. I managed 08:55 but I could tell my heart wasn't in it as I plodded into the wind along the Forest Road. All the time I was thinking "It's going to be against this wind all the way to Amberley" and "I bet no-one else turns up". That coupled with the fact that I needed to be back home by 15:00hrs meant that I had completely dissuaded myself from riding to Amberley before I'd even got to the Horsham start point!

Just like I always seem to be, I was late getting to Horsham Pavilions in the Park, but it didn't seem to matter because there were no riders waiting for me. That settled it, I definitely wasn't going to ride to Amberley.

Then Norman turned up.

"How'd you get past me?" he said. He'd been waiting for ages and it looked like I'd arrived just at the moment he'd decided to do a quick loop of the car park to try and spot other riders. Meantime, my brain was busy adjusting back into doing the ride to Amberley mode - now there was someone to ride with, I couldn't let them down. Norman's next comment however was to the effect that, because he hadn't been out riding for some time he would probably cut his ride a little short and maybe not go all the way to Amberley - that was enough for me to suggest that maybe we could just do a shorter, more local ride and so, basically, this weeks ride became a facsimile of last weeks.

We rode out of Horsham along Depot Road but then instead of using the bridleway I used last week, we stayed on the roads - Comptons Lane, St Leonards Road and Hammerpond Road to Doomsday Green. Norman and I were chatting about Christmas, fitness levels, skiing and foreign holidays as we rode along (although that dip and climb past Roosthole interrupted the conversation). We soon turned onto Grouse Road where a small group of more 'sporty' cyclists flashed past us. At the top end of the road, Norman and I parted - I headed to Pease Pottage and home, Norman retraced our route back to Horsham. So once again, the ride hadn't been what was originally planned, but Hey! I got back in time to wrap up some presents we then took to the family party we were going to ( and I got there on time!!).

Happy New Year everybody, hope to see you on one of our upcoming rides.

The next ride, on Sunday January 8th, is another of our "introductory" rides open to members and non-members alike. It will start from Three Bridges Station at 10:00 hrs and, depending on who turns up, will be an easy ride either out along the Worth Way or head north on cycle tracks and quiet lanes to Redhill Aerodrome. The plan is for the ride to last just a couple of hours and get us back to Crawley in time for lunch. Why not come along and kick-start that New Years fitness resolution into action?

Boxing Day Ride

2011-12-26T16:10:00.000Z

I'd eaten too much, drank just a little and stayed up late watching The Bourne Ultimatum - do you feel an excuse coming on? Well you're dead right - I had severe trouble getting up and consequently only gave myself 25 minutes to do a 40 minute journey. Manfully I rode into the wind, trying not to overdo it as I've only just recovered from my cold (actually the remnants are still on my chest). As I rode past K2 (which was closed), a couple of Crows tried to fly out of my way and both of them flew straight into a chain-link fence! How weird?

I thought I was making good time as I crested Pease Pottage Hill and the clock still looked good as approached Colgate but that tiny little hill there took minutes off me and somehow the road seemed longer from there to Roffey. I kept the power on down through Roffey but it was 10:15 before I arrived at the (closed) Pavilions in the Park. I hung around, looking to see if there were any recent tyre tracks visible (none were), but after 10 minutes and barely having seen a soul, I concluded that either no-one else fancied a Boxing-Day ride or that they'd got fed up waiting for me and gone off.

I decided I would head out towards Doomsday Green, so took Depot Road. At the end, realising that I was on my own and my bike was fitted with knobblies, I decided to use the bridleway route along Hampers Lane and then down to Hammerpond Road. This was quiet and pleasant although the second part was definitely not suitable for any of the more delicate, close clearance bikes (my Kona did it with it's eyes shut and both hands tied behind its back!!).

Hammerpond Road was up and down as usual but seemed easier than usual today and I was soon on Grouse Road. I'd put my rear light on at the start of todays ride and it was noticeable that (almost) all the traffic was giving me plenty of space - even on the narrow part of Grouse Road, a car actually had the good manners to stay behind me until the road widened out! I think there's a lot to be said for having a bright red flashing led on the back of your bike.

At Pease Pottage I had a decision to make - stay on the road or go off-road through Tilgate Forest? I'm afraid I wimped out - feeling too lazy to have to clean all my gear after doing an off-road ride, I stayed on the road and belted down Pease Pottage Hill. Then, as I cut through the deserted K2, at exactly the same spot as the Crow incident, I disturbed a Green Woodpecker. That's the first time I've seen one and it was on the ground! (until it flew into the tree that is).

Arriving home, I'd only ridden 19 miles but they'd been enjoyable enough and I'm sure the exercise had done me good.

Our next ride is on New Years Day, Sunday 1st January. Starting from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:30 hrs, we will head south to The Black Horse at Amberley where we will meet up with riders from the other two West Sussex groups for lunch. I reckon it's a Medium rated ride of about 40 miles. There will be a couple of hills but nothing too hard. Let's hope the weather is kind to us.

South and West from Crawley

2011-12-18T19:07:00.000Z

This weeks ride should have been led by me and was intended as a short morning ride to the south and west of Crawley, however, I was laid low by a cold and couldn't even get to the start to see if anyone else was out. I've not had reports that anyone was - please let me know if I'm wrong!

Christmas Party

2011-12-11T19:09:00.000Z

This year, our Christmas Party was held at The Dragon in Colgate.

We organised/arranged that anyone wanting to ride would use their own route and meet up at Rusper by 11:15, so I set off from home at about 11:00 hrs. I was taking it very easy as I wasn't feeling too good - I seemed to have a cold developing - but I arrived at Rusper with time to spare. As I stood waiting, I was bemused by just how poor the average motorist is at driving. Perhaps we should stop using the term "motorist" as that implies some level of ability at the task in hand! The most classic example was a person who approached from the Ifield direction and swept around the sharp corner on the wrong side of the road in order to pull up by the right hand kerb outside the shop. The only trouble was, the wrong side of the road is the right side of the road for traffic moving in the other direction and, yes, there was a car coming in that opposite direction - fortunately he was awake and managed to avoid the collision!

Shortly after, Barbara and Pete could be seen climbing the last few yards up to the junction. After a brief chat whilst we waited to see if any other rider would materialise, we set off. We headed down towards Ifield then bore right and down past the Lambs Green turning before the climb up to Dowlands Lane. From here it was down, past what looks like a large housing development, over the railway and through Faygate to the roundabout on the A264. We got across without incident and met up with Sandra.

Now we had to work for our dinner as we tackled the one mile climb that is Tower Hill. With perseverence (and a lot of inconsequential chatter from me), we soon crested and could get our breath back as we rolled the final 100 yards to the pub.

Although we were early, having locked the bikes up in the garden, we were allowed into the pub and could divest ourselves of our outerwear - look at the state of Pete's jacket:

All that spattering was the result of a rather muddy road surface and a rear mudguard that failed the trades description act!

Soon the four of us were joined by John V and John C with their partners, followed by Pete, Marian, Pat and Frank.

Dinner was served and was piping hot with monster portions and we all manfully strove to get outside it all!! Then it was time for Barbara to make a small speech to sum up the clubs year.

Barbara finished off her piece with the award of the Mick Horley trophy.

In recent years we have awarded the trophy to the club member that turned out on the most rides but this year the committee felt that it should be awarded to the person that had done the most work in promoting the club (and cycling in general). So, for his sterling efforts in creating and running the Family Bike Ride, Crawley Cycle Forum and his Right-to-Ride work, this years winner of The Mick Horley Trophy is......
Pete Smith:

Special mention must also be made of Anton who completed the VERY tough Paris-Brest-Paris ride(PBP) back in the (wet) summer. His achievement is even more remarkable because he was suffering from a severe stomach problem for two of the four days of riding!

Other mentions go out to John V who managed a couple of continental cycling "jaunts" - joined by John C on one I believe - and to me (Bob) for completing my own version of the Coast to Coast (I rode from St Davids Head to Hemsby).

Here are a few pictures of us enjoying the meal:

Merry Christmas everybody.

Easy Bike Ride

2011-12-04T20:51:00.000Z

I'm sure we had a ride on Sunday 4th December, but at the moment I can't remember any details of it! Anyone care to remind me? Or write a blog for it? Or a poem?

Bluebell Railway

2011-11-27T19:32:00.005Z

Ros had proposed this weeks ride and was scheduled to lead it, but unfortunately she'd broken her wrist a few weeks back and still cannot ride her bike.
Barbara had ridden the route with Ros and so was going to lead in her place, but unfortunately she'd hurt her ankle yesterday.
Bob had contacted Ros to find out the route details, but unfortunately he didn't have any injuries and turned up at the start!!!!!

Bob was joined by Johnny at Three Bridges Station and together they headed off on The Worth Way for an uneventful ride over to East Grinstead. In spite of the early rain, which had caused Bob to put his knobblies on his bike and his waterproofs on himself, the sky was clear and blue and although the breeze was quite fresh it wasn't cold. The surface of The Worth Way was very good with very little splatter coming up from the tyres and it only took us 35 minutes to get from Crawley to East Grinstead.

We stopped at East Grinstead Station to see if anyone else would be joining us and after a couple of minutes Alison rolled up. As this ride had been rated as "Easy" she had decided to give it a try. Looking at the map, Bob felt that due to the hilly terrain the ride probably warranted more of a "Medium" rating and decided to shorten the route slightly to keep it pleasurable. Leaving the station and heading downhill, a map-reading error saw us turn right at a roundabout instead of going straight on and we were into the first climb of the day. A left turn took us past the Hockey and Rugby clubs and down to Saints Hill Green. From here we back en-route and headed west towards the tail end of Weirwood Reservoir. As we were going down the hill I took this picture of the reservoir. What the picture doesn't show is just how low the water level is compared with how I remember it from 30 years ago - I reckon it's a good 20 feet lower, possibly more!

Next we took Legsheath Lane for the long climb up into Ashdown Forest. As we rode along this lane we were overtaken by several sets of cyclists before we got to the crossroads. We all headed straight over but then we turned right into Twyford Lane (the other cyclists carried straight on). This lane was the usual pleasure to ride with a glorious mile or so of freewheeling before it steepened down further to twist and turn through some woodland before splashing through a ford.

Unfortunately my camera battery faded at this point, so no more pictures I'm afraid.

Now I started to deviate from Ros's route and took a sharp right to go down and cross another ford before going up a short, sharp climb that saw Granny have her first outing of the day. We carried on west then southwest to Cinder Hill and a little further on took the right turn and down a slight incline to turn into Horsted Keynes Station on The Bluebell Railway.

Locking our bikes up outside (probably quite unnecessarily) we purchased platform tickets and entered the station. On the middle platform is the station bar and buffet and here we got our refreshments - hot Cornish Pasties and tea/coffee. Johnny found a nice bench in the sunshine and we sat there consuming our consumables, watching various trains pass through the station and chatting about this and that.

Eventually it was time to get going again and as we approached the first junction I asked my fellow riders which route they wanted to take - turn left for a short, steep uphill, a sharp downhill and equally sharp uphill before a longish but pretty gentle climb or turn right for a long, draggy climb. They opted for the long, draggy climb so we turned right and climbed up and through Highbrook and then on and on up to Sharpthorne. Here it was good to see that the pub looks like it will soon reopen (it was once called The Vinols Cross Inn, but I think had been renamed The Fabulous Fox or something like that).

The rest of the ride would be on the fairly busy road through West Hoathly and on to Turners Hill. On the way several cyclists went past us again and I took the opportunity to chat with one of them and found out that they were taking part in a Sportif ride organised by Evans Bikes. It had been raining when they started and the route had involved a lot of hills but they were now only about 5 miles or so from the finish.

We said goodbye to Alison at Turners Hill as she lives there, and Johnny and I headed back down to Crawley past Tulleys Farm (the road has reopened after its closure last week). When we reached the Worth Way we turned onto it and retraced our tyretracks all the way back to Three Bridges Station. From here Johhny headed back to his hotel in the town centre and I headed home to Furnace Green where I noticed a reading of 30 miles on my speedo.

It seems hard to believe, but next weekend it will be December! Our ride for the Sunday 4th December will be a very easy, beginners ride starting at Three Bridges Station at 10:00 hrs. Depending on who turns up, it will probably head for Redhill Aerodrome where refreshments are available at the cafe, and then get back to Crawley before 13:00hrs.

The week after (on Sunday 11th December) will be the club Christmas Dinner. Riders can rendezvous at Rusper at 11:15 for a short ride down through Faygate, across the A264 and up Tower Hill to arrive at The Dragon in Colgate with time for a festive drink before Dinner at 12:30. Why not bring along husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends for what we hope will be a pleasant and enjoyable festive meal. The cost will be £15.95 a head and you must let Barbara know by December 1st. See the website for more details: http://www.horshamandcrawleyctc.org.uk/
Barbara can be emailed at: Barbara@HorshamandCrawleyCTC.org.uk

Skimmington Castle

2011-11-20T20:30:00.004Z

Six riders on five bikes turned up for todays ride - Frank was leading with Pats help, Pete and Marian were on their tandem, John C was on his Van Nicolas and Bob was on his Kona.

It was a bit foggy/misty and as we left Crawley and headed over the M23 it seemed to be getting thicker (and colder). We were expecting Old Hollow to be cold and it was, but we were not expecting a King Charles Spaniel to be sitting on the middle of the road - and Frank did not expect that he would have to put so much effort into pedalling in an effort to outrun the crazy pooch! After about half a mile the little dog (how did its legs go so fast?) turned off and rejoined its owners, leaving us to carry on and Frank to get his breath back.

We crossed the A264 into Copthorne then went along Copthorne Bank to head for the Black Corner crossroads. Just before we got there the lady driver of some 4x4 Tesco Trolley told Frank off for riding two abreast - Frank was so surprised by this that he says he didn't manage to get a reply in, so it looks like Mrs "I don't know how big my car is but you cyclists should scurry along in the gutter" has got away with it this time....

We headed west of Smallfield and crossed back over the M23 before turning north at Weatherhill (reminds me of Weathertop in The Lord of The Rings). After two small climbs and a a wiggly lane we arrived at Redhill Aerodrome and the prospect of a nice hot drink. The cafe was quite busy but we managed to find a table for six - right by the window so that we could keep an eye on our bikes - and we were soon tucking into teacakes and mugs of tea.

There was no flying action today - I think these two pictures give some clue as to why not:

Suitably refreshed we remounted and headed south then west to cross the A23 at Salfords. Soon after we joined Lonesome Lane and headed north before slipping through the southern outskirts of Reigate. Reigate - famous for two things (as far as I'm concerned) - (i) it's where I bought my Kona (ii) The Cure recorded the scream at the end of a track on their first album in Reigate Tunnel.

We followed Slipshatch Road as it became Clayhall Lane and then turned right onto Flanchford Road. After a small uphill section it was an equally small downhill before the road emerged into more open country, occupied by a golf course. We then turned right onto Bonny's Lane which led us up to the lunch halt, The Skimmington Castle.

We hadn't booked a table and all the tables were reserved, but the landlady managed to fit us in - though we had to promise to vacate the table by 13:15 hrs. Not a problem, we had about an hour to eat our lunch and have a pint - easy!

Pete and Marian arrived a couple of minutes later having taken a different route from Reigate in order to "case a joint" on the way ( although Frank suggested they were perhaps reliving their youth).

As promised, we finished before 13:15 and were back out on our bikes. It was still misty but the sun was making a gallant attempt to break through.

We headed west along Trumpetshill Lane and Wonham Lane to arrive by The Dolphin at Betchworth. From here we turned south then west again when we reached The Seven Stars. The next left took us southwards once more until Parkgate and The Surrey Oaks. Here we turned left down the hill and left again onto Blanks Lane and then Stan Hill.

As you can see, it was still misty as we made our way through Charlwood and passed the Half Moon and The Rising Sun before hitting the Ifield Road which took us all the way back to Crawley Town Centre

It wasn't long before I was back home with about 40 miles on the clock - very pleasant and not at all arduous.

Next weeks ride starts from East Grinstead Railway Station at 10:50, although there is the option of leaving Three Bridges at 10:00 hrs to ride the Worth Way across to East Grinstead.
From East Grinstead we will head south to have lunch at The Bessemer Arms at Sheffield Park Station on the Bluebell Railway. I've been told that the ride there is easy but that it's a little hilly on the way back - I reckon that could be a cue for a rail trip behind a steam engine!

Hopefully the Indian Summer will continue over next weekend and give us yet another pleasurable days cycling, see you there!

DA AGM - Pulborough

2011-11-13T21:02:00.001Z

Second week of November, still quite warm!

Todays ride was down to Pulborough to attend the West Sussex DA AGM.

I was always going to struggle to get to Horsham for the 09:30 start so, on realising I was going to be at least 10 minutes late, I contacted Barbara (the ride leader) to let her know. She sent me a message back to confirm her route would go via Woods Hill and so I just rode straight through Horsham and out on the Worthing Road. Turning right at Tower Hill, I sped down Two Mile Ash Road past The Bax Castle and on to Barns Green. Valewood Lane then took me to West Chiltington Lane and onwards to Coneyhurst where I safely crossed the A272. Then, as I reached Broadford Bridge I spotted the lone figure of Barbara just ahead and we tackled Woods Hill together - it's nice to have a someone to chat to when tackling a hard climb.

After West Chiltington we went along Stream Lane and soon after pulled up at The Village Hall in Pulborough where about twenty of us from the three sections of West Sussex CTC had congregated for the AGM. The meeting worked through its agenda with reports from all three sections and also the Treasurer before we observed two minutes silence at 11:00hrs.

When we resumed the meeting, the results of the various DA competitions were revealed and I'm pleased to report that Horsham and Crawley section won three of the four on offer! Well done everybody, we may have the smallest membership of the three sections but we've certainly punched above our weight this year.

AGM completed, we headed for lunch at The Rising Sun in Nutbourne where we sat outside in pleasant sunshine and enjoyed food, drink and each others company.

Here'a a "contre-jour" shot by Barbara:

On the way home I spotted a lot of fungi along the roadsides and took a couple of snaps of them:

Our next ride is on Sunday 20th November, starting from Three Bridges Station at 09:30.

Frank will be leading a fairly easy 30 mile ride up to Redhill Aerodrome for elevenses, across to The Skimmington Castle pub for lunch and then back to Crawley - who knows, the weather may still be mild.

Veteran Car Run 2011

2011-11-06T19:27:00.006Z

This was a nice easy ride with the emphasis more on the occasion than the riding.

The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is held every year on the first Sunday of November and has been a constant in the lives of the people of Crawley for many years now. Indeed, the old Crawley Clock which I've mentioned in previous posts features this very event. As I arrived at Three Bridges Station for the start of the ride, I could see two cyclists waiting for me - Pete S and Sandra. Unfortunately Pete was on his way to a meeting and wouldn't be able to ride with us. Sandra and I waited for another 5 minutes but no one else turned up - I knew Anton was unable to make it and a couple of other riders had also said they were unlikely to be out.

We headed through Three Bridges and then down The Boulevard and Bank Lane to get to The High Street. Here, a jazz band was playing to welcome the "Old Crocks" into the middle of my home town. There were about 50 of the cars parked in the High Street and it was interesting to spot the different types and see how the vehicles were refined and evolved in their early days. Sandra preferred the ones with Dark Green or Maroon paint schemes, I seemed to lean more towards the garish yellows! We both liked this one because of the woodwork!

After spending the best part of an hour chatting and watching the cars as they came in and out, we decided to get some riding done. We headed out on the cycle path along Southgate Avenue which conveniently was the same route the Veteran Cars were taking (although they were using the road and not the cycle path!!).

Then it was up Pease Pottage Hill. This is a real test for the old cars as well as for a cyclist - though I ride up it every other week on my way to our Horsham starts.

I sat in the slipstream of a tallish Veteran Car with a lady driver and crew - they fairly shot up the hill at about 15 mph and I managed to stay with them all the way. At the top I stopped for a breather and took the following pictures:

The lower the number, the older the wehicle. Number 8 therefore was one of the oldest and you can clearly see the roots of the motor vehicle come from our world - the cycle world - it's all our fault!!

Sandra managed the hill and even commented that it wasn't as steep as she'd imagined.

I'm pleased with this picture of a steam-powered car. It's a bit blurry but, along with the cloud of steam, that was exactly how this vehicle appeared as it powered, relatively quietly, to the summit.

This one is quite advanced - it easily made it up the hill and overtook the one in the background. Not only that, it's got a windscreen and a folding roof! But then, looking at the numbers you can see that it is younger.

From the top of the hill we rode the short distance to The Black Swan at Pease Pottage. In the old days The Black Swan would have been a popular stopping place for vehicles travelling between London and Brighton, but now that it's not visible from the main road, it doesn't get nearly as much business. As Sandra and I pulled up, we were tooted by a campervan and looking inside I could see we were about to be joined by Ros and some friends. Ros was not riding today because she had an unplanned dismount from her bike the other week and broke her wrist - she's waiting for it to be plated and pinned but has been told that as soon as that is done, she'll be able to ride her bike again. She's a bit sceptical about that (as are we).

At the same time John V turned up, looking very dapper in casual wear and a flat cap, on his mountain bike. We lunched on beer and bagettes and various stories/reminiscences before heading back home in our various directions - Sandra back to Horsham along The Forest Road, Ros back to East Grinstead with her friends, John and I back to Crawley through Tilgate Forest. Mileage? Don't ask, suffice to say that I didn't even make it to double figures!!

Next weeks ride starts at Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:00 hrs and will head straight down to Pulborough Village Hall for the West Sussex DA AGM (which starts at 10:30 hrs). Once business has been concluded, we will head up to Nutbourne for lunch at The Rising Sun before heading back home more or less retracing the morning route. Mileage from/to Horsham will be about 35.

The Foresters Arms, Kirdford

2011-10-30T19:03:00.000Z

Late October - obviously t-shirt and shorts weather! Well, long-sleeved t-shirt but that was plenty warm enough. Barbara was todays ride leader and she was joined by Pete E, Mike, Johnny and Bob.

We headed west, across the golf course, under the A24 and along Robin Hood Lane. No deer visible today - are they being prepared for Christmas???

Rowhook Hill followed and we stayed on the Horsham Road all the way to Ewhurst Green where we took Gadbridge Lane and then the Cranleigh Road into Cranleigh. After passing through the village we turned left onto Elmbridge Lane. Where this road crosses first the railway (now the Downs Link path) and later the canal, it narrows down to a single lane and traffic seemed to pile up behind us. Fortunately none of the drivers seemed too impatient and we got no grief from them.

We went over the A281 at the traffic lights and then some incompetent oaf in a people carrier gave us a blast on the horn for no discernible reason (unless they were suffering from a form of Tourettes?).

Once again we went past Dunsfold airfield without seeing any of the Top Gear lads - I'd so like to have a chat with Jeremy and demonstrate how easily a bike could ride over a car (he once suggested that he would drive his car over a cyclist). Bearing west then south we went through the village of Dunsfold and thence on to Plaistow. From here it was just a couple more miles down to Kirdford and our lunch stop at The Foresters Arms.

The pub was recovering from a Halloween party and there were cobwebs and pumpkins all over the place as well as on the menu (pumpkin soup - not cobweb soup!).

We had a pleasant lunch and were joined by several riders from Arun Adur group before eventually getting back on our bikes and taking the shortest route back to Horsham - Wisborough Green, Rowner Road, New Road, Barns Green, Two Mile Ash Road and Tower Hill.

