Return from Tenterden

After an excellent evening meal accompanied by a mountain of superb desserts and a short speech from Barbara, we retired for a good nights sleep before the double whammy of a large breakfast and another 50 mile bike ride. The morning dawned bright and frosty with just a light breeze but we didn’t get off to a good start however as, having split into two groups to allow for people to visit a cash machine in Tenterden, we were several miles into the journey and hadn’t rejoined. A warning phone call from Mick in the first group let the second group know of some ice across the road on a downhill bend just after Rolvenden. As I talked to Mick about it I told him we were just behind him and about to pass a black windmill – he didn’t really seem to confirm that he’d passed the windmill but I didn’t realize the significance of this until later!



The second group (comprising of myself (Bob), John V, Pete and Marian) pressed on through Benenden and encountered some ice but none going across the road on a downhill bend, so we were beginning to realise that we were probably on a different route to the first group (comprised of Pete E, Mick, John C, Barbara and Norman). Reaching Hartley we turned south for about a mile before heading west once more along a quiet lane and on into Bedgebury Forest. Although part of the National Cycle Network, the route was actually an offroad route and accordingly I was going just that bit quicker than the rest of the group so pulled up by the lake in the Pinetum to wait for them and take some pictures. Now I’d stopped, I could feel how cold the wind was – in spite of the sunshine. Whilst waiting I phoned Mick to find out how far ahead of us he was. “Just about to enter the forest” he said, “Can you wait there?”. I suggested we’d be better (as in warmer) waiting at The Visitor Centre at Bewl Water as it was only a couple of miles away and held the promise of a café (unlike Bedgebury Forest). Mick agreed and at that point the rest of my group arrived.



We cycled on and duly pulled up at Bewl Water Visitor Centre only to find that it was closed for refurbishment! At this point Pete E phoned to say that their group had taken a wrong turning back at Rolvenden and done an unnecessary four mile loop (during which time my group had unknowingly gone past them) and had also missed the turn for Bedgebury Forest and ended up in Hawkhurst. At this point, Mick, Barbara and Norman had decided to complete the journey by train and headed off to Staplehurst. This left Pete E and John C to ponder the best route to take for a rendezvous with my group. As we set off we realized that we could quite quickly intercept them at Wadhurst and that we could make that the lunch stop rather than the planned Bells Yew Green. We left voicemail messages on their phones and pulled up at The Greyhound in Wadhurst. We hadn’t been there too long (only about half a pint) before Pete and John arrived. It was good to be just one group again and we celebrated with childrens portions of good hot food (sausages and mash or liver and bacon) and another round of beers.

After lunch, the first few miles were on a B road and we made good progress, as we did on the following two quiet lanes that took us on to Groombridge. Here we crossed the Tunbridge Wells to Eridge preserved steam railway – The Spa Valley Railway and posed for a group photograph:




After Groombridge we picked up the Forest Way and followed it past Hartfield before pulling up at the Café in Forest Row. The Café is located in the old Coal Merchants Office next to the amenity tip and serves an excellent range of hot drinks and snacks. I opted for fruit cake and a cup of tea. From Forest Row there’s the slight incline all the way to East Grinstead and then the easy riding to Crawley Down.



As you can see it was still very sunny but it definitely wasn’t warm. Minutes later we’d passed Rowfant and were crossing the M23 to enter Crawley through Worth. Here we said goodbye to first the two Johns, then Pete and Marian before I finally turned off to use the tunnel into Furnace Green leaving Pete E by himself for the last few hundred yards to Three Bridges Station where he was being picked up by Sharon.

I had a very enjoyable weekend riding with friends and I’d like to say a big thankyou to everyone for making it so much fun.

Looking at my speedo I can see that I covered some 56 miles on Saturday and another 48 on Sunday – that’s the sort of mileage that Anton has for breakfast, but thereagain, he is IRONMAN!

Next weeks ride is, coincidentally, led by Anton and will be a 40 miler starting from Three Bridges Station at 09:00 hrs with a lunch stop at The Sloop, Scaynes Hill. Anton promises it won’t be wet. Watch this space…….