Mike returned to his car, Johnny and I carried on through Roffey, along Forest Road and back into Crawley via Pease Pottage. As I put my bike away I noted that I'd clocked up 57 miles on what had been a very pleasant October day that felt more like a late summers day.

Our next Sunday ride is on November 6th and will be suitable for ALL levels of riders. We'll start at Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs, ride to Crawley High Street and have a look at the Veteran Cars stopped there. After that we'll ride along cycle paths to Pease Pottage Hill where we can watch the Old Crocks tackle the hill (we can ride up with them if we want), before popping into the Black Swan at Pease Pottage for some refreshments.

It'll be easy, it'll be fun, so come along.

Cutty Sark to Crawley on NCN21

2011-10-23T20:06:00.000+01:00

I, ride leader Peter S, met Richard at Three Bridges station in time for the 07.55 stopping train to London Victoria. We could have got the 08.04 faster train but Richard had pre-ordered his ticket on the internet at a cost of £3.30 (using a network rail card). I bought my ticket on the day from the ticket window and paid £11.30. For the same ride – how does that work!? We arrived at Victoria in time for a coffee, before heading off down Victoria Street towards Parliament Square and Westminster Bridge at 9.15. There was very little traffic about and we made good time in nice weather with blue skies, although with a strong south-easterly breeze. There were large numbers of tourists around the Houses of Parliament but as we turned eastwards on National Cycle Route 4 alongside the Thames the streets got quieter again. At times it felt as if we were cycling through a movie set, for one of those films where some disaster had killed everyone off and we were the last cyclists left alive! It is quite interesting to try to follow the NCR4 – mostly you need to find the blue ‘stickers’ on lamp posts etc, and there are one or two locations where care needs to be taken as the turns are not always obvious, as you wind through the former docklands of our industrial heritage. Fortunately Richard had a Garmin GPS in which he had plotted the route which bleeped at us if we diverged from the allotted route. I had all of the TFL paper maps as well, so we didn’t actually get lost this time. I think that I had visited the whole route in the past, but this journey was the first one where we had followed the route precisely in its entirety. It was also pleasing to note that some sections had been improved since we last passed this way.

This is a view looking upstream from Greenwich - the tall, thin chimney-like object in the middle of the picture is in fact The Shard at London Bridge, about three miles away!

We arrived at the Cutty Sark but barely recognised it as the whole area appears to have been dug up and cordoned off for some major works; not quite sure what the outcome will be but hopefully it will improve this lovely spot by the river. Shortly after 10.15 we departed south on the NCR21. This is the route that originates in Greenwich and heads south, via Gatwick Airport and Crawley to Eastbourne where it terminates. Our plan was to follow it, almost to the letter, as far as Three Bridges and home. We have done this a few times now and know the sections that are tricky to navigate, as well as a stretch through New Addington that is well worth missing out, so we set off confidently.

And we had no navigational problems at all, passing a pleasant couple of hours in the company of many other cyclists and walkers – the route was quite busy in places – to arrive at the Bear in Fickleshole. I was able to text home – ‘Arrived at the Bear. No Men Behaving Badly. Except Bob, of course.’ On a previous visit we had talked with Neil Morrissey who frequents this popular pub, but no sign of him today. Although we were sitting outside in pleasant sunny weather, the sandwich bar was not open and we had to select leek and potato soup from the starters menu. It is a shame when pub’s stop doing sandwiches on Sundays. But the beer was first class and only 3.8%! We had a pleasant lunch watching the executive jets taking off from nearby Biggin Hill – it was just like being at home in Crawley!

The afternoon’s ride had a lot more off-road riding and gradually exposed us to the full strength of the wind. So it all got a bit tougher especially as we climbed across the A22 and up the north downs to the magnificent viewpoint north of Caterham, where we took a short break to update Facebook status etc!!! We could see the planes landing and taking off in the distance – strangely going the ‘wrong way round’ due to the easterly winds. It was here that the battery expired on my phone so the automatic tracking of the route ceased at about 33 miles.

From the Downs the route back is pretty straight forward as we regained home ground, and it also gets flatter, but with more exposure to the wind.

We dutifully stuck exactly to the NCR21 all the way to North road in Three Bridges where we followed the NCR20 to Furnace Green and Maidenbower. Total distance was 54 miles so a bit less than the advertised 60 miles arriving back at about 16.30. But the route did exactly what it said on the tin taking us through parts of central London and then, seemingly magically, to the countryside again. It was quite hilly in places and made harder by the wind, although we were lucky to have sunshine and pleasant temperatures all day. Thank you to everyone that joined the trip. We hope that we will see you all again soon. And if you fancy this very interesting, unusual and varied route watch out for it.

Here's a link to Google maps that shows the exact ride route from Victoria Station to The Cutty Sark and then down as far as the North Downs:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?mpa=0&ctz=-60&mpf=0&vps=4&jsv=375b&ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=205480741451912466805.0004affdccd87ff212dc8

Next weeks ride (Sunday October 30th) starts from Horsham Pavilion in the Park at 09:30 hrs and will head West from Horsham with a lunch stop at The Foresters Arms in Kirdford. Don't forget the clocks go back on Saturday night/Sunday morning so you'll get an extra hour in bed.

Autumn Colours

2011-10-16T17:15:00.004+01:00

The weatherman had promised a clear and dry day but with lower temperatures starting to become a feature - he wasn't wrong and I chose the right things to wear with two layers on top, leggings below and a pair of long-finger gloves. For the first few minutes I pondered stopping to put a hat on under my helmet but, by the time I crested Pease pottage Hill I was plenty warm enough. The Forest Road was a bit chilly in the shade and the odd pocket of mist also took the temperature down but made for photogenic countryside:

I arrived at Horsham Pavilions in the Park on time but none of the bikes were familiar. I was mentally planning a slightly different route for what looked like being a solo ride when I noticed a cyclist approaching - I didn't recognise him but he was looking for me. "Horsham CTC?" he asked. "Yes, good morning" I replied. Johnny had found us on the internet and wanting to join us on our Cutty Sark ride had decided to check us out on this ride beforehand.

We had a chat for a few minutes during which time I reckoned he would easily be able to cope with my planned route and having checked he was OK with it, we set off.

We went across a misty golf course and then through Broadbridge Heath and thence to Itchingfield. Visibility was good but there was still a certain mistiness that the sun hadn't yet broken through. At Barns Green we headed over the railway crossing (after waiting for a train to pass) and carried on south to Dragons Green.

I styled this ride "Autumn Colours" but I forgot to take any pictures as we rode around, so I've included some pictures I've taken on a previous autumn.

From Dragons Green we crossed (carefully) over the A272 and then went past The Countryman Inn with Shipley Windmill invisible in the mist to our left and then crossed the A24 at the garden centre.

Now I thought I would be adventurous and turned left onto the bridleway through The Lock Estate. A few hundred yards further and there were several young cattle just hanging around on the path - Johnny was really surprised that, though I had been scared by a labrador dog that came bounding up to us earlier, I wasn't at all fazed by these much larger animals. I think it's that I find a hulking vegetarian a lot less frightening than any size of toothy carnivore!

I was following this part of the route by memory and it's about ten years since I last rode it, but I remembered the first couple of junctions correctly. However, when we came to the part that I thought went diagonally across a large concrete apron and then left onto a concrete track, the fingerposts didn't seem to back it up and the concrete track had all but disappeared! I trusted my memory though and a Bridleway fingerpost confirmed we were still legal. It looks like there has been some rerouting of rights of way and closure/removal of old/creation of new tracks around here (a quick look at the satellite view when I got home confirmed this). We emerged back onto the public roads at Partridge Green and from here we headed east then turned south onto the A281.

Just before the River, we turned left onto the bridleway taking us past Shermanbury Church. At first this is a broad, tree-lined avenue but on reaching the Church it becomes a fairly narrow bridleway, albeit with a good surface. Eventually we emerged back on the road at Wineham where we headed north, past The Royal Oak before turning right onto Bob Lane.

This lane goes past a major National Grid substation. If you look on an OS map, it's possible to see no fewer than seven different Electricity Transmission Lines converging on this substation - all but two of which go to ground some way off from it (the furthest would appear to be just west of Crabtree).

After Bob Lane we headed north on Bolney Chapel Lane and after waiting several minutes before being able to cross the A272 headed up Foxhole Lane and then Colwood Lane up to Warninglid. From here it was but a short ride up to Slaugham Pond and then along Hampshire Hill to the lunch stop - The Wheatsheaf at Plummers Plain.

Over a pint of Sussex and some very tasty (and promptly served) food, I had a chat with Johnny about Norway (where he's from) and about our club and the riding available in our neck of the woods.

He intends meeting up with us next week (at the Cutty Sark) for our Greenwich to Crawley ride.

It was nice and sunny in the shelter of the pub garden but eventually we decided it was time to head for home. As both of us live in Crawley, we took the sensible route over the B2110 onto Hammerpond Road and then up Grouse Road to Pease Pottage. From there it was just a mile and bit to arrive home just after 14:00hrs. Looking at the speedo, it was reading only 46 miles, but they were very pleasant and I found myself wondering if that would be the last dry ride of the year?

The plethora of berries on the Holly trees and other bushes gives hint to a hard winter according to the Old Wives Tales, so I thought I would finish off with this little fella:

Next weeks ride is the Greenwich to Crawley NCN20 ride.

Make your own way to London and meet either at Cafe Ritazza in Victoria Station at 09:00 hrs or on the west side of The Cutty Sark at 10:15hrs. Pete S will be leading this day long ride of approximately 60 miles. The morning is lamost all tarmac, the afternoon has a fair amount of mainly stone dressed off-road. Touring bikes will be more than capable.

Latest Train service news is that trains will not be running from Horsham this Sunday. the service from Three Bridges is unaffected.

Winkworth Arboretum

2011-10-09T22:53:00.003+01:00

Todays ride was fairly straightforward: Starting from Horsham Pavilions in the Park, Pete would lead us to Winkworth Arboretum and back. After an uneventful ride over from Crawley, I arrived at the start just as Barbara did. As I was overheating, I stayed outside and kept an eye on our bikes whilst Barbara joined Pete for a pre-ride coffee (I think it was her breakfast as she'd overslept and had to rush out of the house to get to the ride).

No-one else turned up and so we set off - along Hurst Road to North Parade and then west through Horsham and over the Golf course. Just before we went under the A24 a couple of teenage boys on bmx/jump bikes went past us. With their low saddles and lack of gears it was obvious those bikes weren't intended for our sort of riding and it was quite entertaining watching their riders putting so much effort (and discomfort) into keeping ahead of us as we cruised along Robin Hood Lane. Half a mile later they reached their destination - the mud jumps at the end of Byfleets Lane.

We carried on and shortly afterwards "enjoyed" the climb of Rowhook Hill. We passed through Ellens Green on the way to Cranleigh where we crossed over the Downs Link, then the Wey-Arun Canal and then the A281 before going past the entrance to Dunsfold Aerodrome. This is the airfield used by Top Gear and I've always had a hankering to meet Mr Clarkson and ride my bike over his car (in a reversal of a casual comment he once uttered on the show).

As we reached a place called Loxhill the road turned north and also headed up for two (or was it three?) climbs before we reached our destination.

Winkworth Arboretum is a National Trust garden and we obviously weren't the only visitors today - the car park was absolutely choc-a-bloc. Not a problem for us though, we just merrily rode/wheeled our bikes right up to the cafe and chained them up there.

We lunched on tea and sandwiches before going for a walk around the garden. The autumn colours have only just got going and I enjoyed strolling around taking some photographs:

After all that exercise, when we got back to the cafe we just had to have another cuppa and a bite to eat!!!

For the ride back the wind was behind us and we fair sped down the hills we'd laboured up earlier.

In no time we were back at Cranleigh (did you know it was originally called "Crawley" but was renamed when the New Town came into being in order to avoid confusion?).

To give us a bit of variety, Pete headed us back via Ewhurst, where we encountered this device. I think it is a very "pc" bit of equipment as it tells everybody to slow down and doesn't discriminate against those who are going too quick. Accordingly, I got off my bike and entreated my fellow riders to slow down from the ridiculous 10 mph they were clocking along this dangerous piece of highway!

Cutting through Ewhurst we went through Ewhurst Green and Walliswood before retracing our steps down (joy of joys!) Rowhook Hill and back into Horsham.

Saying good bye to Pete and Barbara I then took the Forest Road back home through Colgate and Pease Pottage. As I put my bike away, I realised I'd cycled some 52 miles on an October day without needing to wear thick or waterproof clothes - result!

Next weeks ride is once again aimed at enjoying the Autumn colours and will start from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:30 hrs. It will head south from Horsham and (optionally)lunch will be at the Wheatsheaf at Plummers Plain. The total mileage will be a fairly easy 30 and even with a lunch stop we should all be home by 14:00hrs. Come and join us.

Beginners Ride

2011-10-02T22:21:00.002+01:00

This months Beginners Ride was held a week earlier than usual and, in spite of a glorious summery day, only Barbara and Bob turned up. We waited around for 10 minutes but were disappointed as no-one else materialised.

Rather than head out along the Worth Way, we decided to ride a loop to the north and west of Crawley. We went through Three Bridges following the NCN20 into the Industrial Estate and then through Gatwick Airport into Horley. Here we headed north through various residential streets and exited the town on Meath Green Lane. The road surface was lovely and smooth and in the warmth of the sun provided very pleasant cycling as it became Lonesome Lane and emerged in the southern edge of Reigate. Here we headed west, across the A217 and back into the countryside along Slipshatch Road. This road becomes Clayhall Lane and then Flanchford Road. Next we turned left into Church Lane which quietly led us to Leigh.

We headed on west, over the crossroads onto Clayhill Road which became Broad Lane as it swept south-westerly towards Parkgate where we turned right to go past the Surrey Oaks pub. Approaching Newdigate we took Hogspudding Lane and then Church Road where we saw this beehive:

Emerging opposite the Six Bells, we turned south onto Rusper Road and, just short of Rusper, in the middle of the countryside, on a quiet lane, encountered a half mile long traffic jam! Fortunately it was heading in the opposite direction to us and was comprised of people trying to get to a car boot sale. Pretty much bang on 12:00 hrs we pulled up at The Plough in Rusper and enjoyed a pleasant lunch in the sheltered suntrap of a back garden.

From here, Barbara headed off downhill back to Horsham and I headed off down a different hill back to Crawley. I decided to go via Goffs Park and was pleased to see that the model railway is still there, still giving excited children (and adults) rides behind miniature steam engines. After using Springfield Road I went along East Park and then cut through the old Longley premises and past the Arora Hotel to emerge on Southgate Avenue. Here I revisited an old habit of mine by riding up the sharp climb of the cutting by the bridge and then across the playing field (passing the BMX/skateboard park) into The Hawth woodland. In the woodland are several paths and many pits - the product of ancient iron-working! Many of these pits can be ridden through and I enjoyed myself doing just that. I'm sure I wasn't as spectacular as most of the kids that must ride these pits and jumps, but I enjoyed it and managed not to fall off.

Even after all this fun, I was still home by 14:00hrs and spent the rest of the afternoon just pottering around my garden.

Next weeks ride starts from Horsham Pavilions In The Park at 10:00 hrs and, led by Pete E, we will head west and north to visit Winkworth Arboretum, a National Trust property that should have a spectacular display of Autumn Colour. If you want to go around the garden bring your NT membership card (or £5.60 for non-members). Refreshments are available from the cafe without having to pay for entry. This will be a fairly easy ride over a total of about 40 miles.

Seaside Ride

2011-09-25T22:41:00.001+01:00

Sitting on the edge of the beach in bright warm sunshine eating lunch from the award winning smoked fish place, it was hard for the five of us to believe that it was the end of September. But having summit-ed the Beacon we were all in a fine mood and enjoying the late autumn sunshine.

It all began thirty miles previously in Three Bridges, where the five of us – Barbara, Marian, Bob, John C and Peter S - assembled at nine o’clock for the climb up to Turners Hill to meet Ros.

The traffic seemed lighter than usual which may have been because we were setting off earlier than of late, and it was already pleasantly warm; in fact quite warm, by the time that we had climbed the hill to Turners Hill.

Ros was waiting for us and so we turned south for the mile after mile of freewheeling to Lindfield – it is hard to believe how much downhill there is, until you try the route back from Brighton and, in fact, there are a couple of ‘ups’ on the way. We were saddened to learn from Anton that the coffee shop in Lindfield had closed but we weren’t planning to stop until Ditchling anyway, on this occasion, and so we headed for the exquisitely named Slugwash lane where we met Anton for a brief chat and a catch-up on his Audax (and other) adventures.

Leaving Anton we proceeded further south and eventually arrived at the café in Ditchling. As usual there were plenty of cyclists in there, but we did think that the prices were a bit higher this time – maybe this was because most of us had cake and not our usual toasted tea-cake. John left us to return home for other commitments leaving just the five of us to do the Beacon.

There was the usual amount of traffic which was largely well behaved and at the top a fairly stiff breeze from the south west.

After Bob had his traditional ice cream and we took a few pictures, we headed off south again to find the junction over the A27 log-jammed with cars trying to go in both easterly and westerly directions, making it very hard to go straight over, as very few drivers were prepared to let us through. They were probably jealous of us as they sat in the heat of their vehicles! Once we had all got across we made short work of the slope up by the golf course prior to the long descent in to Brighton.

There was a fair bit of traffic in town, no doubt due to the excellent weather, but we still made good time on the long swoop down to the pier. I’m not sure how Bob got on with his annual effort to set off the speed camera on the way through…….

After lunch there was only Bob wishing to ride back so all five of us piled on the train after a considerable amount of negotiation reduced the ticked price by twenty quid (you’ve gotta love privatisation of the railway – what were the benefits exactly?!). Due to the bridge maintenance at Three Bridges we went to Gatwick and rode back (this also required negotiation to get a ticket for Three Bridges – well done Barbara and Marian) along the NCR 21, so that Barbara could search for where she had parked her car and Ros could whizz along the Worth Way back to East Grinstead.

Thank you all for coming. I think that we all had a really good day out, with nice company and good weather – maybe you should join us next time.

Happy Cycling,
Peter S

Our next ride is on Sunday 2nd October. It will be a family friendly, suitable for ALL abilities, two hour ride along the Worth Way and back. The start point/time is Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs.

West and South of Horsham

2011-09-18T20:32:00.001+01:00

After a pleasant evening in a Western themed restaurant dressed as a cowboy, it seemed fitting that todays ride should head west. As the start was from Horsham I was "on message" straight from my front door, as with the sun beating down on my back (poetic licence - it was overcast), I headed due west along the Forest Road and actually arrived ten minutes early! Unfortunately no-one was there to witness this rare event :-(

Shortly after, Barbara arrived but, in spite of waiting until 09:45, that was it. We set off out of Horsham heading west over the golf course and up Rowhook Hill, noticing that lots of fungi are starting to make an appearance - including a straight line of them in the middle of a field! We headed through Cox Green and up into Rudgwick where we turned right and headed down past the brickworks (have I spelt brickworks correctly? Their sign suggests otherwise):

Loads of bricks there, it would be nice to have a house built of local bricks, although I don't think much of that front door!

Although the sky was overcast, it was really very pleasant riding with just a slight wind and a temperature warm enough for a t-shirt to suffice. Barbara thought it was bit cool for that and kept her jacket on.

After crossing the A 281 we carried on west and then I made a navigational error and took us down Drungewick Lane. I didn't realise until we'd gone about a mile further on, so rather than turn around I rejigged the next part of the route. As we approached Loxwood from the south, we encountered a road race in progress and were overtaken by at least three clumps of fast-moving roadies complete with motorcycle marshalls and accompanying cars. On reaching Ifold we turned off the race route and headed south again, only to rejoin it at the next junction - we missed one clump, but the second and third clumps went past us again. They all went left at the next junction, into Kirdford. we turned right and were going westward again. We used Scratchings Lane towards Ebernoe and then Pipers Lane before arriving at the lunch halt - The Deepwell Inn at Northchapel.

I'd decided on this lunch stop as I had noticed that the Arun & Adur section were lunching there and thought it would be good to meet up. They numbered 4 and we joined them to enjoy a pleasant lunch with good food and good beer. The pub seemed to be having quite a bit of work done to it, so we'll have to return sometime to see what the finished thing looks like.

It was still overcast when we left the pub but then a patch of blue sky sat over us as we rode back via Kirdford and Wisborough Green. We were tiring at this point and decided to head for Billingshurst to catch a train back to Horsham. Speeding along the A272 , our patch of blue disappeared and we started to feel the odd drop of rain. As we arrived at the station it started raining properly and we looking foward to sitting in the dry of a railway carriage. However, we'd just missed a train and the next was a full hour away - we could ride back in that time! So, on with the waterproofs and back out into the rain.

We headed through Billingshurst and back to Horsham via New Road, Barns Green, Two Mile Ash Road and Tower Hill. Arriving at the town centre Barbara headed off to meet a friend and I headed across to Ifield using the new cycle route along Wimlands Lane and the bridleway into Ifield North.

I arrived at my nephews house just in time to see the mighty Reds give a footballing lesson to the Chelski blues and washed the result down with cider and birthday cake.

Next weeks ride is our annual ride to the seaside.

Leaving Three Bridges station at 09:00hrs, the ride will be a relatively easy 30 miles (with the notable exception of Ditchling Beacon - but there's no shame in walking that) and will doubtless feature a tea-stop at Ditchling village and then lunch on Brighton seafront. As it goes via Turners Hill and Lindfield, there's the possibility of joining in along the way - contact Pete S or Bob to let us know if that's your plan.

The return can be by train (n.b. Three Bridges Station will be closed, but direct trains from Brighton will go to Gatwick and it's an easy ride back to Crawley from there) or the slightly harder ride along NCN20 with possibly a pub stop at Bolney or Staplefield.

This ride is usually very enjoyable and gives a good sense of achievement, so what's holding you back? See you on Sunday!

East Grinstead

2011-09-11T20:03:00.003+01:00

The forecast had been pretty grim for most of the week predicting heavy rain and the tail-end of a hurricane, but as it turned out we had nice weather, pleasantly warm and only a light breeze.

A view of Gullege

We were pleased to welcome Ann-Marie on her first group ride with us after previously joining us on the Family Bike ride in June. So we had five riders as we left Three Bridges, fashionably late at 10.15.

Ann-Marie and Pete

The route was a little muddy following earlier rain but nothing that caused us any problems as we headed uphill to East Grinstead. The Worth Way was well used again today and there seem to be more cyclists than ever.

Barbara

Anton

We had a nice coffee in East Grinstead at the Bluebells café that Bob recommended. Some people also had cake, although they did share it. No toasted tea cake though – a bit of a disappointment for regular cyclists. Retracing our steps for the mainly downhill return we had some light sprinkling of rain drops on two occasions but it wasn’t even worth putting our waterproofs on. We arrived back in Crawley just in time for the start of the Grand Prix.

The statistics from my nice new free Android application (My Tracks – see previous blog for details):
Total Distance: 15.98 miles Total time: 2:36 Moving time: 1:57 Average speed: 8.18 mph Maximum speed: 18.49 (I bet Bob went faster!).
I can upload the stats and route to Google but haven’t worked out how to share it yet – not particularly interesting for the Worth Way but more so for our other rides. Watch this space.

So a nice little ride with the only down being that Button beat Hamilton! (Bob says "Hurrah for Button!").

Please remember to check the website for details of upcoming rides – this Sunday is a 9:30 start from Horsham Park Pavilions and will be an easy 40 miler west and south of Horsham.

The next Beginners Ride is on Sunday October 2nd and will probably use the Worth Way once more. The following Beginners Ride is on November 6th for the Veteran Car Run and will be short on mileage but big on spectating.

Hope to see you soon.

Arun Crossings 2011

2011-09-04T19:38:00.012+01:00

I've spent my entire career working with computers and I would like to go on record as saying "Computers are cr*p!!". All of their benefits and usefulness are completely blown away by their ability to just lose the last hours worth of work you've put in!

Yes, I know it's traditional to blame the operator or blame the programmer but actually experience has taught me that the machines themselves are capable of extreme malevolence. It's understandable really - they are generally unattractive agglomerations of plastics and metals with no life of their own, so it's obvious that their jealousy will cause them to try and annoy us sometimes - thank god for the off button, if all else fails I love to use that as the ultimate sanction! Kill switch - I'm going to call it that in future. Oh, and in case my current pile of rubbish (Evesham I think he calls himself - computers are male by the way) is thinking of doing the dirty on me again, I'll just type in these two words "Club Hammer". Yeah, that made it think - I love the sound of hammer on high technology early in the morning!

2 - 3 - 4 ..... and relax........ right let's try writing the blog .... again!

Warm enough for short-sleeves but with a leaden sky hinting at unpleasantness, the last DA Event of the year got under way from Pulborough Station at about 09:50hrs. Colin, the ride leader, had been joined by Bob, Richard, Dave and Vicki. We'd waited for a train to come in from each direction but no-one else had joined us, so Colin lead us away. From Church Place onto Coombelands Lane and then up a sunken road to the top of a sandy ridge before descending down to the A283 next to Stopham Bridge.

As we burst out from the trees we were met by John C. By mistake he'd got off the train at Billingshurst and then, realising his error he had done a quick sprint down to Pulborough. From experience he knew that we usually use Stopham Bridge for the first crossing of the river and he'd gambled on intercepting us there - good call!

So, we made our first crossing on the Old Stopham Bridge and headed west on the A283 before turning right onto a small lane which eventually turned into a bridleway and bore us up through woodland. It was pretty dark under the trees and hard work taking photographs, but I gave it a try:

We emerged from the woods and turned right onto a lane which proceeded to climb even further up - I recognised it as Bedham Lane and we were heading for the top! Once we'd crested, after a short downhill we turned left for another climb before taking a bridleway that forked down to our right. Out of the blue we were presented with the following sight:

The ruins of a church (someone called it Bedham Church) - I found it quite spooky and was very conscious that I was all alone there taking the photograph...... hurriedly I followed the others and recklessly passed them all on the way down the hill. I like to think I was giving a demonstration of good bike-handling skills and showing that just letting the bike go is often better than hanging on to the brakes. The others probably thought "What an oaf!". The bridleway continued as an interesting forest singletrack before emerging at a country pile called Hawkhurst Court. Here Colin pointed out a plaque that informed us that Canadian armed forces had been stationed here during WWII.

Leaving the excessively gravelled drive we gained the firmness of Crimbourne Lane before turning left onto Fittleworth Lane. A few hundred yards later a right turn took us onto a farm track where we all pulled up at the side in order to let a learner driver in a Land Rover go past. The bridleway went left then right and skirted four or five fields as well as scraping against a bend in the river before joining another bridleway in open farmland just south of Harsfold Manor. Time for another photo stop:

From here it was but a mile to the elevenses stop in the tearooms at Wisborough Green. As we pulled up we noticed Edwins bike outside. Also, it started raining.

We sat in the cafe supping our coffee and eating cake for a while and the rain stopped, so we decided it was time to get going again. Edwin was going to stay on the roads and meet us at the lunch stop, the rest of us would follow Colin on whatever route he had in mind.

We hadn't gone 10 yards before the heavens opened and we all hurriedly put on our waterproofs. After another 100 yards, Dave, Vicki and John decided to call it a day leaving just Colin, Richard and Bob to carry on.

The rain was fairly heavy and quite wetting but not too cold and we were often fairly sheltered amongst the trees:

Compare the following two pictures. Taken at about the same place, the first is from 2009:

and here's the one from today:

Once over the hill we passed the lake (no sign of its resident Heron)

and arrived at Malham Farm. After a false start, we got onto the correct bridleway and
worked our wet and muddy way over to Drungewick Lane. Now we had a couple of miles of tarmac before once again plunging onto a bridleway and what was only our second crossing of the river near Gibbons Mill. From here it was tarmac again for a mile and a bit until we arrived at the lunch halt, The Blue Ship at The Haven.

Chris from Littlehampton and Edwin were already there and so was a nice hot bowl of celery soup with a pint of Sussex for accompaniment. One of the good things about the Blue Ship is that the public bar has a stone tiled floor and wooden seats, so us dirty cyclists don't ruin the decor!

The rain had eased a little when we set off to continue the Arun Crossings - Chris joined us and Edwin was heading for home. After a half mile of road we took a level but slightly slippy bridleway through some woods before emerging on Okehurst Road. After a few hundred yards we turned right onto another bridleway that skirted a couple of fields before crossing the river on this bridge:

Shortly after, we crossed the canal by a lock:

After this the route crossed a field and then up a farm track past the place where Edwin had his fall a couple of years back and into Malham Farm once more. Heading south we retraced part of the morning route before heading east past Loves Farm, over the canal and river, across to Okehurst. A pleasant run down Rowner Road was enlivened by the sight of a Mark III Ford Cortina GXL (1973 reg) in orange with a black vinyl roof.

The excitement was too much - my bike had to have a rest!

At Rowners Farm, it was off-road once again with another crossing of river and canal by Rowners Lock. We used a bridleway through Wisborough Green and headed south past Harsfold Manor for our next crossing of river and canal. The climb up to Lee Place was slippy with the top layer of mud sticking to our tyres just to weigh us down. So when we made it to the road, we actively went through all the puddles we could in order to wash some of the mud off. It didn't make much difference though as we were soon on another bridleway and heading down to the river again. Once over, our route took us across some green pasture and that helped remove some of the crud from our knobblies. Turning left onto a road I realised we were heading back up Bedham Hill! But just before the gradient really kicked in we sped down another bridleway into some woodland:

By now the rain had more or less stopped and the temperature seemed to have gone up a degree or two.

and we made our final crossing at Pallingham

before climbing back up to the road to head up past Coombelands and then down into Pulborough to finish a mere six hours after we started.

I was wet and covered in mud, but had a big smile on my face after a really enjoyable days cycling. That's got me all set for a charity ride I'm doing with some workmates on Saturday - 55 miles from Brecon to Cardiff.
http://www.justgiving.com/bhscycleride is the donation page if you get the urge!!

Our next club ride is on Sunday starting from Three Bridges Station at 10:00 hrs. It will be an easy two hour ride aimed at relatively inexperienced cyclists and will most probably use the Worth Way. Come along and have a nice relaxing, traffic-free (and hill-less) ride.

Northeast of Crawley

2011-08-29T18:57:00.005+01:00

Hail the conquering hero!

Yes, he did it! Anton successfully rode the PBP (Paris-Brest-Paris).

Well done mate, incredibly tough ride but you managed it.

Here are the stats (Anton was rider number 5716):

Yes, that's 1230 kilometres (about 880 miles) in about three and three-quarter days!

Anton is Iron Man (cue Black Sabbath track of same name) - "Durnn, Durnn, Durn,durn,durn duddle-duddle,durn,dad,durn,dad,durn etc. " (in a big, gruff voice).

I'm hoping to get more detail out of him about the ride, but I do know that he had to contend with a lot of rain and two days with a severe stomach upset that prevented him from keeping any food down!!

So today's ride was a sort of "warm down" for Anton - a mere 30 mile easy pootle during daylight hours. Joining Anton and myself at Three Bridges Station were Barbara, Ros, Laksh and John C. We headed off through Pound Hill, over the M23 on the Turners Hill Road and then down Old Hollow before using Copthorne Bank and Cross Lane/Dowlands Lane. The wind was generally behind us and we were soon through Horne:

Emerging onto the A22 just north of Blindley Heath, we turned left and then just as quickly, forked left back off the A22 onto Tilburstow Hill Road. As usual, we took the right turn just before the hill really kicked in but also we stopped for a breather, Ballet practice for Anton and a bite to eat for Ros....

Then Barbara grabbed my camera and took a snap of me - note the John Peel T-Shirt - I was wearing that to commemorate Johns birthday on 29th August.

Carrying on, we came to cross the A22 at a crossroads. As I got there, there was no traffic so I went straight across. When the others arrived a few seconds after me, a sudden glut of traffic meant we had to wait about 4 minutes before we'd all made it safely over.

We carried on due east for about a mile before turning south and down to the junction by The Brickmakers Arms - it was good to note that this pub appears to have reopened after a period of closure. The picture shows everyone sheepishly making their way back having missed the turn (and not noticed I was standing in the road waiting for them!!):

This road runs alongside that impressively long straight stretch of railway that runs from Redhill in the West to Tonbridge in the east - here's the view from an overbridge looking towards Redhill:

Next we passed through Crowhurst and saw the village sign:

It looks like a local benefactor was from Estonia - an inscription on a bench said that he was a "Great English Patriot" - leaving aside the obvious flaw in that statement, it's funny how the word "Patriot" has become quite an uncomfortable one, what with its shades of jingoism, racism, discrimination, association with the right wing and various other "isms". But then, that's a feature of our country, language and culture - we constantly change, adapt, absorb and become stronger for it. I'm SO glad we are such a mongrel nation - it makes it that much harder for extremism to get any kind of hold.

After Crowhurst, we headed through Lingfield and out along the western side of the racecourse along Blackberry Lane past some swanky houses. Then we passed through Felcourt and a downhill swoop before the final (stiffish - well stiffer than I remember) climb up into East Grinstead where we stopped at The Bluebell Cafe for lunch (all except John that is, for he headed on home in order to catch the Grand Prix).

The food was very good and we spent an enjoyable hour or so there before heading out and having said goodbye to Ros, acquired The Worth Way for a pleasant and easy ride back to Crawley.

Next weeks ride is the final DA Event of the year, The Arun Crossings. As a Member Group we're doing quite well in the DA Trophy competition - I reckon if we could have a good turn out for this last event, we may well win it. I believe the weather forecast is good for the weekend, so I don't think we've got any excuses :-)

This ride starts at Pulborough Station at 09:30hrs and involves several crossings of the River Arun using a variety of roads and bridleways, with a lunch stop at The Ship pub in The Haven (and usually a tea stop at Wisborough Green). I would recommend using a mountain bike or a strong touring bike for this ride as it involves quite a bit of fairly gentle off-road riding. It's great fun and I always enjoy it. Please note that car parking used to be free at the station on Sundays but now costs the princely sum of £1.

Travel by train takes about 30 minutes and would cost about £9.30 from Three Bridges (return), leaving at 08:46 (platform 3) and returning at 19 minutes past the hour sometime late afternoon (16:19 most likely). These trains would all stop at Horsham in both directions as well.

Shoreham Airshow

2011-08-21T19:08:00.003+01:00

Todays ride was a quick sprint from Horsham to The Downs above Shoreham for a leisurely picnic watching the aerial displays at Shoreham Airshow. Led by Bob, the other riders were Pete S, Pat, Frank, Barbara (part of the way), Clare and Dave. The ride down was fairly uneventful save from the fact that Bobs middle ring revealed itself to be unusable following installation of a new chain and that Clare is King of the Mountains - more on that later.

Sitting on the Downs was very pleasant and we had a good view of the airfield and the aircraft. I took a few pictures but they rendered the day as looking much more grey than it actually was - there was strong sunshine pushing through a fairly thin layer of high cloud.

First we were entertained by a trio of Gnats - these were the fast jet trainers formerly used by the RAF (and by their display team the Red Arrows):

I messed about with this one in Photoshop:

Here's Pete with Lancing College in the background:

Another display was by the Breitling Wingwalkers. Each of these planes (I think the plane type is a Steerman) had someone on the top wing, though it was hard to see what the wingwalkers were actually doing - hanging on for dear life I guess!

I suppose that in a way the following picture is iconic "Shoreham Airshow":

The Falcons Parachute display team were good - very accurate - although my picture doesn't really do them justice:

and there was a dogfight enactment featuring several WWI type aircraft - these two are SE5a's - the type of plane that Biggles' friend "Wilko" Wilkinson flew:

There's the possibility I may have doctored this picture:

After about threee hours of sitting on the turf and having met up with several riders from the Bognor and Chichester section, we decided it was time to get cycling again.

I decided to take us north, further up into The Downs and then to head down the steep rocky path to Bramber. All the time we were travelling this route we could hear more planes flying around but didn't see much of them apart from a couple of Spitfires (I was too slow getting my camera out for them) and a Hawker Hunter:

As we traversed the rocky path we were caught up by the Bognor Chichester riders:

Once at the bottom we said goodbye and we headed east and north whilst they headed west.

We headed up the A2037 as far as Small Dole and then, at Woods Mill, turned right onto Horn Lane to Woodmancote. Crossing the A281 we went through the quiet backwater that is Blackstone before a short traverse along the B2116 and then Wineham Lane - every time we came to a hill, Clare shot up it and I shot out of the back of our 'peleton' (even though I was ride leader!!). The two hills on Spronketts Lane saw me run completely out of energy and that tough little climb into Warninglid was almost a bridge too far.... At this point Clare mentioned that she was a Black Belt Judo instructor - no wonder she was so fit she could just eat up the hills and spit them out! Continuing north, even the (relatively) easy slope from Slaugham Pond to Handcross meant the others had to wait for me to catch up again but the level road all the way to Pease Pottage allowed me to get back into the spin of things.

We crossed the bridge in order to avoid the big roundabout and, at the Horsham link-road crossing we parted - Clare and Dave were debating which route to use to get back home (the long or the short route), Pete and I to go down the hill, past K2 and through Tilgate and Furnace Green. Oh, I forgot to mention that Frank and Pat had left our viewpoint early and headed over to Cuckfield to "get on down" at a Rock concert (or something)..........

Pulling up at home, I had about 56 miles on the speedo and also some shopping to do - for a middle chainring - Shimano, 36 teeth, 9-speed, 4-bolt, 108mm centres.

Next weeks ride is a Three Bridges start at 10:00 and will go north and east from Crawley. It should be an easy 30 miler, see you there!

Forest Row and back

2011-08-14T20:53:00.000+01:00

We were pleased to welcome a new rider from Horsham to our beginners ride start at Three Bridges Station – welcome Sandra! We had slightly overcast but pleasantly warm weather as we headed off down the Worth Way. Normally we can’t ride the tandem on to the Worth Way at the Three Bridges end, but due to some moderate reworking of the wooden chicane (someone has broken them down!) we are now able to ride up the slope to gain access to the shaded path of the NCR21 going east. We took a gentle ride up to East Grinstead where we were delighted to see Ros back on her bike and looking well and fitter than ever. She had been out on her bike for a short ride during the previous week and was now keen to get back in to regular cycling, without overdoing it. So we decided to head through the lovely old town centre of East Grinstead and then south east (descending) along the Forest Way to Forest Row. In Forest Row we observed the extravagance of two sets of lights to cross the A22 – one set for pedestrians/cyclists and another set immediately adjacent for horses. Turning right we headed up to Future Cycles and turned left in to the quiet back road through the village – a road that some of our regular riders had not visited before. We then looped left up to the tip and past our usual café, run by our Dutch friends, as we had a rare treat in store. Climbing quickly on the Forest Way back to East Grinstead we turned off to visit Ros at her new house for coffee and home-made cake! Thank you Ros for your hospitality. Ros then lead us through diverse ways (!) back to the centre of East Grinstead and then along a sequence of minor roads and bridleways to arrive back on the Worth Way by Gulledge. We noticed as we passed that this house, although having a fine stone front when viewed from the Worth Way, is in fact a much older timber framed building at the back – a building practice that I believe was quite common among rich landowners at one time (?Georgian period). Here we said au revoir to Ros as we freewheeled through Crawley Down and back in to Crawley. Slightly longer than our usual two hours, but very pleasant and relaxed in nice weather and company. And a total of 25 easy miles on this occasion (again a little more than usual for a beginners ride).

Next week we are all looking forward to visiting an airshow to be viewed from the South Downs. So bring a picnic for a 09.30 start at Horsham Park Pavilion (swimming centre) – go on, you know you want to!

DA Event - Picnic

2011-08-07T22:22:00.004+01:00

This weeks ride was the penultimate DA Event of the season and involved members from each of the West Sussex Member Groups rendezvousing at Wisborough Green for a picnic. I was down to lead from Horsham but the usual struggle for me to get to the start on time was compounded by having been out late on saturday night - in fact I was so tardy, I had to scrounge a lift from my wife and arrived a mere 10 minutes late.

I spotted two bikes I recognised and sure enough, when I went into the cafe I found Barbara and Norman waiting. We sat and chatted for a few minutes and then set off. I'd decided to use the most direct route and so we headed through Horsham town centre and out on the Worthing Road. Turning right at The Boars Head on Tower Hill we used Two Mile Ash Road and headed towards The Bax Castle. As we crossed over the Downs Link a heavy shower started so we sheltered under the bridge and waited for it to pass.

Back out on the road there were now a few patches of standing water but the sky was mainly blue (apart from a big bank of dark grey cloud to our left). We took the usual shortcut along the Hordens in Barns Green and then turned right immediately before the level crossing onto Valewood Lane. Turning right at the end of the lane onto West Chiltington Lane we stopped as this is where we were parting ways - Barbara and Norman were heading on back to Horsham and I was carrying on to Wisborough Green.

I next used New Road and then, on reaching the A29 decided that as I was by myself I'd use the main roads to Wisborough Green. Ten minutes later I was sat down on a bench at the crossroads in the middle of the village.

After half an hour no-one else had turned up so I decided to eat my picnic lunch by myself - bang on cue, just as I finished, the others arrived! In all there were about eight of us and we sat around chatting about various rides, refreshment stops and the like.

An hour quickly passed and then we all headed off home in our different directions - mine was a lonely ride (sob, sob) and I more or less retraced my steps to Horsham and then took the Forest Road back to Crawley via Pease Pottage. All in all I only rode about 32 miles today.

Next weeks ride starts from Three Bridges at 10:00hrs and, led by Pete, will be an easy ride using the Worth Way. It will be suitable for all cyclists including beginners. I hope to see loads of you there.

The Ashdowner

2011-07-31T19:18:00.002+01:00

Nice weather meant I was out in a T-shirt and didn't bother packing any waterproofs. Arriving at Three Bridges for the start I was met by Frank and Anton, although Anton was just on his way home from a monster Audax ride - he'd clocked up something like 450 kilometres with a ride that had taken him all the way over to Wiltshire and (I think) Gloucestershire! It's not long now until he faces the Paris-Brest-Paris ride (PBP).

Next to join us were a couple of riders from the Family Bike Ride in June - Ali and Laksh - and then John C rolled up.

Waving goodbye to Anton, we set off up through Pound Hill and out on the Turners Hill Road. I was very conscious that todays ride would be hard work for the two new riders as it's impossible to avoid hills when travelling south and east of Crawley, but as they were both less than half my age, I thought they'd probably have the fitness to do it. Pausing for breath near Turners Hill church Ali mentioned that she'd ridden the road before but this was the first time she'd done it without a couple of stops. I decided to miss out the next bit of my planned route (and avoid a short climb) by heading straight over the crossroads to enjoy the couple of miles of mainly downhill gliding before the little climb up to the next crossroads. Next we passed through Saint Hill Green and across the end of Weirwood reservoir before turning left onto Legsheath Lane. After a half mile level, this road then climbs for about a mile but, as I pointed out in between gasps for air, it's not as steep as the other road going past the scout camps. However, on reaching the crossroads, Ali decided it was all proving a bit too much and that she would head back home to Turners Hill. She was confident about the route as she was familiar with all the roads hereabouts, so reluctantly we said goodbye and carried on. We took the first right onto Twyford Lane and enjoyed the lane as it smoothly swept down to a shady woodland. Here there is a ford and I warned my fellow riders that there's a short up immediately afterwards so they'd need to change gear as they got to the ford - needless to say, everyone was so focussed on the road and the ford that they all forgot to change gear (except me of course)!

At the next junction, an acute turn to our right took us down through a second ford and then immediately up a stiff little climb which was made palatable by judicious use of the vast range of gearing my bike has - I knew there was a reason for all those cogs!!

Now we were up on top of the ridge, the riding was nice and level with good views in most directions. At Cinder Hill we joined a slightly bigger road but there was almost no traffic and then a right turn took us down and past Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway. Another short climb and then decision time - left and up a short, tough climb and perhaps a lunchbreak in Ardingly, or right up an easier (but longer) hill to West Hoathly. We turned right and although the gradient may have been easier, it went on and on and on! Eventually however we reached West Hoathly and paused by what was once The Vinols Cross Inn. Not so long ago it had been refurbished and become the Intrepid Fox but it is now closed and up for sale. From here it was but a short couple of hundred yards to The Cat Inn. We decided to sit outside in the sunshine and watch the world go by. Everyone bar me opted for soft drinks, but I found the call of the Dark Star Hophead ale too great - and it was REALLY good. Unfortunately there weren't any sandwiches on the menu but a cheese platter, a roast dinner and a bowl of chips ticked the right boxes for those of us eating.

Everyone seemed quite tired, so for the afternoon ride I spared them the joys of Cob Lane and then the Ardingly Reservoir crossing by heading north instead and straight to Turners Hill. From there it was almost all downhill back to Pound Hill where we all dispersed our separate ways.

A quick glance at my speedo revealed todays ride was a mere 26 miles - but with all the hills it had felt a lot longer.

Next weeks ride will be led by Bob and starts from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 10:00 hrs. As it is the DA Picnic ride, please remember to bring a packed lunch for the Picnic at Wisborough Green (you'll be able get food and drink at The Cricketers if you want, but that rather defeats the idea of a picnic).

The following week (August 14th) will be another easy ride suitable for everyone and starting from Three Bridges to use the Worth Way out towards East Grinstead - why not bring along a family member or a friend?

Horsham Hundred

2011-07-24T19:52:00.002+01:00

This years 100 miler was scheduled to start from Horsham with a 50 mile anticlockwise loop to the south in the morning and a 50 mile clockwise loop to the north in the afternoon. A dearth of volunteers meant that I would be leading the ride but would unfortunately not be available for the entire afternoon loop. I suspected riders would be thin on the ground, but having ridden from Crawley to Horsham for the 07:00hrs start I found myself completely alone at Horsham Pavilion in the Park. I waited until 07:30, just in case, before setting off.