Ten to Tenterden

Early March, time for the Anniversary Ride. This year we decided on Tenterden in Kent as our destination and several of our members put in a lot of work arranging the hotel and planning the route.

The weather forecast for the weekend was thankfully clear of rain although a cold north easterly wind was predicted, so waterproofs were not much in evidence as we gathered at Three Bridges Station for the start - eight bikes and nine riders wrapped up against the cold and eager to get going: John V, Mick, PeteE, Barbara, Norman, John C, Bob, Pete S and Marian (the last two on their tandem).

We used the usual easterly route out of Crawley – up Worth Avenue, out on the Turners Hill Road and then down Old Hollow to cross the A264 at the Felbridge Hotel roundabout. Here, Bob pulled up with cramp in his right calf – the sudden effort he’d put in accelerating onto the roundabout was too soon for his rather cold muscles! A feature of todays ride would be that we would be avoiding busy roads where possible, so we travelled east along Copthorne Bank and also used Cross Lane, Dowlands Lane and Bones Lane before emerging on the B2028 to get to Lingfield. Deciding against a coffee stop, we carried on along Dormans Road and then Hollow Lane before arriving in Cowden. This village is really quiet and we didn’t see any signs of life as we passed through, still heading east. After crossing the Hartfield Road we forked right onto Moat Lane (which becomes Bassett Lane) and then went past the Penshurst Off Road Cycling (PORC) site before arriving in Penshurst itself and our lunch stop.

We split into two groups for lunch with Pete E, Norman and Mick preferring the snug of the Leicester Arms and the rest of us going to the café next door. After light lunches all round with lashes of tea, coffee or beer, we were all now ready for the rest of the journey. First off we headed through Penshurst Place on the cycle track. As we crested a hill there, the bitter north easterly wind really made its presence felt. Once we were down lower there was more shelter , then, turning off Ensfield Road, the NCN route we were following went offroad alongside a couple of fields before passing through woodland with lakes on either side and then passing under the Tonbridge Bypass. From here we skirted a picturesque lake in Haysden Country Park before making our way through Tonbridge to exit on the B2017 Tudeley Road. Forking right we went through a hamlet called Capel before crossing the A228 Maidstone Road onto Crittenden Road which climbed up to the village of Matfield. Here, one of the annoying features of the NCN routing made itself evident – by following the signs we were routed on a loop twice as long as we needed to just to leave the village on the Brenchley Road.



Taking Petteridge Lane we headed south then east again alomg Tibbs Court Lane, Marle Place Lane and Ruck Lane. This part of the ride was getting quite tough as we tackled four or five hills one after the other. Looming in front we could see the village of Goudhurst sat atop the highest land in the neighbourhood. At this point a tactical error was made and four of us took Blind Lane up the face of the hill, whereas the rest of the group were more canny and effectively skirted most of it by taking Lidwells Lane and then the B2084 to rendezvous on the Cranbrook Road on the other side of the village. We were now on the A262 as it travelled along a ridge. It was quite exposed to the wind and all of us were now beginning to tire. We got separated once more as Pete E got a puncture. The leading group carried on with the intention of finding a tea stop in Cranbrook where they could wait for the rest of the group to catch up. Normans local knowledge (he came to school at Cranbrook) gave us the shortest route to the High Street and we stopped outside a café. At this point Mick decided to carry on as we weren’t far from Tenterden and let the Hotel know we would shortly be there. The rest of us snacked on cake from the café and having contacted the rest of the group by phone to reorganise, carried on ourselves. We stayed up on the ridge and the Cranbrook Road soon became the Tenterden Road and then the Cranbrook Road again as it entered Tenterden. Turning left we travelled the length of the High Street before forking left onto Oaks Road to pull up at the Collina House Hotel. We’d not been there many minutes before all the rest of the group arrived and we dispersed to our rooms for a wash and brush up before reconvening for dinner at 7pm.