Although I had an OS map with me, the route would be on familiar roads all the way and the exit from Horsham was the usual Golf Course and Robin Hood Lane route. With dry roads and a temperature that a double t-shirt combo could easily manage, I enjoyed the ride as it headed south through Broadbridge Heath and then up Bashurst Hill. I'd soon passed Coneyhurst and Broadford Bridge and as I slowly reached the top of Woods Hill I was in a world of my own and thinking about how to minimise the effort I was using to climb the hill. At this point I thought I heard a car approaching and looking over my shoulder I spotted not only the car but also a cyclist catching me up. I expected him to pass me in the next few hundred yards but he didn't actually do so until about a mile further on when I hit the short hill up Mill Road in West Chiltington Common. I was impressed with the chaps ability to cycle in spite of his physical impairment - I think he was stone deaf - as he didn't respond to my cheery hello as he passed me. Anyway, I was now at the southernmost point of the morning loop and turned north into Roundabout Lane and thence to Smock Alley. This lane made me work again and it was a relief when I finally got to freewheel down through the bends of East Street to come out on the Coolham Road.

Visibility was very good with no chance of any foolish motorist (or van driver) failing to spot me as I cruised through the junction. The road wasn't too busy and so the right turn onto Sincox Lane was negotiated with ease. As I approached Broomers Corner I considered cheating and cutting off the Shipley Village loop but honour and personal integrity stopped me - anyway, it's been a while since I rode through there and curiosity is a strong driving force...

Pound Lane and Swallow Lane were soon behind me and I was ready to cross the A24 - wait for a couple of fast-moving cars, then straight across both carriageways! It's not often you can do that and I was now at The Old Barn Garden Centre ready for a tea-break. I wheeled my bike through a relatively deserted building only to find the coffee bar shut, but on walking round to the other side I found the cafe open. I opted for a mug of tea and a large slice of Victoria Sponge. Sitting outside in the bright sunshine, I'd soon transformed myself from a hungry cyclist carrying a slice of cake and a drink in his hand to a contented cyclist carrying a slice of cake and a drink in his stomach. I stayed in the sunshine ruminating and memorising the map for the next part of the ride for a good ten minutes before walking back through the Garden Centre. Turning right I resisted the temptation to take a shortcut through the Lock Estate and headed up Grinders Lane and Honeybridge Lane. At a couple of points along this lane there are electric security gates giving the impression that someone doesn't want any involvement with the rest of the world - this impression was further fortified today when I noticed that an earth bank some two to three metres high has been thrown up just the other side of the hedge for a distance of about a mile - that is quite an earthwork. I was still pondering what is was for when I caught up with a horse and rider. Exchanging pleasantries I mentioned the bank and she said that the (millionaire) landowner was in the process of building a large lake for his speedboating hobby and that part of it would impact a public footpath - shades of the Hoogstraten bloke in East Sussex perhaps? Mind you, there is a bridleway only a mile or so from here that got moved purely to stop it going past someones house, so West Sussex may well be a pushover... When I got home, a quick bit of Googling revealed some old planning applications for this land, but nothing to indicate a large lake for speedboats, just a smaller wildlife pond. Incidentally, the same place seems to have been the address given by one of those chaps that threw purple flour on MP's in the House of Commons a few years back!

At the next junction I took Church Lane and then Golden Lane to emerge on the B2135 and head for Partridge Green. I was comfortably into the ride now and headed south through Shermanbury before taking the B2116 east as far as Wineham Lane where the turn to the north emphasised the fact that the morning was more than half done.

After crossing the A272, the climbs of Spronketts Lane were achieved at what we shall call a "leisurely" pace because I knew that the short but difficult climb into Warninglid was fast approaching. I didn't mess about and just selected Granny gear to do that one, so I had plenty of puff to drive my pedals for a good thrash down from Warninglid and past the school before the left turn onto Hampshire Hill at Slaugham Pond. Now I was on the home stretch - across the B2110, along Hammerpond Road, past the golf course and rugby club and into Horsham for lunch.

Pulling up at the Conservatory Cafe, I claimed a table outside and ordered another mug of tea and a bacon and brie baguette. The Park was buzzing with some sort of carnival and there were loads of cyclists pulling up having been out for a morning ride with the other cycle club in Horsham. John V joined me and then Jeet did also, so we had a nice old chinwag sitting in the sunshine. John didn't fancy riding the afternoon loop by himself - he's got nothing to prove in the worlds of distance or solo riding, so he and I headed back to Crawley via Rusper. We used the middle road up the hill - Old Holbrook. As we approached Crawley I peeled off as I was heading for a family birthday party in Ifield Wood and when I finally got off my bike my speedo told me I'd racked up a 69 mile day - not 100, but not too shabby in its own way.

Next weeks ride is titled "The Ashdowner" and will be a 40 mile ride south and east from Three Bridges Station starting at 09:30hrs. there will be a few hills and I intend to stop at The Cat in West Hoathly for lunch.

Leith Hill

2011-07-17T18:40:00.001+01:00

Typical: Sunny weather during the week when I'm stuck at work, wet and windy over the weekend when I've actually got some time to myself!

Although the rain wasn't hard, just spending three minutes in the back garden feeding my fish was enough to get wet, so I decided to wear waterproofs for the ride. Once out on the road, the wind made its presence known and kept slapping me round the face with the result that I was a couple of minutes late getting to Horsham Park Pavilions. No matter, no-one was there (well not on the cycling front anyway).

I hung around as I knew that Anton was on his way and sure enough he soon arrived having cycled the 15 miles or so from Haywards Heath. He was feeling a bit tired as he'd been on a 130 mile Audax yesterday, but I reckoned todays ride would be a nice little wind-down for him.

Shortly before 10:00hrs we set off - out of Horsham over the Golf Course and Robin Hood Lane, then across to Rowhook hill. I'd like to say I found the hill easy, but with the wind and the drag of my waterproofs on my legs, it was hard work. We turned North and then, opposite the brickworks, took the right fork along a slightly undulating road all the way to Forest Green - in the narrow parts we had to stop a couple of times to let some of the thirty or so MG cars pass that we saw going the other way. A right, a left and another right brought us on to a narrow lane that decided to do the ascent of Leith Hill in one go - it was marked as 12% up but felt a lot steeper to me. In spite of his "tiredness" Anton left me standing (well, grinding along in Granny gear) but had the decency to wait at the top. After a 50 yard breather we then had to do a sharp left and head upward for another 400 yards or so, although I had to shout to get Anton to stop as he'd shot past the car park from where I intended we could get across to Leith Hill Tower. At this point the rain started falling heavier and that, coupled with the time and terrain meant that I decided to forego the visit to the Tower and head straight to the lunch halt instead.

We sheltered under a tree as the worst of the rain passed over and watched as a policeman pulled up in a car and proceeded to walk around checking the Vehicle Tax Discs of the assembled parked cars. "Hello Lads," he said, "having a good ride?" We grinned and told him we were about to head to the pub - I'm sure I saw a brief flash of envy pass across his face....

We flashed back down the short climb we'd just done and then headed over to and through Coldharbour on the face of the slope before turning right and having a fast, if slightly sketchy, run down the narrow Henhurst Cross Lane to come out on the A29. Next we crossed over the A24 and rolled into Capel. Turning east, the wind was now behind us and we soon reached Newdigate via Trig Street.

As we locked our bikes up under the covered patio area, the heavens absolutely opened! I was most impressed by the canvas canopy - waterproof and measuring something like 8 by 6 metres it easily dealt with the rain and the strong, gusting wind. At this point I realised I'd just received a text from John V asking if we were riding - I replied we were, but by this time he'd succumbed to the (dry) delights of staying in to watch the Tour De France. We were joined for lunch by Shirley although we made the mistake of sitting in front of the large screen TV which had first the golf and then motorbike racing on - it's very distracting trying to have a conversation with a television just a few feet away, right in your line of sight.

When we were ready to leave, the sun was shining but, even before we'd unlocked the bikes, the heavens opened again! We got togged up with waterproofs and waited 10 minutes for the worst of the weather to blow over before heading off, south towards Rusper. Taking it in turns to lead, we made good progress and were soon whistling down into Ifield. We used the subway into West Green and then, just as we crossed the railway the rain came back with a vengeance. Mind you, there was so much that it felt quite cleansing. I lead us through Southgate and then as we reached Furnace Green Anton decided he would catch the train from Three Bridges rather than ride all the way back to Haywards Heath. I pointed him in the right direction and then scuttled back home to give my bike an all over spray of light oil before putting it away - I must remember to rub it down and check it out in the next day or so. I'm also curious to see how my (relatively) new Brooks saddle has coped with the wet.

Although there was a very tough climb in the middle of it, todays ride wasn't actually that hard (I'd rate it as easy to be honest) and I think I only covered just under 40 miles in total - Anton probably managed just over 45.

Next weeks ride is The Horsham Hundred. We have two 50 mile loops starting and finishing from Horsham. The morning one starts from Horsham Park Pavilions at 07:00 hrs and heads south with a tea Break at Dove's Barn Garden Centre(09:30). Arriving back in Horsham at about 12:30, we will have lunch at the Horsham Conservatory Cafe (in the Park). The afternoon loop heads north with a tea break at Capel Church (16:00) and finishes back at Horsham at about 18:30 hrs.

I (Bob) will be leading the morning loop but I'm unable to lead the afternoon one - I can however provide a map and route instructions to anyone that turns up. If you don't fancy riding all 100 miles then why not ride just the morning or just the afternoon loop?

Please get in touch with me if you need any further information - if you don't know my e-mail address or phone number, just leave a comment on this blog.

Redhill Aerodrome

2011-07-10T21:02:00.004+01:00

In a change from our usual programming, I present not one but two blogs for this weeks ride!

The first is from Pete, the second is one I prepared earlier (to use a phrase from Blue Peter). We both report on the same things but it's interesting to see the different ways we present it.

Petes Blog:
A warm sunny day greeted us as we welcomed five new riders to our group at Three Bridges station. After some introductions we set off for Redhill Aerodrome using the NCR 21 for most of the way. This took us via North Road, Three Bridges in to Manor Royal – some of the riders were not aware of the existence of the tunnel in to Manor Royal and so it was good to share that information. Through Manor Royal to the tarmac path by the landing lights for the runway and Gatwick and a short break. And to stand under a landing aircraft! Another first for some people and quite spectacular if you have not done it before. Shortly after this we passed under the terminal building to emerge in to our second county for the day – Surrey. Under the subway in Horley and we reached the open countryside via the Langshott estate. The off-road route through to Salfords (all on the NCR21) was dry and very pleasant, with one short sharp kick-up and we soon arrived in Salfords for the right then left up to the top of the hill overlooking Redhill aerodrome (about a mile short of the East Surrey hospital).

We arrived for coffee and cakes about 11.00 (just over 10 miles at an average speed of about 8 mph) and sat outside in the sunshine solving matters of world-wide import and watching the light aircraft movements before heading back via the same route. The idea was to see if everyone had remembered the way. It seemed as if there were less uphill’s on the return journey and we soon made good time to the Three Bridges junction of NCR20 and 21 where we headed south towards Brighton on the route 20. Barbara left us for her train while we continued along Tilgate Drive to Furnace Green and then in to Maidenbower past Oriel School. Total distance 23 miles. Well done to all riders and thank you for joining us. We hope to see some of you at our regular Sunday rides. Our next beginners ride is on Sunday 14th August at 10.00 from Three Bridges Station. We’ll see who turns up, and what the weather is like but potentially we will follow the Worth Way/Forest Way eastwards – going to either East Grinstead, Forest Row or Groombridge. And back!

In the meantime – Happy Cycling!

Peter S

P.S. For those needing help with route-planning in Crawley try this site: http://www.cyclestreets.net/ – Crawley CTC are going to be maintaining the local information for Crawley, so please report any suggestions or ideas using: crawshamctc@hotmail.co.uk Anybody needing help or advice regarding route finding and the best way to get around Crawley on a bike please contact us via the same email address.

And now Blog version 2 from Bob:

A nice, bright morning found four club members joined by 5 other riders for one of our "Introductory Rides" - we hold these on the second Sunday of each month with the intention of alerting people to just how easy it is to have an easy yet interesting bike ride from Crawley (or Horsham).

Todays destination was Redhill Aerodrome and, starting from Three Bridges station, we soon had the hardest part of the ride behind us - crossing Haslett Avenue! After that, the quiet back roads of Three Bridges and then Northgate are the setting for National Cycle Network (NCN) route 21. This route uses an underpass to get into the Industrial Estate without crossing Crawley Avenue. The Industrial estate itself is traversed using a combination of very quiet roads and dedicated cyclepaths. Then, using a couple of sets of traffic lights we arrived at The Beehive before gaining the tarmac path between the Railway and The Gatwick Stream. We stopped for a breather (and a photo) directly under the flightpath and in amongst the landing lights:

As we went past the Airport terminal building, we pointed out the various ways to get into the terminal (stairs and lifts) and the bicyle storage facilities lining the path. Those riders unfamiliar with the route were amazed to see the lake that swims into view just after the tunnel under the motorway link - they'd lived in the area for years but never knew it existed!

We worked our way through Horley using a couple of quiet residential roads, the underpass under the railway and out on the Smallfield Road before turning north to follow NCN21 through the Langshott estate on a shared use path. Now we were on a farm track called Lake lane and we stopped for another breather and photo:

At the end of this farm track, Pete (the ride leader), gave us a choice for the next part of the route: either we could climb the hill using a quiet country lane or we could climb the same hill on a smooth bridleway - we opted for the bridleway. It was an easy climb (middle cogs front and back) and very pleasant under the trees, especially once we crested and could enjoy the smooth downhill:

Just before reaching Honeycrock Lane we noticed a Dog Show in progress on the left of our route - two facilities there amused us somewhat - one was a tent advertising itself as a place for "Dog Portraits" and the other was a what looked like a swimming pool but with dogs being encouraged to jump in and out of it.

Here was the second climb of the ride, but everyone managed it with no fuss at all. then we turned right onto Kings Mill Lane and I could point out where the Old Crawley Clock seems to be spending its days. No one other than me seemed to remember it, but to jog peoples memories, I've included this picture which I found on the Crawley Borough Council website:

To find the picture I did a search on the internet and came up with very few relevant hits.

One of the hits seems to be an extract from the minutes of the now defunct New Towns Commission (the organisation charged with developing the various New Towns around London that emerged after the Second World war). It had this to say:

"Genevieve" Clock
92. The Commission have provided a clock in Queens Square featuring the annual London-Brighton Veteran Car Run. When the hour is struck models of the cars emerge and move around the clock, and bells chime a tune based on the theme music of the "Genevieve" film.
93. The clock was unveiled on the eve of the 1965 Veteran Car Run by Sir Thomas Bennett, the first chairman of Crawley Development Corporation, and handed over to the Urban District Council.

I'd love to see the clock back in Crawley I think it would be a great addition to Queens Square (where it was originally installed) or even on the High Street - it would certainly be VERY popular on the day of the Old Crocks Race.

Arriving at Redhill Aerodrome we found a lot of people enjoying the sunshine outside the cafe but it didn't take us long to get served and find tables to sit at. Light refreshments were the order of the day and it was very pleasant sitting in the sun, eating, drinking, chatting and watching the movements of several light aircraft. A party of boy Scouts were being shown around and several of them boarded a plane for a flight. Barbara also told us that she had been on a helicopter flight from here took her on a sightseeing trip over London.

Looking to the southwest we could see dark clouds bearing down on us and decided we ought to head back for home. We decided to use exactly the same return route so that everyone would get the chance to memorise the route for themselves and, as one of the riders commented, the return journey seemed far quicker. Once we got back to Three Bridges we said goodbye to Barbara who was heading for the Station whilst the rest of use followed NCN 20 as it passed Three Bridges Football Club and used Tilgate Drive to cross the railway into Furnace Green. I peeled off our little 'Peleton' as we passed my street and Pete led veryone else on, under the railway and into Maidenbower by Oriel School where everyone finally dispersed.

Thankyou to everyone who turned up - please come on another ride with us sometime - the second Sunday of each month will generally be comparably family friendly and a big thankyou to club members Pete (and Marian) for leading the ride and Barbara for helping keep everyone safe.

Next Sundays ride (July 17th) will be led by me (Bob) and starts from Horsham Pavilions in the Park (car parking is free on Sundays) at 09:30 hrs. It will head north to Leith Hill where I hope to visit the Tower (National Trust, light refreshments available) and then we'll head for Newdigate to stop for lunch at The Six Bells. From there it will be a simple ride back to Horsham. Although the vast bulk of this ride will be on tarmac roads, to get to the Tower will involve a few hundred yards of hardpacked offroad and though I believe the ride will be suitable for all types of bikes why not bring your mountain bike and have some fun on the tracks near Leith Hill Tower whilst we're there? The golden rules are that no-one will get left behind and everyone will enjoy themselves (I'll be monitoring the smiles).

Two Weald Ride

2011-07-03T23:10:00.002+01:00

This weekend saw the fourth DA event of the year and the second organised by Horsham and Crawley, The Two Weald Ride. The basic format is that there are a selection of four 25 mile routes starting and finishing at Wisborough Green and riders decide which one(s) they want to do and we provide tea/coffee and home made cakes for refreshment. We opened the control at 10:00 hrs by which time there were already half a dozen people ready to set off. Once again, Pat and Frank brought their camper van and did sterling work keeping the drinks flowing and the cakes portioned out. The weather was sunny and warm and it took a while before anyone actually started riding! This photo shows a selection of Bognor and Chichester and Arun and Adur riders enjoying the sunshine with the camper van in the background.

I decided I wanted to ride the Western route (it's my favourite) and I was joined by Pete E and Pat. We set off towards and through Kirdford and then I missed a right turn (it was over the fold in my route instructions) but a mile or so later we came across a small group of cyclists repairing a puncture near a road junction and whilst chatting with them we looked at their map - my error was obvious and easily rectified and we just had to turn north and follow a lane I've never cycled before. It was actually quite a pleasant road and after a mile or so we turned left and were back on the proper route. Although the sun was now high in the sky and beating down ferociously, most of the lanes offered plenty of shade and the riding was extremely pleasant. Turning right onto the A283 we had a mile of full sun before turning left and after a short open stretch through Lurgashall (a cricket match was on the go here), we once more gained the shelter of the woodland around Lickfold and then River. Just before taking these pictures, as I had freewheeled down the hill at about 30 something mph, I disturbed a large brown bird of prey - probably a Buzzard - it shot off through the trees too quick for me to notice anything other than its size and colour.

Here's Pete.

And here's Pat (notice Pete in the background getting ready for a second photo!!)

and this is it......

After River, we came to a T-junction where the official route goes down the hill and onto the A272, however, I prefer to turn left and stay on the lane (but going up hill) before turning right and enjoying a nice fast descent through Tillington.
Here's Pat just reaching the top of that hill.

and here's the view of Tillington church taken as I approached it at about 30 mph.

At the bottom of the hill we turned left onto the A272 and passed the deer park belonging to Petworth House. At Petworth we turned right, heading south, then turned east and took the second left - a quiet lane through Byworth - before a short spell on the A283 as far as the Welldiggers Arms. This was followed by the worst part of the Western Loop, the long drag of a climb up Kingspit Lane. But it didn't last too long and we knew we only had a few more miles to go. Once we'd crossed the A272 it was mainly downhill or level all the way to Kirdford from whence Wisborough Green was but 3 miles.

After a well-earned pint and some lunch at the pub, Pete joined Barbara on the Northern loop and then a few minutes later Frank set off in pursuit. I decided to stay at the control and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon chatting with various members of the club about a variety of topics.

Looking at the register I could see that we had had 22 riders out with just three of them doing more than one loop. Normally we have more "multi-loopers" but I think the hot weather had made everyone take it a little easier this year - or maybe it was the lure of the homemade cakes??

Anyway, by 15:30 Frank had returned having not managed to catch Pete and Barbara but having had an enjoyable solo ride, and then just after 16:00 hrs Pete and Barbara finished and everyone was accounted for.

Thanks everyone for taking part but extra big thanks to Barbara and Pete for organising things, and Pat and Frank for not just the use of their mobile home but all the hard work they'd put in serving the food and drinks.

Our next ride is on Sunday 10th July starting from Three Bridges Station at 10:00 hrs. It will be an easy ride suitable for practically anyone with a bike and will demonstrate how easy and safe it is to visit Redhill Aerodrome from Crawley. There is a cafe at the airfield and there's always something to see there.

Crawley Family Bike Ride 2011

2011-06-26T07:26:00.004+01:00

The weather forecasters were predicting a hot, sunny day (for a change) and this news seems to have encouraged people to get out on their bikes for a grand total of 52 people turned up at Oriel School for the Crawley Family Bike Ride 2011.

"Suitable for riders of all ages and abilities" was how the ride had been advertised and the Crawley public certainly lived up to that declaration.

Several members of Horsham and Crawley CTC were on hand to assist ride leader Pete keep the ride under control and safe for everybody.

First step was for everyone to register for the ride and thereby gain the protection of the ‘Team Green Bike Week’ insurance scheme.

Various freebies and leaflets were also available in order to publicise the various cycling facilities and organisations in Crawley.

Then everyone gathered together for a brief briefing from Pete.

The emphasis was very much on safety but also on enjoyment.

After posing for group photos for the Crawley News photographer.....

Look how many riders there are......

We set off. Firstly using the cycle path from Maidenbower into Furnace Green and then following Weald Drive into Tilgate. Pete led us on a quiet route using smaller residential roads and a cycle path to arrive at K2 leisure centre.

From there, the underpass at Broadfield roundabout enabled a safe crossing of the A23 and we followed NCN20 as it went up Woodmans Hill, Tollgate Hill, Hollingbourne Crescent and Wye Close to emerge at the top of Pease Pottage Hill - this was the hardest part of the ride as it involved something like a 40 metre climb in just under a mile.

The Horsham link road has not yet had the pedestrian controlled lights installed, but with some adept marshalling from the riders in flourescent yellow jackets and with the goodwill of several motorists, we were all soon safely across.

For the next mile or so the route followed the old A23 until we used a footbridge to cross over the new A23 at Tilgate Forest Row and gain the Handcross Road. Normally this road is almost devoid of traffic but today it was absolutely jam-packed with cars. It seems that there had been an incident on the A23 and lots of traffic was trying to find an alternative route via the Handcross Road. The volume of traffic was initially very worrying, especially bearing in mind the number of very young riders we had, but the traffic volume actually had the effect of reducing the traffic speed to one barely faster than our sub 10mph pace and we were soon at our destination, Nymans Gardens.

We received a warm welcome from the National Trust staff and not only did our event flyers give us free access to the garden but we were also issued with a voucher for a free drink from the cafe. Thanks Nymans.

As people enjoyed the gardens, had lunch or just sat in the shade, I repaired a puncture for a young lady - it's amazing how clumsy I become when people are watching me work on a bike, but once I relaxed I quickly got it done. Thanks for the use of your pump, John.

Soon it was time for the return journey, but not before another group photo:

Come on everyone, wave...

..... just one more .....

.... I lied .......

Within seconds everyone was back on the road and riding past a near stationery queue of traffic heading in the opposite direction.

On reaching Pease Pottage we headed east on Parish Lane before turning left into Tilgate Forest for a fast ride down the firebreak trail.

I think everyone really enjoyed this stretch - after all, this was basically the same hill they'd climbed up earlier in the day!

Here you can see Anton performing his usual "sweeper" role as, assisted by John, he looks after the youngest rider Angelo.

Having crossed over the M23 we then had a fast descent through the golf course before a short wooded section gave us some refreshing shade.

Minutes later we were back at Oriel School having ridden a total of just over 10 miles and without losing anyone! We received lots of positive comments and we're already trying to think of ways to improve the event for next year - avoiding any hills would seem to be high on the ideas list!

Thankyou to everyone who set up, organised, advertised, assisted, donated to the event but an extra BIG thankyou to everyone who turned up and took part in the ride. Hopefully it revealed some aspect of the cycle facilities in Crawley of which you weren't previously aware and it would be lovely to see you on any of the Horsham and Crawley CTC rides in the future. n.b. there is an easy ride either along the Worth Way or to Redhill Aerodrome on Sunday 10th July, come along, you'll be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to get to places by bike.

For club members (and those of you who fancy one or more 25 mile rides along some wonderful lanes) this Sunday (3rd July) sees us hold our annual Two Weald Ride. Make your own way to Wisborough Green for 10:00hrs and set off either by yourself or with a variety of other riders on any of the four circular routes that we have maps and route instructions for. Light refreshments will be available from Pat and Franks camper van and all the routes have convenient pubs for when you want a lunch break.

The Crawley Family Bike Ride, 26th June 2011

2011-06-21T20:00:00.000+01:00

Coming up:

The Black Horse at Amberley

2011-06-05T19:54:00.001+01:00

Young Men! Do you drive a light blue metallic car? Are you fed up with sky-high car insurance costs?

Well the solution is close to hand.

.........Improve your driving standards!!!!!

Example 1: When approaching a traffic island and a cyclist is just in front of you, do NOT speed past on the wrong side of the island. Instead, be patient and obey the rules of the road, it will only cost you about the same time as inputting 4 characters on your mobile phone! An amount of time you can easily reclaim as you studiously ignore every other traffic regulation you're aware of.

Example 2: When approaching a roundabout on a dual-carriageway, don't blast your horn when you're just a few yards from a cyclist and expect him to know that it means you're not very good at driving, you don't know how to overtake, you want to turn left AND that your mate in the back is an obnoxious little toad!

Anyway, those two oafs and the joys of climbing Pease Pottage Hill got my pulse rate going and I arrived at Horsham Pavilions in the Park a good quarter of an hour early!

Next to arrive was John C - I thought I'd seen him as I went past the Station - and then Barbara arrived. As we stood around chatting, Pete E walked up - unfortunately not riding, but on his way into work. Still, it gave us the opportunity to arrange a date for the next committee meeting.
We waited the usual 10 minutes after the published time but no one else turned up so we set off.
We used the golf course route out of Horsham and then passed through Broadbridge Heath and south on the A264 before turning left onto Bashurst Hill. On reaching Valewood Lane, Barbara had to leave us as she only had time for a short ride. John and I carried on south through Coneyhurst, Broadford Bridge, up Woods Hill and into West Chiltington. It's noticeable that the resurfacing has made the road down the hill a lot slower and I even had to pedal towards the bottom.

Stream Lane was next, and was as quiet as usual. Then after a fairly busy dash along the A283, we soon arrived at Wiggonholt RSPB where we stopped for a quick cuppa and Eccles cake each. As we sat in the patio area we were entertained by all the birds on and around the feeding stations - I counted at least six varieties during the 10 minutes or so that we were there - Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, House Sparrows (and possibly Tree Sparrows) and also a Tree Creeper. Most of them had young fledglings with them as well. There was also a Grey Squirrel that kept trying to get near the feeders, but a little Scots Terrier barked at it each time it appeared and it turned tail each time.

As we resumed our ride, so it started raining - but only in the form of a fine mist that didn't really get us wet. As we passed through the woodland that clings to the slight sandstone ridge we kept our eyes open for deer or other wildlife, but didn't see anything - they were probably keeping dry somewhere. After Rackham Lane we climbed Rackham Road onto Amberley Bank from where we could grab an occasional view of the lush green Amberley Levels.

Maintaining my earlier theme, we'd arrived at the pub ahead of schedule and it wasn't yet open, but there's always something to chat about and it wasn't long before the door was opened and we were sinking our first pints.

We both opted for a sandwich and, as is the fashion, they came with chips. The food was good and was deservedly washed down with a second pint.

For the return journey we retraced our path as far as West Chiltington and then we took a route using the Coolham road, Broomers Corner, Countryman Lane past The Countryman Inn and then up through Southwater. As both of us live in Crawley, we then used Sedgwick Lane, Doomsday lane, Hammerpond Road and Grouse Road to arrive at Pease Pottage. It was a bit wet blasting down Pease pottage Hill, but just a few minutes later we were home and dry.

Our next ride is at 09:30hrs on Sunday 12th June. Starting at Three Bridges, it will be led by John C and probably head North and East from Crawley.

DA Event - Wiggonholt Rendezvous

2011-05-29T19:18:00.000+01:00

In spite of waking up before 07:00hrs, by the time I'd got myself out of the house I only had 25 minutes to get to Horsham! I failed miserably and took 35. As I was about to cross the railway bridge by Horsham Station I spotted Jeet, on his way home because only he and Norman had turned up at 09:00hrs! I had a map and a route so Jeet decided it was a day for riding after all and we both went on to Horsham park Pavilions just in case anyone else was there. No luck - Norman had already set off for Wiggonholt, so we set off in pursuit. Despite keeping up a cracking pace, we passed through Tower Hill, Bax Castle, Barns Green, West Chiltington, Stream Lane and it wasn't until we arrived in the queue at the tea room in Wiggonholt RSPB centre that we caught up with him!
There were three other West Sussex riders there and, as we ate our tea and cake, several others arrived, including John V and John C.
At 11:30 all 13 of us set off on a fairly simple ride, via Billingshurst up to the Blue Ship at The Haven (strange name for a village that).
The food and beer were good as usual, as was the conversation with our friends and, as ever, soon it was time to set off again.
Each section headed in it's own direction - we opted to go via Slinfold, Warnham station, and Rusper back to Crawley (Norman had decided on a ride up the Downs Link before returning to Horsham).
Our next ride is a Horsham start at 09:30 on Sunday 5th June. We will head South and West via Wisborough Green for Lunch at The Black Horse in Amberley. This should be a medium rated ride of some 40 miles. If the weather is nice it wil be VERY enjoyable.

Falmer Fantasy

2011-05-15T20:01:00.001+01:00

A good turnout for this ride which went from Three Bridges to Falmer (near Brighton):

Myself (Richard), the two Johns, Norman, Barbara and Peter and Marion on their (at times jet powered) tandem, set off from Three Bridges, and met Roz who had cycled the slightly shorter distance from East Grinstead to Turners Hill. We soon passed Ardingly, and turned off onto the nicer lanes, past Walstead School where the cricket had already started, and then onto Slugwash Lane. Taking a slightly different route than the normal Ditchling at Wivelsfield, we skirted Plumpton, and enjoyed the new surface on the little lane before coming out onto the A275 at Cooksbridge. It was noted the quality of the road surface seemed to correspond to the distance to the County town, or perhaps a councillor lives down the lane.
A short stretch of the busy A275 and we arrived by Lewes prison to turn right and then join the cycle path alongside the A27. This took us up to Falmer, the name of the ride. A walk across the footbridge and we had a quick break by the duck pond. The fantasy part, which is now reality, as we started, and before the hill over the downs to Woodingdean, is the new football stadium, nestling in the downs.

Unfortunately this is where we hit the traffic as there are still 4 way traffic lights at Woodingdean, and thus a long queue of cars, and little chance to whizz past.
Now we had done the hills, and could freewheel down towards Rottingdean, before turning off and cutting the corner, before meeting the cycle path alongside the A259 coast road.
We stopped for lunch at the Roedean cafe, with nice views of the sea, although unfortunately not a sunny day. Setting off for some of the group to catch a train back home, we found Madeira Drive wasnt a nice pootle along the cycle path to the pier, but instead the road was packed with Minis which has been doing their annual London to Brighton run. This meant the group was split up, and I managed to lose those of us who were cycling back to Crawley alongside the A23 on NCN20. Norman, had already said he would use the downs link to get back to Horsham by this time.
Anyway a pleasant 60 miles for me, and hopefully everyone got home safely though the busy Brighton traffic

DA Event: The I-Spy

2011-05-08T19:00:00.001+01:00

Sorry about the delay in posting this entry, I’ve been very busy organising my Coast-to-Coast bike ride.

The weather was slightly windy with overcast skies and there had been some rain earlier, so only 11 people joined me for this years I-Spy. This was a shame because parts of the route had been especially pretty when I’d cycled it last week. No matter, I got on with the briefing session.

“No clues on A or B roads, safety is paramount, enjoy yourselves” is what I told everyone. The start was at Billingshurst Station and the first clue was right in front of the competitors the moment they mounted their bikes: I asked “What station opposite the Station?” It was fun watching them milling around looking for the answer when I knew it was that big sign that said “Off Centre Hair Station”.
The route took them up into Billingshurst and then out on the A272 as far as Wisborough Green where they could finally get onto the minor roads for more relaxed cycling. Clues were sprinkled amongst the route instructions as they headed west then north then west again through Ifold, Plaistow and Shillinglee. Finally, having crossed the A283 I turned them south and up a long climb (according to Pete S) through some delightful scenery before turning east through Lurgashall.
My original plan was to have lunch at the pub in Lurgashall but the landlord doesn’t seem able to deal with groups of cyclists, so I kept the competitors going for another couple of miles before bringing them to a halt at The Half Moon in Northchapel.
Although the rain had kept away, there was still a little wind and the sun had not quite broken through the cloud, so although we stayed outside in the garden it could have been warmer!

As each team had their lunch, I marked their morning answer sheets – each team that is, bar one. Ros and John C had become separated and John had taken a wrong turn. I managed to phone him and find that he was several miles away to the south (nearly in Petworth!). He soon managed to join us though.

The afternoon session was only 9 miles compared to the 19 morning miles, so having given out the route and clues, I had to get pedalling in order to ensure I was at the finish before anyone else. The sun was starting to win the battle with the clouds and it was very pleasant whistling along (and checking the answers were still in place).

Arriving at the finish – Fishers Farm Park – I got myself a coffee and a piece of cake and installed myself in a sun-trap of a patio area where I could see people arriving (and keep an eye on my bike).

I hadn’t finished my coffee before Pete and Marian arrived and then the others started rolling in and I could complete the marking.

The results were as follows:
1st: Edwin, John M, Colin and Anne 39 out 39 points
2nd: John W, Dave and Richard 38 out of 39 points
3rd: Ros and John C 35 out of 39 points
4th: Pete and Marian 33 out of 39 points

It looks like I may need to make the questions slightly harder in future, though I didn’t need to resort to my tie-break question: “How many churches with spire or tower (as marked on an OS 1:50,000 Landranger map) have you passed within about 100 metres of since leaving Billingshurst Station? (count each one only once)”

By the way, the answer is FIVE – Wisborough Green, Plaistow, Lurgashall, Northchapel and Kirdford. Billingshurst church is the best part of 300 metres from the route so doesn’t count.

This weekends ride promises to be a good one.

Starting from Three Bridges station at 09:30 it’s entitled “Famer Fantasy” and, led by Richard, will follow a relatively easy and very enjoyable route down to Lewes and then Falmer before returning on NCN20 (there’s the option of using the train for the return).

As for me, I’ll be riding from St. David’s in West Wales to Hemsby in Norfolk. I’ll be posting a daily blog – go to http://bobscoasttocoast.blogspot.com/ to see how I’m getting on.

Commercial Vehicle Run

2011-05-01T23:04:00.003+01:00

Todays riders were Anton, Barbara, Bob, Frank, Marian, Pete, Richard and Ros. Let's see if the pictures can tell the story.......

.

On the first Sunday in May (exactly six months away from the date of the Veteran Car Run), the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society have a London to Brighton run. This year, there was a service halt at Broadfield Stadium, so we had plenty to look at. When it was time to move on again we couldn't find Frank. We thought he might be chatting about buses with someone - after all, there were plenty about.

But no, we found him chatting to someone about a fire-engine from Wisbech.

We thought we'd get chance to overtake some of the old vehicles on the climb up Pease Pottage Hill, but the only one we managed was a (different) fire-engine that had stalled near the top of the hill. The road was really busy and it was with some relief that we finally left the Historic vehicles route at Staplefield (ignoring the Beer Festival advertised at The Jolly Tanners). Richard bid us adieu here too as he had to head for home.

We turned west, under the A23, through Slaugham, past Slaugham Pond and crossed the B road by The Wheatsheaf. After the short, sharp climb following the Hammerpond, we turned right onto Grouse Road.

and then a couple of miles later we parked ourselves in the garden of The Dragon at Colgate.

A couple of pints of Pickled Partridge, some good food and a conversation about the AV voting system later we were back on the road. Barbara and Norman heading west to Horsham, the rest of us going east to Pease Pottage and then onto Parish Lane before using NCN20 through a sandy Tilgate Forest.

and past the fake tree or "Orange" tree as Mick calls it:

(it's a mobile phone mast really).

Now we were all home - apart from Ros who had a few miles of the Worth Way to traverse before getting home to East Grinstead.

Next weeks ride is a DA Event - the I-Spy.

Starting from the north side of Billingshurst Railway Station at 10:00 hrs, it will involve riding a 31 mile loop spotting the answers to a number of questions along the way. There will be a pub stop for lunch about 19 miles in and refreshments will be available at the finish. The station car park costs just £1 on a Sunday, though I suspect (free) on-road parking will be available nearby.

Please take part and support your club, entry is free and there's always the chance you could win a prize!

Warnham

2011-04-24T22:43:00.000+01:00

It's not far from Horsham to Warnham, so how come I managed a 45 mile day?

Well, I started from Crawley and arriving at the Pavilions in the Park I'd already clocked up 9 miles. There to meet me were Norman, Barbara, Mick and Pete E.

We turned left onto Hurst Road then left to head down North Parade and cut through the town centre past the Water Globe sculpture and out on the Worthing Road. Turning right at the Boars Head we now took Tower Hill and then Two Mile Ash Road. On reaching the bridge over The Downs Link near the Bax Castle, we turned left onto Marlpost Road. As we headed south on this gloriously sunny day, we found the woods on either side of the road were absolutely full of Bluebells. We continued onto Dragons Green Road and passed a couple of riders on horseback - one of the horses was quite magnificently large. Reaching Dragons Lane, we turned left and passed The Dragon before turning back northwards on Bakers Lane.

Passing still more expanses of Bluebells we now headed west on Lackenhurst Lane and then Emms Lane to cross over the railway into Barns Green. Here we continued west along first Valewood Lane and then New Road - on previous years we've used this road for the DA Downhill Event - in the opposite direction. On reaching the A29 most of us turned right but a sudden glut of traffic meant Barbara got stuck at the junction for a couple of minutes. We regrouped at Okehurst Lane and then turned north onto Okehurst Road. On reaching The Blue Ship we turned left and then right before following Haven Road all the way up to Bucks Green.

We next followed the A281 west before taking Lynwick Lane opposite The Fox Inn and climbed up this quiet road to the back of Rudgwick. From here we headed down through the double bends before turning right at Ellens Green onto Furzen Lane. Usually we travel this road in the other direction, so today made a quite refreshing change - as did the trip past The Chequers Inn and down Rowhook Hill. We next recrossed the A29 and then briefly used the A281 before taking Strood Lane and then Byfleets Lane to arrive at Warnham. Using Friday Street we passed the Greets Inn and then, bang on 12 o'clock we arrived at the Sussex Oak.

With a beer festival in full swing, there was a good choice of ales and, as we had arrived at the optimum time, our food orders arrived very quickly. We had a pleasant time sitting in the sun, eating, drinking and listening to the jazz trio that were playing in the garden.

Eventually it was time to move on and it didn't take us long to get back to Horsham as Warnham is only a couple of miles away. Then for me it was just another 9 miles home to Crawley.

DA Event - Freewheel 2011

2011-04-17T21:31:00.002+01:00

We thought we'd experiment with a Crawley start to this ride this year. Frank was originally going to lead but commitments abroad meant that Pat stepped in instead - thanks Pat.

Pat, Barbara and myself left Three Bridges Station at 10 past nine and headed through Tilgate then up Pease Pottage Hill. The traffic up the hill was going especially close to us - maybe this is a feature of the driving style of people on their way to a car boot sale: for that was where most of the cars were going. I suppose it's MUCH more important to consider what bargains you might be able to find rather than look after the safety of your fellow citizens! I found myself wondering how many of these drivers had actually passed the driving test for themselves - the standard of their "driving" suggested not many......

Anyhoo, we were soon past them and into Pease Pottage. Next we turned down Grouse Road - mainly downhill for three miles - before turning right onto the Hammerponds Road and the various ups and downs that throws at you on the way to Doomsday Green.
Crossing the A281 near the garden centre we took Magpie Lane and Sedgewick Lane before using Coltstaple Lane to head west. On reaching Pedlars Way, we said goodbye to Barbara who was using it to get back to Horsham - only a short ride today as she was expecting visitors, but it was good to see her.

Next, Barbara's shoes were filled by Norman who joined us as we entered Southwater. Heading south once again we took the Shipley Road and crossed the A272 before taking Countryman Lane across to Broomers Corner and then Sincox Lane. Next we had a fast mile on the B2133 before forking right onto West Chiltington Lane. This route involves a short, sharp climb before the final roll into the centre of West Chiltington village. The lure of the park bench set against the wall in the sunshine opposite the pub was too great as we realised that, if we headed for Wiggonholt we wouldn't make it in time for elevenses and would then have to retrace our route back up a couple of hills!

It was very soporific sitting there in the sun - Pat had got a sunday newspaper and all that was missing was a nice cup of coffee and a croissant ....... zzzzzzzzzz ......... Wha! I woke up with a start as John V and John C arrived, closely follow by John W from Arun and Adur section. After a few minutes chat we started to see a crowd of other section members appearing round the corner of the climb up Mill Road.
Pat decided she was too worried about freewheeling at breakneck pace down a hill, so would stay reading her paper in the sunshine. The rest of us headed north, past the golf club to the top of Woods Hill. here we set off at one minute intervals to see who could roll the furthest. This year, I went down second so that I could see how everyone else got on.
I found it great fun watching as riders strove to get every inch of distance out of their bike - all those years of "slow bicycle races" at junior school suddenly made sense!
However, to win at this event you really need two things - a very free running bike and a lot of mass. I thought I had both but I was well short of the real contenders - they all kept their momentum a good 50 yards past where I stopped. At that point, the road goes ever so slightly down thereby accelerating them on to the Broadford Bridge junction. Of the three who made it that far, two stopped because of traffic, but the third, our own John C managed to turn left and roll for about another 200 yards! Incredible. However, because the other two were baulked by traffic, the decision was made to call the result a three-way draw. Well done John - you were the winner in my book!

We rejoined Pat at the pub for lunch - The Queens Head - and after a pleasant lunch in the sunshine, we headed home, eschewing the opportunity for afternoon tea at Sumners Ponds (we were too full from lunch).

Next weeks ride starts from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:30 hrs. It will head west and north from Horsham and lunch will be at the Sussex Oak in Warnham which (just coincidentally) is hosting a beer festival! It looks like the weather will be good again, so come on, come out for a ride through our glorious countryside.

Leith Hill Ride

2011-04-10T21:28:00.000+01:00

I woke up to a bright, sunny morning - perfect for cycling. Full of enthusiasm I set out for Horsham, my bike equipped with the new Brooks saddle I'd been given for my birthday, my wallet equipped with my National Trust card so that I could go up Leith Hill Tower.

Arriving at the Pavilions in the Park I was met by Norman and ........... no-one else! We hung around for ten minutes but the good weather hadn't enticed anyone else out. Due to other commitments, Norman would only be riding for an hour so Leith Hill was now off the agenda. I revised my route and instead of heading west out of Horsham I took us north.

Using North Heath Lane, I decided that we would use the middle of the three routes up the ridge to the north of Horsham. For some reason as a club we usually use the most-westerly of the three, up Langhurstwood Road, past the smelly tip, but I thought the middle was a revelation! It was very quiet, not smelly and although the climbing may have been steeper in places, I found it much more enjoyable than the other two routes (the eastern route, up Rusper Road is best avoided due to volume, speed and type of traffic - not enjoyable whilst climbing a hill).
On cresting, we turned right onto the always quiet Green Lane, before finally turning left onto (a relatively level) Rusper Road. From here it was but a few minutes before we were in the centre of Rusper.

Now we had a decision to make - Norman was at the halfway point of his morning for riding, so needed a route back to Horsham, I would be on my own - did I want to go on to Leith Hill solo?
Norman decided to turn right, go down through Faygate, cross the A264, up Tower Hill to Colgate and turn right to take the Forest Road back into Horsham.
I decided I would ride back home and then I could help my wife and daughter get down to the coast to watch their friends take part in the Brighton Marathon.

So, by 10:30 the club ride had finished without going anywhere near the intended destination and having only used an hour of what was a perfect day for cycling!

Postscript: a week later I found out that not only had two club members attempted to rendezvous at the lunch pub (The Six Bells), two riders from another part of the West Sussex member group had done the same - shame I hadn't known on the day.

2011-04-03T18:43:00.000+01:00

It was more ‘old lags’ than beginners on Sunday! Most of the eight riders present have a few miles under their belt and one is actually doing 20 miles in the morning before work! But nonetheless most of the group were pleased that we had a morning ride and we elected to head off to Redhill aerodrome for coffee as scheduled, especially as it was mother’s day and we have found to our cost in the past that lunch can be difficult to obtain without pre-booking. Marian and I led off on our tandem towards Gatwick airport, using parts of NCR20 and NCR21. The intention was to show Roz some options for getting to Gatwick station without heading along main roads. It was a fine sunny morning, although with a slightly chilly wind. Bob wasn’t in his shorts so it’s probably not time for the rest of us to get them out yet either. We cut along North Road and in to Manor Royal before turning along the cycle path behind City place taking us to the Riverside pond in Horley. This has had some clearing work done on the trees and shrubs and it was really surreal to cycle along between the river mole and this pretty pond within a (literal) stones throw of a major international airport – the only clue was a little plane noise (and the roar of the A23, of course). We went past the thriving boot sale in Horley and then in to the open countryside as we headed north towards Redhill aerodrome. The café was tremendously busy with all of the inside and outside seating full when we arrived. But we got a seat just after we had ordered and were able to sit outside watching the light aircraft and helicopter traffic while we drank our tea/coffee and ate our tea cakes etc. Oh, and there was some quite lively discussion on various topics, not including sprockets or wheel sizes! We left about 11.30 and headed south now, towards Outwood and it’s windmill (again not working today) where we turned down Scots Hill and then left in to Cogmans Lane. We arrived at Smallfield Place (http://www.francisfrith.com/smallfield/photos/smallfield-place-c1955_s664004/) – a fine old manor house to cross over and follow our quite familiar route to Copthorne and across to Old Hollow where John C left us for the pleasures of the Balcombe Road. The short steep rise at the end took us up to the unofficial connection with the Worth Way where Roz turned east to return to East Grinstead and shortly after Pat and Frank turned through Worth to cut through to Maidenbower. We stopped for a while to explain to Barbara the best route to the new Crawley <-> Horsham bike route but found it too difficult and so gave up! But we do plan to ride it on one of our beginners rides, maybe ending up at the very pleasant Frog and Nightgown – watch this space. (I’ve got a map if anyone would like one – just send me an email) Two hours ride in good company. We covered about 22 miles, if you are counting. Hope to see you soon. Peter Crawley CTC RtR Next weeks ride starts from Horshm Pavilions in the Park at 09:30 hrs and will take us to Leith Hill (weather permitting) to visit the Tower (NT) where we can have some tea and cake. From there it will be a short ride across to Newdigate for lunch at the Six Bells. After lunch we'll have a fairly direct route back to give a total of approximately 30 miles.