Why Ten to Tenterden when there were only nine of you I hear you ask? Well, Barbara's husband Ian met us at the hotel having travelled over by car.

Queens Head, West Chiltington

Woke up, rain pouring, wind blowing.
Inside warm, outside rather cold
My comfort setting kicked in.
Pete gets text to say I've wimped out.

But four people were braver than me
Enjoying a ride to the south of Horsham
Eating and drinking at the Queens Head
Relaxing and sending these pictures by phone:

The Green Man

I may have over-egged the pudding - I'd advertised this ride on the Runs List as "50 miles, Hard, at least 8 hills". However, Google maps reckoned my route was only 26 miles but I still rated it hard because of all the hills. I knew Mick would not be joining us and that Anton would meet us at the pub but when I woke to find that the fine weather promised for Sunday was actually heavy rain I feared I'd be the only one to turn up. I could tell it was still very cold because some ice I'd brushed to one side in my back garden on saturday morning was stiil there in spite of the rain!

I dressed accordingly: three layers and then waterproofs on top; waterproof gloves and liner gloves; Buff round the neck and Buff under my helmet. I gave the bike a quick spray over with a light oil and headed off to Three Bridges station. There to meet me was Barbara - she'd come across from Horsham by train and then Pete S arrived. We waited around until 9:40 but no-one else turned up. We chatted about whether to do a shorter ride or abandon altogether but as we'd all made the effort to get out and we're not big girly wimps, we decided to do the planned ride.

Firstly we headed up Worth Avenue and then out on the Turners Hill Road. The wind was on our right quarter carrying a lot of bitterly cold rain but the trees and hedges provided some degree of relief. Wallage Lane was more sheltered and as we crossed the old railway line we were talking about the impact the Beeching cuts had on people's lives - Barbara's family had to move north to Derby to remain working on the railway. At the end of the lane we turned left then right to go through Crawley Down and out down Hophurst Hill. The rain was fair bucketing down at this point and there was a lot of water running down the road. As we entered Felbridge I stopped to see if the bridleway south to Gullege was usable but unfortunately it was too rough and muddy. This meant we had to continue into Felbridge and use a short stretch of the A22 before turning right onto Imberhorne Lane. There were quite a few potholes and puddles on this lane but that was just a taster for what was to come!

Going straight on over the crossroads onto Saint Hill Road the road surface deteriorated markedly and we had to weave our way around and between potholes and puddles of indeterminate depth - this didn't stop a couple of cars pushing past at unnecessary speed though. From here we went past Deers Leap Park - I still haven't gone for a ride there... and then down to the bottom and Weirwood reservoir. The reservoir is nice and full and we were presented with good views across it as we embarked on Legsheath Lane. After a while this lane turns away from the water and climbs upwards. Barbara was saying "Are we there yet?" - I think she was using it as a mantra to get her up the climb......

As we regrouped at the crossroads we noticed a large puddle in the road but with sheets of ice on the verge next to it. We then realised there were still some patches of ice on the road! Going straight on over the crossroads we had a good view to the north and we were now more obviously in Ashdown Forest. Taking the first right, Twyford Lane, we could enjoy a downhill glide. As we went along, so there was more and more water running down first one and then both sides of the road. Pushing ahead I was doing about 30mph when I realised I wasn't certain whether some of the shine on the road was just water or whether it was still ice! It's not easy slowing down on a wet, debris strewn and winding lane that may or may not be icy but I had the incentive of knowing a ford and a sharp bend were looming ahead (and I had no idea how deep the ford would be). Ashdown Forest is primarily situated on sandstone rock and the water running down the road must have been carrying sand because I could feel and hear the grinding sound as my brake rubber, the sand and the water combined to erase more life from my rims! I splashed through the ford several times just to wash the 'paste' off my wheel rims. This area is a particularly nice part of the forest and looks even better in the summer. From here there was a short sharp climb during which we encountered a group of horse riders coming the opposite way. Just as Barbara reached them the smallest horse decided to stop and stand sideways across the road. I think Barbara was glad to have a breather whilst the other riders persuaded the little horse to get going again. Once we crested, it was just a short couple of slightly downhill miles to arrive at Horsted Keynes and the Green Man. This pub has a nice big CTC sign on the wall and as were discussing this, Anton turned up - I didn't spot him at first as I was expecting him on a bike but he arrived by car. As ever, he'd been on an Audax event on the Saturday (only 140kms I think he said) but he was feeling a little sore as he'd slipped on ice two or three times. No major damage done, just a bit of bruising.