Abinger Hammer

2011-03-27T19:38:00.003+01:00

I didn't get off to a good start this morning - I'd been worrying about a project going in at work and been late going to bed, I'd been phoned by work at 4am and then for good measure the clocks had gone forward - so all in all it was a miracle I made it to Horsham Pavilions in the Park only 5 minutes late. I was greeted by three club members - Barbara, Richard and Pete. Pete wouldn't be riding as he's still recovering from a fall but hopes to be back out in a couple of weeks. We chatted whilst we waited but 10 minutes later no one else had turned up and we decided to set off. We headed west along Hurst Road then took West Parade, Kempshott Road and Spencers place before crossing the golf course and going under the A24 to emerge on Robin Hood Lane. I couldn't see any deer in the Deer park to our right today, so refrained from usual attempts to wind them up. This is one of our standard routes away from Horsham and next takes Byfleets Lane, Strood Lane, the Guildford Road and a short stretch of the A29 before heading up Rowhook Hill At the top of the hill the road bears right and we were now pointing in the general direction that the rest of the ride would take. The day had started slightly chilly, but with clear skies and a light wind, the spring sun was starting to make its presence felt as we arrived in Ewhurst and hit the third hill of the ride. Just under a mile later and with another hill starting to bite we took a right fork onto Peaslake Road. This soon swept us down into the village and at this point I noticed the rear of my bike starting to squirm a little - another puncture! We stopped by the war memorial and in front of a load of mountain bikers I demonstrated a quick tube change. Here Richard left us and headed south east, up Radnor Road. We continued north before taking Hoe Lane on the right which took us up and over two small ridges before we turned left onto the B2126 for a gentle, slightly downhill mile to Abinger Hammer. We lunched in the tea room on sandwiches and cheese and all the time the sun was warming things up outside. I was half expecting John V to meet us at the lunch stop, but he didn't materialise so we set off on the return leg. Firstly we headed south on the B2126 through Sutton Abinger, then, ignoring the charms of the Volunteer Inn we headed up Sutton Lane and across to Abinger Common. We were nice and warm now and for the first time this year we were having to shed layers to stay comfortable. The road kept climbing and the fact that it's called Leith Hill Road should give a clue as to why - after all Leith Hill is the highest point in the Southeast! Barbara rejected my invitation to offroad it even higher and all the way up to the Tower, so I just had to settle for the downhill blast to the south and, without trying, I was soon whistling along at 40 mph. At the bottom of the hill we joined up with the B2126 once more and took it as it headed south east then east through Ockley and past its picturesque church and over the A24 to Capel. Using the Rusper Road and passing another brickworks pit on our right, we headed to Rusper, spurred on by our plan to stop for a pint there. Muggeridge's Hill was its usual hard work but there was no stopping us now and we soon pulled up at The Star in Rusper. It was very pleasant sitting in the sun, supping on a rather good pint of London Pride. I realised that I had now finally started to relax having been uptight and worrying about work all weekend. Ironically, my phone now rang and it was work! Fortunately I dealt with it quickly and also realised that all the project stuff I'd been worrying about appeared to have worked. We now headed home - Barbara back to Horsham down the Rusper Road, me back to Crawley along a different Rusper Road. Next weeks ride is a beginners ride starting from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs and will be an easy 2 hour ride either along the Worth Way or possibly up to Redhill Aerodrome. It's also Mothering Sunday - why not bring your Mum out for a bike ride?

2011-03-20T21:28:00.000Z

April showers bring May flowers, or so I was always taught. But when we seven non-novice riders left Three Bridges at about 10.15 on Sunday, we saw primroses galore in the weak late March sunshine. I had planned an alternative route if we had no newcomers and, fortunately, I had shown Bob the details before we left. This meant that when I went wrong he was able to put us back on track! Thank you Bob.

It was also the Pioneer run on Sunday so when we joined the A23 at K2, having followed the Tilgate Drive cycle route from Three Bridges, we were accompanied by motor cycles and support vehicles of all different shapes and sizes. And the smell of two-stroke exhaust (remember that?!). The short climb up to Pease Pottage lead us past the motorway services and on the route to Handcross where the Pioneers headed off west towards Plummers plain but we freewheeled down to Staplefield and my embarrassment as Bob took the correct right turn while we sailed serenely off the wrong way! Strangely the last time I lead this route I went the wrong way as well – note to self; make sure you know the route when you are leading….

From Staplefield we headed south along the NCR20 until turning left/east along Mallions Lane. This is a single track road with grass growing out of the middle of it and views of the hills to both the north and the south. Of course, sometimes you have to climb hills which we duly did to arrive at the B2115 to Cuckfield. Arriving at the outskirts of Cuckfield we turned to the left/north and then first left in to Cherry Lane. This is another single track lane and we meandered through lovely countryside until a short kick up to Balcombe station, across the B2036 and arrived at the café for 12.15. They really make you welcome in the café and it was, therefore, no surprise to find it packed. After drinks and a variety of food we set off again down to Balcombe reservoir with an organised cycle ride passing us in the opposite direction – bikes were outnumbering cars today! From the reservoir it is a short, but quite steep, climb up to the left turn into Paddockhurst Lane. And from there a gentle slog up to the B2110 Paddockhurst Road where we turned right/east for Turners Hill. Here, Ros turned north for Crawley Down and the Worth Way home to East Grinstead while Anton turned south for Haywards Heath. The remaining Crawley contingent freewheeled down towards Crawley to Bob’s puncture just past Tulley’s farm. Five minutes to fix that and we were back in Crawley at about 13.15 after 25 miles. Not a ride for unfit riders, as a few quite stiff climbs, but a wonderful couple of hours in the countryside.

Our next beginners ride is in two weeks time on Sunday 3rd April, meeting at 10.00 at Three Bridges station. The plan is to ride an easy trip to Redhill aerodrome for coffee (and cake!) via Gatwick airport. Next weeks ride starts in Horsham at 10.00 and is going to Abinger Hammer – this promises to be a good run with excellent weather guaranteed. And a leader who knows where he is going!

Also if you want to plan a route to work, or a leisure trip out for a couple of hours try this cycle route software: http://www.cyclestreets.net/ It is really very good and has now been adopted by West Sussex County Council and Crawley Borough Council. I think that Horsham will follow shortly.

Happy riding!
Peter

Edenbridge

2011-02-27T20:40:00.001Z

First ride today since last Sunday due to family commitments,weather cold but dry so I decide on the Van Nicholas Yukon with triple chainring. I also fit my Garmin 800 gps for a trial run.
Arriving at Three Bridges Station, Richard is already waiting and shouts snap as he spots my Garmin - the same model as the one nestling on his bike. Peter and Marion then arrive closely followed by J.V. We set off through the back streets then through the Industrial estate cycle path and finally out onto the Balcombe road near the Black Corner garage where I drool over the BMW's for sale. Turning right at the next roundabout we hammer over the motorway and make good progress down to Burstow village. It's always nice to hit this lane after the busy roads around Gatwick.

Getting too far ahead, I slow down at the Smallfield road and trundle through Horne till I arrive at the A22, a short section of A22 is unavoidable before turning left onto the back road to Godstone. Before Tilburstow Hill looms into sight we turn right at the pub cross the A22 again and arrive at Broadham Green where we stop for a drink and remember this place as my first ride with J.V. on my retirement from work all of six years ago. Setting off again we zig-zag through Oxted where Al Fayeds son Dodi is buried in the grounds of Oxted mansion Barrow Green Court. Al Fayed only flys in by helicopter and the gates are locked so you cant see anything. Also, Ronnie Biggs went to school here and Adam Faith still lives in or near Oxted.
Skirting Pains Hill we said goodbye to Richard and arrive at Edenbridge High Street just on opening time. The King and Queen, a 16th century pub near the Eden river looked inviting so in we went. Britains oldest brewery (Shepherd Neame) supplies this establishment and very nice the beer tasted too and together with the bar food we had an enjoyable hour or so.

We returned to Crawley via Lingfield Hospital school and Horne. Total mileage today 39.
J.C.

Morning Ride

2011-02-20T19:17:00.003Z

I spent Saturday afternoon cleaning and lubricating my bike as it hadn't received any attention since the soaking it received on last weeks ride. I had to pay particular attention to my saddle - it's about 8 years old now and showing it's age, so after getting wet the leather looks dull and worn and needs a good polish. Unfortunately I forgot to clean my wheel rims and when I pulled up at Three Bridges Station for the start of todays ride the brakes squealed and screamed in a most alarming manner. There were already five riders there (Pete S, Marian, Anton, Barbara and a new rider, Charlie) and they were waiting for Roz to arrive from East Grinstead. Pete was leading and had decided to use the Worth Way/Forest Way to get to Forest Row. I decided I'd prefer to tackle it using my knobbly tyres, so I arranged to go back home to 'change' and then rejoin the group at Worth Church.

Ten minutes or so later I was just approaching the Church when I met up with John V. He'd arrived at Three Bridges just after me and then popped back home to swap to a more suitable bike for the ride. A couple of minutes later everyone else rolled up, giving us a total of seven bikes and eight riders (Pete and Marian were on their tandem).

As we rode along we noticed that the path was very busy today with many walkers, joggers and cyclists. It was also a bit soft and muddy underwheel, so I was glad I'd swapped my tyres. Anton was on his mountain bike today and looking good. When we got to the little shortcut I use near Rowfant, Anton headed straight up it although I thought he might have grabbed too low a gear. I shot up it as well, shifting my weight to keep the front wheel tracking effectively .. but .. Anton had hit a tree stump and fallen off in front of me. I was too busy laughing to ride past him and he was lying there grinning like a Cheshire Cat. He'd just discovered that it's a lot less painful falling off in mud and shrubbery than on a hard, unforgiving road.

Riding on, we next passed through Crawley Down and headed on towards East Grinstead. There seems to have been a lot of maintenance work along this stretch and we soon came across a group of people in bright reflective jackets cutting back the scrub and burning the waste. On the back of one of the jackets I noticed the words "Community Payback". At the railway station, no-one rode over the bridge and down the steps - after all, what mud-besplattered oik would do that?

On reaching the High Street we turned right as usual but then at the traffic lights we turned left and used a couple of back streets to avoid the roadworks further up the High Street. As we went past Chequers Mead Hall I spotted a tower that looked like it had lost the rest of its church. Anton told me that it was in fact part of Sackville College. A couple of hundred yards later we turned back offroad onto the Forest Way and straight down a 'no-brakes' hill. When I say 'no-brakes' I'm referring to my habit of trying to use my brakes as little as possible - though I had to use them at the bottom as the trail crosses a road.

On the next section Anton went pressing ahead so I sped off to try and catch him, but after a few hundred yards he stopped - the temperature seemed to have dropped a couple of degrees and Anton needed to add another layer to keep warm. I kept going and then I noticed some tracks and wooden constructions in the woods to the right - it was a 'North Shore' style mountain bike course. This type of course uses boarding to get over boggy patches and sometimes the boarding goes up off the ground a few feet - you need a good head for heights when riding it and a very good sense of balance.

Shortly after crossing the A22 we arrived at the Riverview Cafe in Forest Row and we all sat down to tea/coffee and cake. All except me that is - as usual I was running without mudguards and covered in mud so I stood in the door area where there was a large doormat so as not to make a mess. Reading the noticeboard I noticed that the cafe stages a Classic Car meeting on the second Sunday of every month - curious, I asked what constituted a "classic" car. Apparently the current definition is any car built before 1983 although some younger cars can lay a claim to being classic. If you're interested in seeing what cars turn up, the next meeting is on March 13th.

The return trip started with Anton and me using a rough track to the left of the Forest Way. As it climbed up the embankment it was very muddy and slippy and we had to concentrate to maintain traction and forward motion. It was hard work but I was entertained to hear Anton laughing whilst he struggled to control his squirming bike. As this singletrack detour ran back down to the main route it became muddier and featured a small drop-off - I dealt with it by shifting my weight backwards and leaving the brakes alone and swept back onto the level. Anton adopted the same approach but was thwarted by a dog that stood in the middle of the track and refused to budge! Regaining the main track we got a good pedal cadence going and soon caught up with the rest of the group on the long gradient back to East Grinstead.

At the station, some muddy oaf rode up the steps and insisted on climbing the muddy bank out of the carpark not once but twice.

Next stop was Crawley Down where Anton struck off south to head back home. Not long after that we were back in Crawley and all heading home in our own directions. It was omly a short ride but we had a good turnout and an enjoyable time.

Next weeks ride also starts from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs. John C will be leading us over to Edenbridge and back with a possible tea stop at Lingfield. This will be a relatively easy 40 mile ride.

The Green Man

2011-02-13T21:50:00.002Z

I was doing better this week – I’d got up on time, I’d eaten my breakfast and watched United on the repeat of Match of the Day (great goal by Mr Rooney). I’d even remembered to put a skinny spare tube in my barbag, filled my waterbottle (and put it on my bike), but could I find my bike lock? No I couldn’t! I turned my bike stuff upside down but the lock still didn’t materialise. Ah well, best not be late, so it was on with the waterproofs and off, out into the rain.

Thirty-five uneventful minutes later I arrived at Horsham Park Pavilions and was met by Norman – back on his bike after several weeks off through injury (non-bike related I must point out). Norman locked our bikes together and we went into the cafe for a coffee.

A few minutes later Pete E joined us and then Anton materialised as well. A few minutes of chat and then we decided it was time to hit the road. Pete wouldn’t be riding today and had just come to the start for a coffee and a chat.

We travelled through Horsham using Depot Road and turning onto Comptons Lane I considered using Hampers Lane, but decided not to as it would also have meant using an unsurfaced bridleway and in the wet it would have been pretty messy. Instead we carried on down to Hammerpond Lane and headed east past a busy Horsham RUFC ground – I wanted to shout out an ironic “Who’d be silly enough to be out in the rain?” but resisted the temptation. The short sharp climb past Roosthole car park was hard work as was the one up to Grouse Road. At this point Norman, whose leg was feeling the strain, decided to head for home via Colgate. The ride was living up to the usual Bob trademark of being hilly and yes, straight after Grouse Road and a brief downhill, there was another short sharp shock for Anton and me.

Carrying on east and over the crossroads at Plummers Plain we soon arrived at Slaugham where the church bells were going full tilt. Shortly after we went under the A23 and Anton pointed out a car at the side of the road with it’s window wide open in the rain – he’d seen it an hour or so earlier on his way over to Horsham. As it was in the middle of nowhere, we phoned up the police non-emergency line and brought it their attention.

On reaching Staplefield we headed south on Staplefield Lane then took Mallions Lane which brought us out onto the B2115 which we then followed into Whitemans Green. Here we turned right(ish) at the mini-roundabout before turning left onto Ardingly Road (which becomes Hanlye Road). These roads were all quite busy and I was quite glad there were only two of us for me to worry about. At the end we headed downhill, past the entrance to Borde Hill Garden and up the steep little climb before turning right onto Copyhold Lane. As we approached the far end of this lane Anton asked which way we’d be turning at the end – apparently if we turned right there’d be another steep hill – guess what? Yup, that was the way we were going. As it happens, when I’d planned the route using Google Maps, my route avoided this hill by heading east along a road called Finches Lane. Unfortunately, the lane was disguised as a farm entrance and I missed it! So up the hill we went. Technically we were now lost as we weren’t on my route list and I didn’t have a map, but I knew we had to head east and I was sure we’d pick up a road I was familiar with sooner or later. We took a road with the strange name of “By Sunte” and then a road called “Finches Park Road” – I reckoned that must be near the Finches Lane on my list and sure enough we popped out onto Hickmans Lane which was the next road on my list. This road emerged on Lindfield High street where we turned left and headed north past the church and the interesting collection of houses just past it.

Our next turn took us onto Park Lane, a road I’ve never cycled on before and another uphill slog. As we came to a crest just before a bend, Anton shouted something over his shoulder that sounded like “That’s it”. That wasn’t too bad I thought, went round the bend and saw the road leap steeper up! As I ground my way up the gradient I realised that Anton had actually shouted “That’s not it”. After the road levelled out we turned left onto Keysford Lane which took us down and under the Bluebell Railway – I was hoping a train would pass but no luck. Up the other side and half a mile later we’d arrived at Horsted Keynes. We had to shelter from the wind and rain in the porch of the pub for a good twenty-odd minutes as we’d arrived too early and they don’t open their doors until bang-on midday.

As we were the first customers in the pub, we bagged the comfy chairs right by the inglenook fire and arranged our gloves and jackets out to dry. Once again the beer was really good and the food equally so. We chatted about work, the club, the Paris-Brest-Paris ride that Anton will be tackling in August and the uses for the various pieces of horse tack that were displayed around the pub. I made Anton laugh by likening the shape of the fireplace to a Puritans hat, but there was no putting it off, we had to go back out into the rain.

Anton headed south, down Lewes Road and back to Haywards Heath, whilst I headed north, past Hosted Keynes station – two hills and two miles from the village – up another hill and into Ardingly. I didn’t fancy the reservoir route with its big climb the other side, so stayed on the B-road up to Turners Hill (a gradual climb) before enjoying the mainly downhill thrash back towards Crawley. I took a shortcut along part of the Worth Way and sprayed mud all over myself before arriving in Worth. By cutting through Maidenbower I avoided any more hills and arrived back home at about 14:45 with a mere 35 miles on my speedo. I spent the next 15 mins washing the bike down and spraying a thin oil over it before putting it away.

Next weeks ride starts from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs and is a Morning Ride aimed at less-experienced riders. Members and non-members are welcome. We will be Home in time for lunch or there will be the option of a Crawley area lunch.

Victory!

2011-02-06T21:10:00.001Z

For only the second time this year, I managed to get out on my bike for one of our Sunday rides. Good job too - it was my turn to lead!
Arriving at Three Bridges Station I was greeted by Pete and Marian, Barbara and Roz. I briefly ran through my intended route and, just as we were about to go, we were very pleased to be joined by John V.

Todays ride would take us East and South of Crawley, so off we headed, up through Pound Hill and out on the Turners Hill Road. The wind was fairly strong but thankfully on our rear quarter as we made our way up the long but not steep ascent to Turners Hill. Opposite the church we stopped to regroup and get our breath back and have a little chat about various recent events. But, when we set off again, I'd only gone two yards before a big hiss announced that I'd picked up a puncture. Doh! I was dismayed to find that I only had a fat spare tube in my bag and not the skinny one I needed, so I had to do a puncture repair. I'm a bit of a traditionalist and still use the old style glue and patch method. Mind you, it worked. Even though things were a little damp, the patch stuck first time and with Pete and Marians assistance I was soon back on the road.
Leading everyone South from the crossroads I decided to cut out part of the ride as we'd lost time. So, instead of heading to West Hoathly and then using Cob Lane (complete with the incredibly steep climb at its end) to get to Ardingly, we just sped straight down the B road. Normally this mainly downhill road can be freewheeled most of the way, but now the wind was on our front quarter we had to pedal it. It wasn't too arduous though and we were soon past the Showground and into the village.

Noting that the café was open, but without enough time to stop, we headed on West out through the village, past the church and down the bumpy hill to cross the reservoir. The grind up the other side got my lungs going and I decided that it was time granny earnt her keep - easing slightly I clicked the lever and …… granny came into play as smooth as you like. I love it when my bike is working properly.

John crested first with me not far behind and the two us "warmed down" as far as the next junction. Waiting there for the others however, we were starting to get cold. Wondering if something had happened, we were about to retrace our steps when around the corner came Pete, wobbling all over the place and obviously not riding the tandem we were expecting. "Where's Marian, you've lost her!" and "Whose bike have you nicked?" we shouted as he approached. He was actually on Roz's bike and was trying to cure a gear change problem for her - having recently had a new cassette fitted, Roz was now unable to get onto the largest two or three rear cogs and consequently was finding the hills a bit of a struggle. We tried a little bit of adjusting but to no avail - I suspect the cable had stretched a bit (or the clamp had slipped slightly) but Roz was going to take it back to the bike shop that had fitted the cassette, so I didn't poke my nose in.

At this point we said goodbye to John who was now going to head north and straight back to Crawley. We however continued West and downhill to cross the second arm of the reservoir. As it was now midday (our normal pub arrival time), I gave everyone the chance of trying the pub in Balcombe or even the tearoom there, but no, all of them wanted to plough on to lunch at Staplefield - I'd bribed them with the claim that there was only one slight hill up and then a two-mile downhill to the pub. The "slight hill up" had me breathing hard by the top, but the wind made sure I soon got my lungs full of air again. Brantridge Lane was good fun and the lack of foliage on the trees meant we could easily see Ditton Place through the trees. Formerly owned by the Inner London Education Authority it has in recent years been converted into luxury apartments I believe.

Arriving at the pub, I was concerned to see the car park full - I hadn't booked a table - but the landlady managed to spirit together enough tables and chairs to accommodate us. Add to that the fact that the beer was excellent and the food even more so, and you can understand that we had a very pleasant lunch.

When we came to set off again, we noted that the wind hadn't let up at all, but that it was still relatively mild. We were now heading mainly into the wind but along a relatively sheltered road which took us under the A23, through Slaugham and past Slaugham pond.
We next passed my standby lunch halt, the Wheatsheaf at Plummers Plain, and used Hammerponds Road as far as Grouse Road. Roz was slightly surprised by the number of ponds we'd gone past today and hopefully I didn't bore her too much with my explanations of the Hammerponds and the industry they were associated with in the past.

Barbara accompanied us all the way to the top of Grouse Road before turning left and doing the run back to Horsham, whereas we turned right and followed the usual Old Brighton Road, steps, Pease Pottage Hill, K2, Tilgate and Furnace Green route home. Saying goodbye, I left (delegated?) Pete and Marian to escort Roz back to the Worth Way. Roz was todays hard rider - not only did she have the extra 20 miles of an out and back to East Grinstead on the Worth Way, but she'd had to tackle all those hills without the two or three cogs that make them easiest! Well done Roz.

Next weeks ride will likely use some of the same roads - but I do have some others up my sleeve! Leaving Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:30 we will be heading East to enjoy lunch at The Green Man in Horsted Keynes - last time we visited we really enoyed the food and beer there - what more excuse do you need? If we get there at the right time, we may be able to bag the comfy chairs in front of the large open fire. The round trip will be about 40 miles and I would rate it as a Medium ride with a likely finish time around 15:30hrs.

Amberley - well not in the end.....

2011-01-16T19:28:00.000Z

It was a lovely morning as I rode to Horsham for 09.30. I seem to be getting back in shape as I got there in 48 minutes despite strong headwinds whereas my previous effort a couple of weeks before had taken over an hour! I now know who had been eating all the pies….

The forecast was not particularly good and that may be why there were only two of us at the appointed departure time. And as Barbara had not planned to do the return trip to Amberley anyway, we decided to do a loop closer to Horsham. So we headed out over the golf course (no golfers today!) and west to Rowhook hill. Horsham people are really fortunate to have this route as you are in the lanes and lovely countryside in ten minutes from the town centre. At the top of Rowhook hill we paused for a minute to watch lots of joggers/runners heading down the hill – they all looked exhausted – I do wonder at running; cycling is so much more fun as you do it sitting down (:->

Rowhook is really pretty with several old buildings and we proceeded in weak sunshine towards Oakwood Hill and then, after crossing the A29, to Weare street; one of the prettiest/quietest lanes in the County. We stopped by the duck pond so that Barbara could feed her apple to the ducks! A delightful spot.