Being first in the pub we had the choice of where to sit and bagged two leather sofas right in front of the open fire. Arranging our jackets and gloves to soak up the warmth we ordered our food and settled into the settees to enjoy our pints of ale. I highly recommend this pub, the beer was truly great and the food was excellent and reasonably priced. A second pint was soon despatched and, to be honest, I could have consumed several more and spent the rest of the day enveloped in the warmth and comfort. BUT................

It's no use, we'd have to go home sooner or later. Reluctantly we dragged our (slightly) drier top layers back on, persuaded our fingers to venture into the cold and clammy gloves and said goodbye to Anton (he'd only had one drink by the way) as he sped off down the wet road. We followed, then forked right and went down the hill past a building that sits on mushroom shaped legs My dad told me such legs are designed to stop mice and rats climbing up them into the building. A short climb up between some sandstone rocks was accompanied by the sound of a steam engine on the ascent to Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway. Passing the entrance to the station, the presence of some cars parked on the verge suggested to me that a special engine was running today - in fact, I suspect it was the one I'd heard for it sounded bigger than the usual Terrier class locomotives the Bluebell use. However, on looking at their website I can see that it was a special event: "Sat 20 & Sun 21 February 2010: Branch Line Weekend. A special service using our smaller branch line locomotives and appropriate carriages. Visiting and recently overhauled engines: Fairburn Tank 42085, BR 2MT 78019 and LBSCR B473 plus 72 "Fenchurch", 592 and 80151." Well, so much for my 'expert' ear!! Mind you, those 2MT's sound quite big...

Anyway, enough anoraks corner, let's get back to the ride. Two short hills later we turned right onto the B2028 and headed up into Ardingly. From here, the quietest/safest route home is also the hardest: down and over the eastern arm of a very full Ardingly reservoir before heading north and up the long slight incline of Paddockhurst Lane and Back Lane. Turning left there's a downhill glide through Worth Abbey before we forked right to use the tarmac bridleway at Whitehill. We were all flagging a bit after what was basically a four mile climb from Ardingly and so went through this bit of forest at more or less walking pace. Emerging onto the fast B2036 the worry of the faster moving traffic was offset a bit by the smoothness of the road surface - probably the best we'd enountered on the ride. I flashed though the roundabout over the M23 so fast that I nearly caught the Mercedes that had entered it some 50 yards ahead of me and I increased the gap on the boy-racer in his Fiesta behind me by most of those 50 yards. Not bad for a fat bloke on a bike (gravity-assisted, mind)!

Taking the path alongside the Maidenbower playing fields, it was fun watching the joggers and the man walking his dogs try to work out which side of the path was for bikes and which for pedestrians - it should have been the righthand side but Mr Pooper-scooper decided to stay on that side, so we had to cross the white line!!!!

Back on the road, we said goodbye to Pete and carried on up Billinton Drive and under the bridge to the railway station. Here I left Barbara to catch her train and finished off what was a 30 mile round trip for me.

Getting all my gear off I realised that my waterproof jacket seems to have lost some of it's waterproofness and that my left waterproof boot had let some water in - my left foot was absolutely frozen and took some time to warm up (I used a hairdryer on it and got away without any chilblains).

Next weeks ride is led by Pete E and starts from Horsham Park Pavilions at 10:00 hrs for a medium rated 40 mile loop with lunch at the Queens Head, West Chiltington. I seem to remember that the food and beer were absolutely excellent last time we stopped there - go on, come along and treat yourself!