After crossing the A24 we skirted Capel to join the Rusper road where we had a very small amount of rain. Very few cars today and lots of cyclists, mostly more serious ones on road bikes. Arriving in Rusper we went our different ways and I got home at 12.30 after 33 very pleasant miles. And we didn’t really notice the strong winds.

My personal tally for the year is now two Sunday runs, 50 + miles and no pub stops! I must be losing it…..

Hope to see you soon. We’ll reschedule Amberley later in the year, as that is a very pleasant run.

Our next ride starts from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs on Sunday 23rd January. We will head out north with the intention of a lunch stop at The Dolphin in Betchworth.

Family Bike Ride

2011-01-09T19:36:00.001Z

I’ve scheduled beginners’ rides once a month for the next few months. The first was attended by five regulars (old lags?!), but I think we need to do some more publicity if we seriously want to get some new riders. We have the funds so I am thinking of doing some ads in the Spring – which is when most people get their old bikes out of the shed. It was a coldish morning with some very light surface icing in places and so, although I had a 40km road route ready for the Crawsham CTC stalwarts, we decided to do the Worth Way on the basis that any ice risk would be greatly reduced by this route. And so it proved, as we had a very pleasant ride out to Forest Row – the Worth Way seems to get busier every time I go down it, as it was packed - where we took coffee in the (relatively) new café by the tip. This is run by a friendly Dutch/English family and is highly recommended. They have some kind of old cars rally there once a month and a few were about when Barbara, John, John, Anton and I arrived to some welcome coffee/tea. Someone also had cake – no names here.

Bob hasn’t had a good start to the New Year as he has been a bit under the weather and off work resulting in his missing this ride, but, much worse than that, Anton turned up on his new mountain bike and showed a propensity to ride it off the track in the verges etc, very much á la Bob, including going up the hump in Rowfant. This could get serious when Bob is back – watch this space (:-> And hope to see you back on the bike soon Bob.

The by-product of the easy rides is that we were back by 12.30 after two hours riding – this is popular in the winter, even with the regulars – and even though the mileage only just crept over twenty, the main point is not the distance but the pleasure of some moderate exercise in pleasant company. We hope to see you next time – you may well like it and there is nothing much to lose from giving it a go.

This week’s ride is scheduled to leave Horsham swimming centre at 09.30 for The Black Horse at Amberley. The forecast is wet (as of Saturday am) but they don’t always get it right. Hope to see you.

Happy Cycling.
Peter

What's been happening?

2011-01-03T12:28:00.001Z

Time for a catch up. What’s been happening in the world of Horsham and Crawley CTC member group the past few weeks?
Sunday 19th December was in the middle of the second rash of snow and was the day of the club Christmas Dinner. With the roads covered in snow and ice, none of us risked a two-wheel journey to The Gate and so we all arrived by car (thanks for the lift Pete & Marian). The pub was very convivial with Pickled Partridge on draught and a roaring log fire in the grate, although there was unfortunately no heating on in the dining area due to a missed heating oil delivery. There were only seven of us at the dinner but the food was good and hot and we had a great time with plenty of stories and amusing anecdotes being told.
The next ride was on Bank Holiday Monday 27th December and was a “Rendezvous Ride” – the idea being for people to set out in their own time, at their own pace and rendezvous at The Dragon at Colgate at midday. My original plan was that I’d do a 20 odd mile loop to the east and south which would involve several hills and quiet lanes (Turners Hill, Worth, Balcombe, Staplefield, Plummers Plain, Hammerpond, Grouse Road), however, on setting out (late as usual), my lack of fitness soon had me revising my route and instead of that I crept back into Crawley on the Worth Way and struggled up Pease Pottage Hill to ride straight to Colgate and only just get there for midday! On reflection I think I was going down with the bad cold that’s dogged me all the way into the new year!
Pete E was the only other rider out and had used a fairly simple route from Horsham via Doomsday Green and Grouse Road (he’d forgotten how long Grouse Road was!).
We rattled the doors of the pub but they were locked – frustratingly we could however see a rather attractive fire in the snug - but then the landlord let us in. Over a couple (or three) pints and a ciabatta sandwich apiece, Pete and I discussed such varied topics as how to encourage more people out on rides, how money-grabbing senior management are, various photographic techniques and how open the Premiership is this season! Reluctantly we left the warmth of the pub and each headed home knowing we only had one more day off before returning to work.
Sunday 2nd January should have seen me (Bob) lead a ride out to the north and west of Horsham with a lunch stop at the Mucky Duck in Tismans Common. Unfortunately, the bad cold mentioned earlier meant I could barely get out of bed, let alone ride a bike, so Pete E stepped into the breach. Here’s his summary of the day:
Went to the start today. There were a couple of bikes I didn't recognise. Just as I was going in for a cup of tea Anton arrived. He’d driven over as he was going to go to Evans after the ride to look for a mountain bike. As he was giving his bike a once over he noticed a broken chain link so abandoned plans for riding in favour of getting the bike fixed for a long ride he'd got planned tomorrow. Pat and Frank were waiting inside. I was most impressed with Pat commenting how slim and fit I was looking - not bad as I haven't done any serious exercise for months! Anyway after a cup of tea and a chat we agreed that I would lead a morning ride somewhere in the Crawley direction so that we could split at some point and be back in Horsham and Crawley by middayish.
I decided to go up Langhurstwood, past the Royal Oak and turn right at the end toward Rusper and see how we were doing. However, much to my embarrassment, leaving Horsham I got lost in the housing estate at the end of North Heath Lane and Pondtail Road - I must have missed a turning somewhere. Anyway we ended up in a playground with a footpath alongside which led up to the northern bypass. After dismounting and climbing a steep bank we found ourselves on the bypass not far from the big roundabout on the main Crawley road so we rode back along the bypass to the Langhurstwood crossing and proceeded to Rusper without mishap apart from Pat having a few gear change problems and Frank slipping his chain off. We went on in the direction of The Gate as far as the Lambs Green turn where we parted company. I returned to Horsham via Wimlands past the Frog & Nightgown and took the bridlepath near the railway crossing to the Rusper Road and into Horsham via North Heath Lane and Wimblehurst Rd. I noted that the Horsham Crawley cycleroute was signposted but at the level crossing it says end of route leaving any cyclists unfamiliar with the area with no guidance as to how to get to Horsham! It seemed a bit like those cyclelanes that just don't go anywhere! Useless!
Anyway, the weather was good and we all enjoyed the ride.

Our next ride starts from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs on Sunday 9th January. Led by Pete S, it will be an Easy ride aimed at less-experienced riders, however, everyone is welcome and we will be able to adapt to suit whoever turns up. Come on out – you need to ride off the Christmas excess!

Another cold Sunday

2010-12-12T19:20:00.002Z

How dedicated a ride leader is it that gets up at 04.36 (am) on a Sunday to email the group to say that they are not well and can’t make the ride that day!? Especially, when you weren’t even supposed to be leading in the first place having stepped in when the original leader decided to pull out. That is just what our Chair, Bob, did this Sunday. Fortunately he is getting better now.

I duly agreed to lead and turned up at the start, a few minutes late, having had a lazy slow ride to Horsham. It was bright and sunny, although a very cold day, and so I had taken my time getting there. I waited quite a while but found myself still alone. Having bothered to turn out I decided to make the most of the nice day by returning through Roffey to Wimlands road where I climbed up past the Frog and Nightgown (what a great name for a pub, and a great pub) unfortunately closed when I got there. Having turned off the busy roads I discovered a fair bit of ice at different times, and walked part of Wimlands Lane in the company of two roadies – their slick tyres presumably being even less grippy than my touring tyres. Then along the ridge on the newly surfaced bridle path back to Ifield. This is a great route and I had some fine winter views as I rode carefully along.

Crossing the railway line to arrive in Gossops Green is not as scary as it might seem, certainly no worse than some of the busier roads in Crawley. My wireless computer had decided not to work – I think that the cold finishes off the batteries – so I detoured to Evans Cycles to get a new battery, and then home.
Twenty odd miles, not very much really, but enough on such a cold day. And quite pleasant – although it would have been nice to have some company. Hope to see you at the Xmas lunch next week (if you have booked with Anton).

Cheers,
Peter

It was his idea!

2010-12-05T18:12:00.000Z

Following all the snow, the cold winds and the icy conditions, Anton and I came to the conclusion that it would be safest to cancel this week’s planned ride. Accordingly I updated the website and sent an e-mail out to our members. Anton volunteered to be at the start just in case anyone didn’t get the message.
Meanwhile I was wondering what I was going to do with myself – Oh no! Perhaps I’ ll have to go Christmas shopping !! – when I received a slightly cryptic text from John V: “WW 10:00?” I’d just about worked out that WW meant Worth Way when I received a second text confirming as much. Christmas shopping or a knobbly-tyred trek in the snow? No contest!
John had sent the same text messages out to the other fat-tyre candidates but he and I were the only ones that could make it. We met up just before Worth Church and set off along the Worth Way. In spite of Saturday’s torrential rain, there was still a lot of snow lying around and it soon became apparent that riding through it would take a lot of concentration. Where the snow had been compacted on top of a hard surface it was treacherously slippy and could send the front wheel in unexpected directions, so it was best to ride through the soft snow. However, where the underlying surface was relatively soft, it was better to seek out the harder, compacted snow as the soft stuff would shove the front wheel sideways and slip away under the rear wheel bringing forward progress to a complete halt. Just as we were getting used to that we encountered a third variety of surface – where there was a compacted top layer but with loose snow underneath. This was as unrideable as a six inch layer of loose snow and we soon learnt to recognise its appearance – icy, but with a milky look to it. It was however just about rideable in those areas where there was a scattering of fallen leaves on the top.
All this picking out the best route along the trail and the sheer effort of pedalling through the snow, slush, ice and mud was tiring and we decided to make East Grinstead our halfway point. Arriving there we opted to have our refreshments at the coffee bar in the petrol station as I was bespattered with mud.
One nice cappuccino later, we remounted and headed off around the one-way system. John came up trumps with an alternative route out of East Grinstead: first we used a couple of quiet streets, then a bridleway and a farm track before rejoining the Worth Way. Back on the snow and ice, we quickly realised that the best thing to do would be to retrace the tracks we made earlier. This meant we were quicker on the way back and consequently I got even more covered in mud. We were the only cyclists we saw during the journey and all the other people on the Worth Way were pedestrians out walking their dogs - I suppose that's one good thing about those walking poo factories - they get people out in the fresh air! Actually, now I think about it there were about half a dozen joggers out in the cold as well, including one who was heading in the opposite direction to what he thought. He was running away from East Grinstead and asked me how long to go before he reached East Grinstead! Charitably, I pointed him in the right direction.....
We got back to Crawley at about half past twelve having completed a round trip that would normally take little more than an hour.
Next Sunday's ride is scheduled to start from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 10:00hrs and go on a loop to the South of Horsham with a lunch stop at The Fountain, Ashurst. Please keep an eye on the website in case we have to alter things again.

COLD!

2010-11-28T23:44:00.000Z

COLD!!
Cold, cold, cold! In spite of pulling on several layers of clothes, I was still reluctant to venture outside so, as ever, I was running late. Keeping a high cadence, I was hoping to keep warm through exercise and had got about a mile from home when I noticed I’d forgotten todays route plan. Doh! Turn round and back home, now I’m even later!
Minutes later, route instructions now firmly fixed on my handlebars, I was nearing the top of Pease Pottage Hill when I heard a large-engined vehicle behind me. Looking over my shoulder I saw a massive blue tractor with big, cyclist-unfriendly wheels front and back. I found it slightly scary but the driver gave me plenty of room and went safely past. As he disappeared in the direction of Handcross it struck me what an unusual sight it was – I’ve been riding on Sunday mornings for about 5 years now and I can’t recall ever seeing a tractor on the road at that time, especially not one coming from an urban environment such as Crawley. In fact, it struck me as being so unusual that I stopped and made a call to the West Sussex Police non-emergency phone line and mentioned my concern that maybe something wasn’t right. Stopping to make this call and waiting in their telephone queue “Your call is important to us” cost me another few minutes making me even later than usual. As I rode along The Forest Road I noticed that the area that had been cleared of rhododendron that I commented on a few months back is not being used for houses, it has actually been planted with small saplings. Good.
Arriving at Horsham Pavilions in the Park just a couple of minutes after ten, I was met by Barbara and Pete E. By ten past no-one else had turned up so todays ride would just be a committee affair.
Turning left onto Hurst Road we went past Collyers school before turning right onto Richmond Road. There were great big drifts of leaves covering the pavement along parts of this road. Turning right at the end, we crossed the railway and then headed down North Heath Lane. At the roundabout we headed left along Pondtail Road and then took Pondtail Drive before emerging at the side of the A264. Carefully crossing this fast and busy A-road we then climbed up Langhurstwood Road. This road goes past a landfill site and through the trees we could see that it must be the best part of 100 feet high – from the bottom of the pit to the top of the (current) crust. That’s a lot of rubbish gone into that landfill!
We then took the first right onto Green Lane and encountered our first patch of ice. It caused us no problems as we rode smoothly over it. At the end of Green Lane we turned left onto the Horsham Road and followed it all the way up into the centre of Rusper. Here we decided that, as it was so cold, we’d cut the ride short and just make it a morning ride. The revised route took us out of Rusper on East Street and then down Faygate Lane to Faygate. Just to show that we weren’t completely copping-out, we then took on the challenge of the mile and a half ascent of Tower Road to Colgate. Pausing at the top to say goodbye, Barbara also managed to find out that the newly reopened pub (The Dragon) does sandwiches, baguettes and other light meals on a Sunday lunchtime ( as well as the usual roast dinners). This is useful to know and should see us paying a visit sometime soon.
Barbara and Pete then headed off on the mainly downhill route back to Horsham and I took on the two minor lumps to Pease Pottage before arriving home with barely 30 miles on my speedo. That was more than enough on such a cold day, and allowed me the chance to go out for lunch and stroll around Nymans Gardens with my dad.
Next weeks ride will be led by Anton and will start from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs and have a lunch stop at Warninglid (weather permitting).

Limeburners Arms

2010-11-21T19:39:00.000Z

I've been a bit slow producing the blog this week. I originally tried to do it using my Nintendo DSi one evening whilst sitting in bed listening to the radio - Planet Rock on DAB - but after I'd written a couple of hundred words it decided to lose them all. Doh!
So here I am sitting at my keyboard again and trying to recall the details of the ride.
It was a Horsham start so I rode over using my normal route through Colgate and, joy of joys, I saw that The Dragon has reopened! Hooray! A chalkboard outside it said "Tim and Min welcome you to The Dragon". I also noted that they're doing food from 27th November on.
Anyway, waiting for me at Horsham Pavilions in the Park were Barbara and Anton. We stood around chatting whilst we waited to see if anyone else turned up but no luck, just the three of us. I was leader and I took us out of Horsham on the Brighton Road then turned right onto Kerves Lane. It was trying to rain but not trying too hard and we barely noticed it (I was wearing a full set of waterproofs anyway as I've still not got any mudguards fitted). Hards Hill interrupted our conversation as we puffed our way up it but once we turned right onto Coltstaple Lane, Barbara's story-telling resumed and kept us going down through Southwater and on onto Church Lane - I suspect we were so engrossed that we didn't spot Norman, waving energetically, as he drove past us. Shortly after we encountered the strange sight of a crow just standing at the side of the road - I passed within a foot of him and he was completely unfazed! I later found out that Norman had spotted it in the middle of the road just before he'd seen us and suspected that it had perhaps been hit by a car. Later on Norman had gone back there, but the crow had gone. Perhaps it had got its breath back and managed to fly off?
At the end of Church Lane I took us right towards The Bax Castle but didn't cross the bridge and followed the road as it looped back south. Forking left onto Sincox Lane we once again passed the patch of woodland that has recently become home to several pigs - they loook like Tamworths and possibly Gloucester Old Spots to me (but I'm no expert). Reaching the B road we turned left and sped along south for about a mile before turning right at the next Junction. From here it should have been about 5 miles of pedal-spinning along a fairly smooth B road all the way to the pub. I was just starting to congratulate myself on getting the timing just right when a sign said "Road Ahead Closed". Hmmm, Network Rail were working on the Adversane level crossing. Perhaps we could get across on foot (with our bikes)? We rode up to the crossing but no chance, it was all dug up and we didn't have the right combination of flourescent jackets, safety helmets and safety boots on. So we had to turn back and then head on up to Billingshurst. Here, we picked up the A272 westbound across the roundabout for the A29. In a recent report, the A272 was identified as one of the most dangerous roads in the country. We didn't add to the statistics and had soon turned left off it and arrived safely at the pub - The Limeburners Arms.
The beer was a nicely conditioned London Pride, the food was tasty and my companions were entertaining, so lunchtime flew by. Leaving the warm pub behind, the weather seemed to have got quite a bit colder than earlier and it definitely seemed less bright. I decided on a fairly direct route back which took us up Rowner Road to The Haven where we turned right then right again before a left and a right to get to Slinfold - we tried to freewheel all the way from the top of the hill to the junction in the village but the wind was agin' us. From Slinfold it was an easy ride through Broadbridge Heath and across the golf course to arrive back in Horsham. Saying goodbye to the other two I headed back home via Colgate - it's uphill all the way from Horsham to Colgate, just what you want at the end of a days ride (NOT!) - and arrived home at about 16:00hrs with just about 50 miles on my speedo.
Next weeks ride should be heading north and east from a 10:00hrs start at Horsham Pavilions in the Park. The current plan is to head for lunch at The Dolphin in Betchworth, but I may alter things depending on who turns up and what the weather is like.
Come along, regale us with stories to whisk the miles by.

Pulborough

2010-11-15T02:49:00.000Z

Todays destination was Pulborough in order to attend the AGM of the West Sussex Member Group (or DA as we still call it – because it’s easier).

Barbara was our leader and was joined by Pete S and Bob outside Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 09:30hrs on a cool but not cold, damp day. The possibility of rain was in the air and indeed it occasionally tried but generally the wet stayed in the clouds.

We headed out of Horsham over the golf course and then down through Broadbridge Heath. Bob lead the way over the roundabout and then off along the A264, Five Oaks Road. However he had to be called back as he took a wrong turn onto Fulfords Hill in the mistaken belief that we were going through Barns Green. Back on course we took the next left, Bashurst Hill, and after a few minutes exertion we’d crested and had a nice, generally downhill, glide for the next 3 miles. At Coneyhurst a left then a right took us over the A272 (recently highlighted as being one of the most dangerous roads in the country) and on south to Broadford Bridge. Another left then right here took us over the B2133 and then on and up Woods Hill. As we regrouped at the top, a chap on a mountain bike came up the hill, so Bob decided to show him a clean pair of heels down to West Chiltington. This turned out to be a misnomer as Bob, sans mudguards as usual, got covered in dirty splatters all over his heels, legs, bottom, top and face due to the amount of mud and debris lying in the road (and the speed at which Bob went down the hill). Still, at least Bob got to the crossroads first – honour upheld!

From West Chiltington we snaked down the hill and then onto Stream Lane – wet as usual. Has anyone seen Stream Lane dry? I suppose the clue is in the name…. Turning left at the end, there’s a short climb before a glide down to a bend on the West Chiltington Road. Turning right, this is the road that goes past the large bamboo thicket I’ve mentioned in previous blogs (still no sign of a panda though). On reaching the A283, we turned right – this was a first as we normally always go left here. Nearly there now, we travelled along Mare Hill Road and Lower Street until we turned left at the Oddfellows Arms and rolled down to Pulborough Community Centre.

The AGM was well attended with 23 cyclists, most of whom had indeed arrived by bike. We listened to reports from all three sections, voted in the new committee and observed a two minute silence at 11:00 hrs. We also discussed cycling development in the county and arranged the DA events for 2011. Business done, we finished off the tea and biscuits and had a chat with various people – I was especially keen to talk to Dave and find out how his recovery is progressing.

Everyone seemed to be heading for the Rising Sun at Nutbourne, but as I reached the Oddfellow Arms I was hailed by my fellow Horsham and Crawley riders, so pulled up there. There weren’t any sandwiches on the menu, but a homemade beefburger was close, so I had one of them washed down with two good pints of ale (can’t remember which one though…).

As we remounted, the rain was making a bigger effort than earlier and I was glad I’d kept my waterproofs on. We retraced our steps as far as West Chiltington but then went east before turning north on the B2139. It was at the next Junction, exactly 52 weeks ago, that Dave was so badly injured. Carrying on up the Coolham Road we took the first right, Sincox Lane and followed that as it joined Saucelands Lane and then became Countryman Lane at Broomers Corner. We were riding with an extra companion as Richard had latched on to us as he needed to get back to Haywards Heath, so we went past the Countryman Inn and then took Pound Lane north to the A272. Here Richard hit the main road home, whilst we continued on, to Southwater. It’s a long drag up through Southwater on what was the old A24, but eventually we reached the roundabout and made a safe crossing of the dual carriageway’ed new A24. A few minutes later we were in Horsham town centre and saying goodbye to Barbara as she headed home and we continued through Roffey, Colgate and Pease Pottage back to Crawley.

Next Sundays ride starts at Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 10:00hrs. It will head south then west from Horsham to a lunch stop at The Limeburners Arms at Newbridge. It will be a round trip of approximately 40 miles involving some nice quiet lanes and a couple of miles of smooth B-road.
Come along, if it’s not raining or icy it’s a very pleasant time of year to ride.

p.s. don’t forget, it’s time to pay your membership – why not use that as an excuse to come out for a ride?

Old Crocks Race

2010-11-08T07:17:00.000Z

The first Sunday in November dawned bright and chilly – Old Crocks Day! I struggled out of bed and creaked down the stairs to be greeted by the cold severity of the newly-tiled kitchen floor. Fill up the kettle, bread in the toaster, switch on the telly to watch United scrape another less-than-convincing win. Looking outside I was relieved to see the pavement was dry but annoyed to spot that I’d left my waterproof jacket hanging by the back door all week and that the jacket-cleaning fairy hadn’t brushed the mud off it. Once I’d done that task, I applied my attention to my waterproof trousers and noticed that the repair I’d made to them last year had now failed. Two pieces of gaffer tape and a quick press from the iron later they were done at which point I realised that actually, the weather was good enough that I wouldn’t even need to take them with me today!

Taking the breakfast tray back upstairs, I relished the warmth of the bed as I ate my toast but all too soon I was up, washed, brushed and out into the cold. Actually, it wasn’t that bad – I was comfortable with about three layers on top and just shorts and leggings below (winter gloves though).

Arriving at Three Bridges Station I found todays leader, Anton, accompanied by Frank and Pat and Roz. Then Barbara arrived and we had a nice group of six riders. Anton described what his route would be and asked me to lead the first part into Crawley town centre. I used the quieter route along the Old Three Bridges Road and then cut along Mitchells Road then Gales Drive past the Police Station and onto The Boulevard. This is actually quite a pretty road and is a good example of acceptable 60’s town planning (probably planned in the 50’s though). At the end we turned left onto the High Street which was filled with Veteran cars having a pitstop on this years London to brighton run. The run commemorates when, 114 years ago, the requirement for all motor vehicles to be preceded by a man carrying a red flag was abolished. I’m well aware that some members of the cycling community see that act as a retrograde step but I do wonder whether cyclists would ever have put up with a 4mph cap to their rate of progress? Looking at some of the veteran cars it was obvious that they were made by bicycle manufacturers or coach builders.