Dave Galle

Yesterday I made the trek up the Jubilee Line to visit Dave in hospital. He’s in the Spinal Injuries Unit of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore. As the free minibus service between the tube station and the hospital is not running at the moment (mechanical problem I believe), I took my Brompton folding bike on the tube with me from Southwark (where I work). By not having any lunch breaks previously in the week, I’d arranged to have a long one for this day. I ate my sandwiches on the way and was slightly uncomfortable with the fact that there were only two people in the entire carriage and we were sat right next to each other (studiously looking in opposite directions)!

Out of the station I headed west and then turned up a little lane that proceeded to climb up Brockley Hill with Stanmore Park on the right. My Brompton is only two-speed in order to minimise the weight, so climbing this rather stiff hill was a bit of an effort to say the least – I had to stand on the pedals for 100 yards or so and my cadence was less than one a second I fancy!! However, after about 5 minutes of effort I crested and headed east for a few hundred yards before pulling up at the hospital. As I folded my bike it was starting to rain and, not seeing anywhere suitable to chain it to, I carried it into reception. Much to my surprise, the receptionist said I was OK to carry it into the ward! When I got to Dave’s ward he wasn’t there but his timetable told me he was having some physio and that he’d be finished in a couple of minutes, so I waited. Soon I saw him motoring down the corridor in an electric wheelchair. He gave me a hearty greeting and suggested we go to the dayroom for a cup of tea and a chat. He then blew my socks off by standing and proceeding to walk – very slowly and slightly wobbly, but walking under his own steam. That made my day – nay, it made my year! We slowly made our way to the dayroom but as there weren’t enough chairs there, we turned around and went back to get Dave’s electric chair before finally settling down in what was quite a busy dayroom.

I had to admit to Dave that I’d been quite depressed after my two previous visits to see him as I found it very upsetting to see him struggling to move when I was more used to seeing him on a bike and disappearing up the road in front of me. But now I’d seen him walking again I’m hoping that it won’t be that many months before he starts riding again. He proceeded to give me more good news in that there’s a chance he’ll be allowed back home sometime in March. Not being one to miss a chance I thought that would be a good opportunity to mention the Pedaller and the fact that we’re going to be late producing the Spring edition and that we were even considering making a joint Spring/Summer edition instead. Dave seemed quite optimistic that he would be able to produce the Spring edition himself, slightly later than usual but maybe by early April. I for one would be really pleased to see him do this and would make a request for any of you reading this to send him articles or features for potential inclusion. Dave was saying that working on the Pedaller would be a useful form of therapy and perhaps aid him in regaining his manual dexterity.

An hour had flown by and Dave’s dinner had just arrived so I decided to take my leave and with a big beaming smile I pedalled down the hill through the rain and sleet and back to the tube station. Forty-five minutes later I was back at work and telling all my colleagues how chuffed I was at Dave’s progress.

One final note: has the motorist who nearly killed Dave learnt anything from this? Has he amended his driving style? Has he invested in further driving education? Is he aware of the impact on Dave and the struggle and effort Dave is making to get back to normal? Has his bad driving affected him in any way? Sometimes I think I’d like to talk it over with him but I think I would probably get too angry to do any good so I’m probably better just bashing away at this keyboard…..

Mystery Ride

Intended Distance: 40 miles - medium Leader: Mick

Today’s ride was designated as a ‘Mystery Ride’, mainly to allow for the weather. The plan was to check the weather forecast and cycle into the wind in the morning and with the wind (no baked bean jokes please) in the afternoon.

As it happens it was bitterly cold and snowing at the start. I went along hoping nobody would be foolish enough to attend. 10 o’clock came and no-one turned up so I decided to call it a day only for John C and Bob to appear! John was cold and wanting to go home but Bob was keen so I planned a route to allow John to head for home at any one of several points.

We headed off at just after 10, over the bypass, up Langhurst Wood Road and on into Rusper. This was return point #1 for John and was declined. North from Rusper we turned right to head for Parkgate. Return point #2, over The Mount, was also refused but #3, down Russ Hill, was accepted and John duly departed.