Along the High Street we met several cyclists including some from the Tandem Society and indeed, when we started riding again we’d gained an extra companion, Martin. From the town centre we followed the route of the veteran cars along Southgate Avenue and then up Pease Pottage Hill. It’s amazing how easy the hill is when you can slipstream an Old Crock! I got to the top and had hardly had to increase my breathing rate. We regrouped opposite Pease Pottage Services and then continued to mix it along towards Handcross. I picked on a fairly chunky, yet fast, veteran car and tucked in behind it to get a good slipstream tow – the space was already occupied however by a chap on a racer wearing the DeVere racing club colours. As we tooled effortlessly along in excess of 25mph we had a nice little chat – he’d been following the cars all the way from Hyde Park Corner and was heading for Brighton. I wished him well and peeled off in time to see the line up of Caterham Super Sevens near Handcross School. A few minutes later, Anton led the rest of our group past.

Once in Handcross we pulled up and watched several of the old cars go by, along with two ancient charabancs and various classic or unusual cars. With the time now approaching 11:45, Anton decided we wouldn’t go on down to Staplefield as originally planned, but would head west towards Plummers Plain. Although this road is fairly fast (it was an A-road but was downgraded to a B-road so that the County Council didn’t have to spend so much money on it), it was a fast downward slope for the two miles we were on it and we were soon turning right onto Hammerpond Lane.

The autumn colours were very picturesque as we travelled along and the Hammerpond itself looked very enchanting (if a little cold)! At the crest we turned right onto Grouse Road for a three mile slightly uphill but visually stimulating ride before turning left onto Blackhouse Lane to get to Colgate. Passing the Dragon, I noticed several cars parked there and I fancy work is being done to bring the pub back to life. Hoorah!

Frank commented that he was finally feeling warm as we started down the hill but by the time we’d got to the bottom and across the A264 into Faygate he was feeling cold again. The climb up to Tismans Lane must have warmed him up a bit though and then, having cut through Lamb’s Green, minutes later we were installed in a nice warm pub – the Gate on the Rusper road.

Quaffing on my Fursty Ferret having finished eating my bacon and avocado ciabatta and chatting with my fellow cyclists, I was feeling very much at peace with the world. This didn’t go unnoticed by Frank who said my face looked warm and content and that I’d probably fall asleep if we stayed much longer – he was right, so it was time to get going again. There were no objections to Antons plan to use the shortest route back and we were soon in Maidenbower and all going in seperate directions – Barbara back to the station, Anton to his car parked near Worth Church, Roz to the Worth Way, Frank and Pat up the hill to their home and me back under the railway into Furnace Green.

Next weeks ride is an 09:00 start from Horsham Pavilions in the Park. Led by Barbara, we will firstly attend the West Sussex DA AGM at The Brooks Hall in Pulborough (10:30) before having a pub lunch somewhere on the way back to Horsham. I expect the round trip to be about 40 miles. Come along and meet up with people from our fellow West Sussex member groups.

Rainy Day Riding

2010-11-01T04:26:00.000Z

We were pleased to welcome Roz to our group on Sunday, especially as she had ridden from East Grinstead in light rain to join Barbara, Bob and I at Three Bridges station for 10.00 (new time). We reviewed options, given the conditions and the preferences of the group, and decided to head north out on the NCR21, taking in the delights of Manor Royal and Gatwick South terminal as we headed in to Horley. It is surprising just how quickly after leaving south terminal you find yourself in the bucolic surroundings of Horley with the duck pond and river Mole, on each side of you as you ride. The rain was light but continuous and as we were all dressed appropriately became little more than an annoyance. After the two short climbs north of Horley we found ourselves at Redhill aerodrome for coffee and tea-cakes. This was busy with several aircraft moving as well. One customer enquired after our Goldeneye maps as she had not seen them before – let’s hope she remembers the name or finds our Blog! We then headed north for a couple of miles before turning east and south, arriving at Outwood and the windmill (still the oldest working windmill in England). It wasn’t working when we stopped there. We went east to Horne, with great views to the south as we descended the steep hill, and then left, right, left, left, right to Blindley Heath, where a young woman in a Mercedes gave a copybook demonstration of how not to pass a cyclist at a traffic light and then turn right – she did give me a very nice wave, though! We went south to Lingfield and then missing the race course turned right to head to East Grinstead. There is a slight climb to get there but we all arrived after about 20 miles (TBR start) to say au revoir to Roz and then take the Worth Way back to Crawley. A very pleasant 30 miles (almost exactly by some fluke!) arriving back just before 14.00.

Hope to see you next week - it's the Old Crocks Race (sorry, I mean Veteran Car run) and we'll inspect the cars in the High Street before beating them up Pease Pottage Hill and down to Staplefield for a bacon butty.

More short/easy rides have been planned so if you missed this one don’t worry.

Autumn Tints

2010-10-25T04:30:00.000+01:00

I arrived at Horsham Pavilions in the Park to find John C, Jeet and Anton waiting for me. We hung around until 10:10 before setting off. When I volunteered to lead this ride (some months back) I thought “Late October? Autumn will be well underway and all the leaves will have changed colour”. Hence the ride title of Autumn Tints. However, the seasons seem a little late this year and most of the trees are still mainly green!

My plan was to do a thirty mile loop to the south and west of Horsham, so we set off along Park street and then Queen Street and the Brighton Road. After passing the Silver Wok we turned right onto Kerves Lane. This initially heads downhill before suddenly rearing up into the short sharp climb that is the wooded Hard’s Hill. Whilst still getting our breath back, we headed left onto Coltstaple Lane and then down onto Broadwater Lane. Last year some major engineering works occurred in the fields alongside this lane – I believe it was the installation of a main water pipeline. Unfortunately I’ve no idea where it was going to or from!

Emerging near the building site that was The Bridge Inn at Copsale, we turned left again and headed across to Maplehurst. From here we turned south and endured the two short and never pleasurable climbs on the way to the A272. Spurning the chance of a breather, the boys opted to carry on – we could have had a cuppa in the Bistro at the Camellia Botnar Garden Centre (open 10 til 4 on Sunday) - and a few minutes later we’d passed through Littleworth and Partridge Green to emerge on the A281 at Shermanbury. I had considered using the bridleway through the Shermanbury Estate, but looking at my fellow riders I decided to stick to the tarmac. So it was south along the A281 before heading east on the B2116. A place called Prairie Farm (or something like that) was advertising that it’s gardens were open to the public. Perhaps their gardens were full of “Autumn Tints”? Anyway, perhaps I was thinking too much about things like that because at the next junction I wandered off my planned route. We headed north up through Wineham, over the A272 and onto Spronketts Lane – I’d intended heading further east before turning north and using Bolney Chapel Road and Foxhole Lane. Both routes have some climbing to do – the one we took climbs gradually for a couple of miles before a downhill and then a small beast of a climb into Warninglid. My intended route also has ups and downs but, in keeping with the ride theme, goes through some woodland that I had hoped would be full of autumnal shades – we’ll never know!

From Warninglid we took the Cuckfield Road and crossed the A23 on the flyover before curling down to the left and taking Staplefield Road. In full sun and with a bright blue sky, this was very pleasant riding and we’d soon managed the slight gradient to emerge at Staplefield and the lunch halt, The Victory Inn. Although only two tables were occupied, there was apparently no room at the Inn, so we ordered our food and then went back outside with our beers to sit in the sunshine. The only trouble was that, now we’d stopped cycling, we could feel the wind – and it was quite keen! Still, we’re hardy fellows and we stuck it out. One of the ales on tap was called “Tea” so if stopped by a policeman I could honestly say I only drank a pint of tea with my dinner! The menu had hot meals and sandwiches available and when our sandwiches arrived they were very pleasant (served with a nice fresh salad and crisps). Anton’s bowl of chips was the best bit though – they warmed our fingers up a treat! As soon as we’d finished eating we set off again – we needed the exercise to warm us up. Shortest route home was the order of the day so I led us west across to Slaugham (loads of cars there as usual), past Slaugham pond

and on to the crossroads by the Wheatsheaf where the back garden looked a lot warmer than where we’d just been sat for an hour…..

Onto Hammerpond Road and a quick thrash down the hill and over the dam before standing on the pedals to crank up Buckshead Hill. Here we split into two – Anton and Jeet to carry on along Hammerpond Road all the way back to Horsham, John & myself to use Grouse Road up to Pease Pottage and thence Crawley.

I was back home by about 14:30 having led a very pleasant 30 mile ride (plus the 9 miles to get to the start) and by 15:30 I was having a snooze in my armchair.

Next weeks ride is a Morning Ride starting from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs. This ride will be suitable for ALL types of rider, members and non-members and will be led by Pete S.

Two things to note however:

1) it’s Halloween!!!!!
2) the clocks will have changed overnight – don’t get there too early!!!!

The Plough at Leigh

2010-10-18T03:16:00.000+01:00

‘Twas the night before the bike ride and all through the house no creature was stirring, not even a mouse. . . . Whoops! I’d better work out a route for the morning…
Anton was supposed to be leading the ride but he’d sent me a text on Saturday afternoon to say that he’d had a crash and asking could I lead instead. Concerned, I quizzed him and found that, apart from a bit of road rash he was OK but he’d folded his back wheel , damaged his handlebars and scratched various other bits on his bike. His helmet had suffered abrasion but not impact damage and his head was unscathed. Apparently he’d come off towards the bottom of Cob Lane near Ardingly – just before the steep climb – and slid along the road for a good few yards!
So, at about midnight, instead of climbing into my nice comfortable bed, I was firing up Google maps and thinking up a route to take us on a 40 mile loop with The Plough at Leigh as a lunch stop. I decided I would do an anti-clockwise loop and take in a road called Haroldslea in Horley that goes past an old moat (and site of a castle I believe). I had to plot it as a walking route as a couple of parts were on cyclepaths and bridleways, but after a while I was happy and had printed off my route instructions ready for the 10 o’clock start.
Next morning, on arriving at Three Bridges Station, I was met by John C and Barbara. A minute or so later Anton arrived by car, brandishing a very bent rear wheel in one hand and a set of route instructions in the other – I hadn’t needed to be up so late knocking a route plan up. Oh bother! As he told us about his accident and explained his route to me, John V arrived so there were now seven people riding.
Anton’s route was more or less the opposite to what I’d planned and would take us in a clockwise loop. First off, we picked up NCN20 and followed it through Furnace Green. On the way my phone rang - it was Pete S asking where we were! He, Frank and Pat were all at Horsham Park Pavilion wondering when the ride leader would turn up! I arranged to meet them at Colgate and continued on through Tilgate to K2. Then it was up Pease Pottage Hill and on through Pease Pottage on the Forest Road to Colgate. The pub is still closed but the sign is still there:

Bang on cue, Pete, Frank and Pat turned up and so, taking the road opposite the pub, we sped down to and crossed the A264 into Faygate before climbing up the ridge and left onto Wimlands Lane. Wimland Road then took us nearly to Rusper where we headed south then turned west onto Green Lane. The weather was nice and sunny, as can be seen in this picture taken against the light:

Friday Street took us on past the pub and up to Muggeridge’s Hill – guess what the name of the pub is?

Reaching Capel we glided through the village and left on Vicarage Lane which becomes Misbrooks Green Road as it passes Temple Lane. I was recently reading a history of Sussex and in a chapter about the history of non-conformism in the area, it mentioned there was a Quaker meeting house down that lane – strange in that the Quakers are not into things like temples and cathedrals or even elaborate chuches. At this point we were following part of last weeks route, but at Newdigate we diverged and headed north northwest on Henfold Lane. We were heading for the furthest point on the loop, a lane that Anton assured me was really good but just two miles short of it the troops were getting restless and pointed out that we were late for lunch. I decided to take a short cut and we turned right onto Red Lane. This became Brockenhurst Lane and at the end Pete advised we needed to turn right (then first left) to get to Leigh. Most of us followed this route but the two Johns opted for a quieter but longer route to the north. Two miles later, in bright sunshine, we pulled up at The Plough in Leigh.

The car park was full of vintage sports cars – MG’s, Austin-Healeys, Sprites etc.so I was worried we’d struggle to find somewhere to sit and would wait ages to get served but, having said goodbye to the two Johns and Pete who were all heading straight back to Crawley, when I got to the bar I was served straight away and got my food order in with no bother. Barbara and I sat out in the sheltered patio area where we’d parked the bikes, soaking up the sun whilst Frank and Pat decided to find a table indoors as they were going to have a full roast dinner – roast dinners don’t really lend themselves to alfresco dining.

Our sandwiches took a while to come out – as you can see, order number 48 has not yet been delivered but I’ve already finished my pint!

Whilst waiting, I strolled around looking at some of the cars and taking pictures:

Once we’d finished our sandwiches (and a second pint), we were ready to go, however, Frank and Pat had only just been served. They were quite happy for us to go ahead of them and they could make their own way home, so off we set. We headed south along Smalls Hill Lane, then straight over the crossroad by The Fox Revived and then on down into Charlwood. From here we took the Ifield Road and, contrary to Anton’s route plan, we didn’t take Prestwood Lane, the Mount and Burntwood Lane but used Ifield Wood (Bonwycks Lane) instead. On reaching the Rusper Road, Barbara turned right to go up to Rusper and then back into Horsham. Meanwhile I turned left and went back home via Ifield and Goffs Park.

Next weeks ride starts from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 10:00 hrs and is entitled Autumn Tints. It’s a relatively short ride of about 30 miles although there will be a couple of hills.

The Three Horseshoes

2010-10-11T00:58:00.000+01:00

A Horsham start at 10:00hrs with me as ride leader, so I only had time for a short lie-in before changing my wheels and hitting the road. The weather was still warm enough to ride in shorts but there was sufficient chill in the air to warrant a warm top. The roads through Furnace Green and Tilgate were quiet as was the climb up Pease Pottage Hill and I was nice and relaxed as I cycled into the village. Five yards short of the sharp left hand bend there, someone in a people carrier decided to overtake me just as a contingent of Horsham Cyclists came the other way – when I say “overtake” I really mean “ignore my existence and nearly wipe me out”! Shocked, I failed to make a note of the registration and can only vaguely recall the vehicle as being dark blue and of French manufacture. This got me thinking – perhaps we could start naming and shaming bad drivers - I think there’s a West Sussex Police website for this, but it would need us to remember the registration, so I failed on that count!

It’s funny how, when you’re busy thinking about stuff, the miles can just fly by and so just a few minutes later I arrived at Horsham Pavilions in the Park. Looking at the bikes parked outside, I could only see one I recognised – Anton’s rather excellent titanium framed Enigma. A couple of minutes later Barbara and Norman arrived although Barbara would not be joining us on the ride – she was in the process of delivering the latest copy of The Pedaller to our Horsham members and was taking the opportunity to drop off the copies for the Crawley members to me.

We waited until 10 past 10 but no-one else turned up, so just the three of us set off. We used the usual route westwards out of Horsham – over the golf course, under the A24 and out onto Robin Hood Lane. We turned into Byfleet Lane then Strood Lane before a short stretch of the A281 and A29 followed by the climb up Rowhook Road. We made the usual stop outside the Chequers Inn to get our breath back before carrying on up Horsham Road and then onto Honeywood Lane. Immediately after the Punchbowl Inn we turned right, down the hill and then over the A29 and onto Weare Street. As we made our way along Weare Street, we still couldn’t see the aeroplane that’s visible on Google maps:

As we progressed up this normally quiet lane there was a veritable traffic jam – a horse and rider complete with two large dogs was going up the lane and two more horses and riders were coming down! We carefully threaded between them and carried on. Arriving at Coles Lane we turned right to go past Ockley Station and over the A24 to Capel. Not much further to go now, we headed east along Vicarage Lane, north along Misbrooks Green Lane, east along Trig Street and then Kingsland into Newdigate. From here we went past the Surrey Oaks at Parkgate, along Broad Lane and Clayhill Lane before arriving at Leigh. How do you pronounce Leigh? Lee or Lie – I go for the latter.

Heading south for short while along Smalls Hill Road we held the traffic up slightly as we went up the hill and then after the short downhill we turned left onto Dean Oak Lane. This was pleasant and easy riding on a nice, bright if slightly breezy day and we soon turned left into Ironsbottom and arrived at the Three Horseshoes Inn. This ride was originally arranged by Mick and on entering the pub they were expecting us and we were shown to a reserved table. The beer and cider was well kept and very enjoyable and there was a good choice of food which was quickly prepared, tasty and moderately priced. Although most of the tables were reserved, the pub didn’t really start filling up until about 1 pm – just as we were leaving.

We headed south, back down Ironsbottom and then turned right onto Collendean Lane which brought us to the Norwood Hill crossroads where a left turn gave us a nice downhill run with a good view of Gatwick Airport. After passing through Charlwood and heading out on the Ifield Road we had another good view of the runway at Gatwick.

Rather than take the first right onto Prestwood Lane and the climb up The Mount, we took the second onto Ifield Wood. The Rusper Road then took us past the venue for our Christmas dinner this year, The Gate, and Lambs Green Road took us past the venue for one of our previous Christmas dinners, The Lamb. Faygate Lane then took us on the climb up to Wimlands Lane which in turn took us west along the ridge. A nice fast blast down Wimland Hill was only marginally spoilt by a car coming up the hill. We then stopped by The Frog and Nightgown where we spotted this traction engine:

Here’s another shot to show the true scale:

After this we crossed the A264 and headed into Horsham via Roffey to arrive back at our start point, Horsham Pavilions in the Park.

Our next ride, on Sunday 17th October, takes us to The Plough at Leigh. It starts from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs and will be lead by Anton.

Members should have received the latest copy of The Pedaller by now and with it a reminder that our AGM is coming up on Thursday 21st October at Broadbridge Heath Village Centre at 20:00hrs. Please come along, it’s a friendly meeting and helps ensure your club reflects your requirements.

Beginners Ride

2010-10-04T02:16:00.000+01:00

Well it was always going to be a long shot, but when I heard the weather forecast I wondered if anyone at all would turn up, let alone new/novice riders! But I had underestimated the hardiness of our member group and so was greeted by four smiling faces at Three Bridges at 10 - Barbara, Norman, Bob and Marian. As this was an easy ride, we elected to head north east via Old Hollow to Copthorne and then, skirting Smallfield, to Outwood via the slightly non-flat Hornecourt Hill. Some people seemed to think that a hill like this should not be included on an easy ride – well, what do they know! Passing Outwood Windmill, the oldest working windmill in Britain – not working when we passed (http://www.outwoodwindmill.co.uk/) – we crossed over alongside Outwood Common. It appears that volunteers have been clearing some of the common on the corner and I think that it will look great next spring. Then along the gentle descent past Outwood Church to turn right along Coopers hill road we reached the M23 flyover and turned left to Redhill Aerodrome and the warm welcome of its café. It is always pleasing to see lots of customers there, even though there did not appear to be any flying this Sunday, and they do good toasted tea-cakes and rock-buns. By this time the rain had decided to set in and so we set off with resolve, to follow the NCN21 through the new housing estate in Horley to Gatwick South Terminal, admiring the new surface, courtesy of Surrey County Council, on the way. Our Horsham friends caught the train from here, while the Crawley crew delivered Bob safely to his door.
Not the best weather, but a couple of hours exercise, in the fresh air, in good company – what could be better!? Do come and see for yourself at our next beginners ride on Sunday 31st October. Meet at 10.00 at Three Bridges station and home by lunchtime. (NB: clocks change night of 30/31 October).
Peter

Our next Sunday ride is October 10th and starts from Horsham Park Pavilions at 10:00hrs. It will take a 21 mile clockwise loop north and east to stop for lunch at the Three Horseshoes Inn at Ironsbottom. The return will be a more direct 16 miles south and west via Charlwood and Lambs Green. We'll be riding, whatever the weather, so come and join us.

Brighton (and back)

2010-09-20T04:06:00.000+01:00

We had a fairly strong and slightly chilly south westerly wind as we headed south from Three Bridges. But once the six of us had reached Turners Hill the route was predominantly downhill to Ditchling, and so the wind did not worry us too much. Of course the climb of the Beacon went at a fairly slow pace, in fact a speed where the wind’s effects were negligible and so it was only as we headed across the top of the Downs after reaching the summit of the Beacon that we really noticed how strong it was, having to work a little harder than is usual for this stretch. But we had been fortified by tea-cakes and a variety of cakes in the excellent and friendly Café at Ditchling first, so we all had plenty of energy. We bid goodbye to John C at Ditchling as he had to return home (after the tea-cake!). Nonetheless, some had to commence replenishment at the top of the Beacon, however, by starting on ice creams!

It was a lovely day to be on the Downs with good views and we could see the new stadium at Falmer for the first time – it seems quite large but is hidden relatively unobtrusively quite low down.
Once across the Downs we swooped down to the pier via Fiveways and certain parties did their best to get the speed camera to go off! No prizes for guessing who. A very pleasant lunch was had at the Brighton smoke house by the beach; some even found a place to buy a beer to go with it, while I had orange juice (what was wrong with me?!).

One rider decided to return via train – a very efficient 25 minutes to Three Bridges and a few minutes longer to Horsham – a morning ride for lunch at the sea-side of only 30 miles, in good weather and good company – how good is that! (It doesn’t get much better than that????)
The remaining four set off westwards along the front towards Hove and then followed NCR82 north towards the top of the Downs by the golf club at Devils Dyke. This is quite a steady climb in parts, following the line of the old railway to the Dyke, but the views of sea and Downs are good. The route at the beginning has been improved as part of the ‘Brighton Cycling Town’ activity – we are planning to see if we can make Crawley a ‘Cycling Town’; hopefully this will accrue similar benefits for us if we can achieve it.

On reaching the Golf Club we headed downhill stopping only to enjoy the exceptional views over Devils Dyke, Fulking and the Sussex weald, and then via Newtimber to reach the NCR20 alongside the A23. This is mostly a great route as it follows the old A23 – this is a little wide for a cycle route (!), but has good surfaces – although it deteriorates a little during the sections where you actually ride alongside the (M)A23. And, of course, there is a fair amount of climbing to reach Staplefield/Handcross. But we arrived at the Victory, Staplefield for 15.45 and had glass of Doom Bar, before Norman headed back to Horsham via the hammer ponds and the remaining three Crawley people slogged up to Handcross and then home.
A nice day – we left Three Bridges at 09.00 and arrived back at 16.30 having completed 56 miles. We hope that you will consider joining us next time.

Note: we have scheduled two morning rides starting at Three Bridges at 10.00 designed specially for novice/beginner/uncertain (!) riders. These are configured for people who are not used to riding any distance and/or are worried about their speed or level of fitness, and so will be relatively short and easy. The route will be decided on the day, depending on who arrives. But typically we will ride along the Worth Way to East Grinstead, or Hartfield and back, or perhaps go north to Redhill aerodrome for coffee. Probably we will loop around to the vicinity of The Gate in Ifield towards mid-day. It’s up to you!
So please join us – start at 10.00 from Three Bridges station – return to Crawley by 12.30. Dates are Sunday 3rd October and Sunday 31st October.