Bob and I headed on north towards Parkgate then turned off for Norwood Hill to check out an OS triangulation point at TQ243436. No sign of it, only a footpath gate! Having failed on this quest we continued through Hookwood, Povey Cross and Charlwood as we headed to The Gate for lunch. Along this route we noted a vast improvement in the road surface, the landlord said that the Council had recently surveyed the road and some long term potholes had been repaired. We also overtook a carriage and four horses to ensure we were first in the queue at the pub!

After a nice lunch and a brace of ‘Pickled Partridge’ Bob and I headed home in the wet, Bob east and me west. I noticed there had also been major road repairs up into and down from Rusper. I then met Dave Chambers, an ex-member, en-route so stopped for a chat. He and his partner were walking.

Not the scheduled distance today due to adverse weather conditions. Only 30 miles.

Next weeks ride is flagged as hard by virtue of the lunch location – The Green Man at Horsted Keynes – there’s no avoiding hills when heading out that way, but Bob intends keeping the pace manageable for all. The ride will leave Three Bridges Railway Station at 09:30hrs and will probably return there by 15:30 hrs at the latest.

Red Lion at Turners Hill

It was pretty cold, with grey skies, and some light rain forecast but six people on five machines still assembled at Three Bridges station. Most of us use the Internet these days so it is good to check the runs list for the start time, as we occasionally have discrepancies between the list in the Pedaller and the list on our website - the website is the one that is most up to date. On Sunday we left just after 10.00 to head south in a variation on my usual easy route to Turners Hill. This ride was billed as 40 miles medium and so, using a variant of Naismiths rule (fans of Mornington Crescent will get this one) we made the ride 25 miles with a couple of big hills in (hard)!
We headed up Pease Pottage to the roundabout, through Handcross and downhill all of the way to Staplefield - of course if you ask any of the riders about the ride they will remember the 'ups', but not this long down.... After Staplefield we headed through to the B2115 where we turned left for Cuckfield. Now, on my map the routeshowed as a continuous brown road until the junction with the B2036 at Cuckfield, so when we reached a T junction we turned left, as planned, taking us downhill (again) to Staplefield (again)! Realising this deviation from plan, Bob (for he knows all roads in West Sussex), quickly suggested a right turn uphill (slightly up anyway, for a long way) to the Water Tower, where we turned hard right to Balcombe and back on to our designated route. So, sometimes straight brown roads have little hidden 'T's' in them.... The only bit that we missed was a little lane that I had planned the whole route around (:-< Doooh! Never mind we pushed on through Balcombe to the reservoir and up a short but quite steep hill. At the top
we noticed a large, slightly dilapidated hay-stack, but no castle behind it (Check the real thing in Salfords), and turned left up towards the ridge where Turners Hill sits. We arrived at the Red Lion to meet the landlord who I went to school with 40 years ago, and we had not met in all that time either! By the way, neither of us look a day older..... The pub is advertised as a 'real pub' and it certainly is; it even has mild. So we enjoyed a pleasant lunch before the long freewheel back in to Crawley as nobody fancied the 15 miles that I had planned for the afternoon, especially given the cold. Everyone seemed to enjoy the ride - we missed you if you weren't there.

And there is a new Mick Horley rule - if the ride leaders are on a tandem, then two lots of double points!!!

Spare a thought for Anton - he rode only 132 miles in an Audax on Saturday, but texted to say that he might join us for lunch. At 13.30 on Sunday he texted to say where were we, as he was sitting in the Crown at Turners Hill (where we usually go) - a text that I only picked up when I got home....

So moral of the day - check the runs list on the Web - it gives you the start, the time of the start and the lunch stop!

Runs list: http://handc-ctc.tripod.com/id22.html

(Note: most run leaders have emails and/or mobile numbers for likely attendees; if you do want notifying of any last minute changes to rides, in the very rare event that there are any, it is a good idea to keep the leaders updated with your details).