***** Stop Press *****

TOMORROWS RIDE (CHIDDINGSTONE) IS CANCELLED DUE TO THE WEATHER.

Instead, we will be running an off road (and through the snow) ride along the Worth Way. Starting from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs and returning at about 12:00hrs.  Put your grippiest tyres on whichever of your bikes has the most clearance and come out to play - I mean, practice your bike handling skills!

Beginners Ride from Horsham

Two weeks into the New Year already - where does the time go?

This weeks ride was to be a short and simple morning ride aimed at relative newcomers to cycling. My intention was to use a combination of bridleways and quiet lanes to head south of Horsham with perhaps a tea break at Southwater or Barns Green.

On arriving (late as usual) at the start, I was met by a group of club members and a request to avoid using any bridleways if possible.  No problem - as it was cold and wet (although not raining), keeping to the roads seemed eminently sensible to me.

I lead the five of us south, through Horsham town centre and out on the Worthing Road before turning right at Tower Hill onto Two Mile Ash Road. At Bax Castle we turned left and carried on south to Dragons Green where we turned north. There was a lot of dirt and grit all over the road surface along with frequent puddles and potholes. I was acutely conscious that I always seem to get punctures in these sort of conditions when, guess what?  I had a puncture! I thought I might be able to ride on it for a couple of miles but no, it was completely flat within a hundred yards or so and I had to sort it out. I suggested that everyone else carry on to Sumners Ponds and have a cup of tea there whilst waiting for me. John V stayed to help and I replaced the tube within a few minutes but had to use his pump to inflate it as my pump didn't seem to work very well (I reckon it needs a service as it's been several months since I last used it!!).

We met everyone at Sumners Ponds and enjoyed a short tea-break there but were unfortunately sat under a heater so that, on returning to our bikes we were really feeling the cold! However, a few minutes cycling and we warmed up again. As it was just a morning ride and it was now midday, we headed back to Horsham via Two Mile Ash Road and having said goodbye to the Horsham contingent (Barbara, Sandy and Norman), John and I rode back to Crawley along the Forest Road. I found it really hard work (too much Christmas food, not enough exercise) whilst John just looked like he was ticking over!

Next Sundays ride is a 10:00hrs start from Three Bridges Station. Frank will be leading you north and east for a lunch stop at The Castle, Chiddingstone. It is relatively hill-free and fairly easy-riding in that direction.

The Sportsman at Amberley - not quite!

Last Autumn when I worked out the first quarter Runs List (and was feeling fit), a ride from Crawley to Amberley seemed perfectly reasonable. On a cold Sunday at the beginning of January it just seemed ridiculous!  Fortunately for me, that's what my fellow attendees thought, so we unanimously agreed to go for a shorter ride. I decided to use the route I had already planned but only as far as the Partridge Green area and then to swing north and west before heading back to Crawley.

Off we set. Firstly we used NCN21 through Furnace Green and Tilgate to K2 before ascending Pease Pottage Hill. Passing through Pease Pottage and avoiding all the potholes, we then took Grouse Road. At the end we turned left, downhill and across the Hammerpond dam before that short but tough climb up to Church Lane which took us up to Lower Beeding.

Here we turned right then forked right to reach the Cisswood Hotel - I believe President Obama stayed here on his last visit to England. Turning right we used the A281 for a few hundred yards before turning left onto Newells Lane. The pond looked quite pictureskew so I took a photo:
















Whilst taking it, the rest of our group carried on and I was passed by several other cyclists as well, so on remounting I had to fly along the lane and pass these other cyclists in order to keep our group heading in the right direction at the next junction.

We continued south and crossed over the A272, then just before Littleworth we took a right and pulled up at The Camelia Botnar Garden Centre. Here we enjoyed a pleasant tea/lunch break before heading back in the direction of home. We recrossed the A272 and headed up to Maplehurst where we turned left and cut across to Copsale. The pub there seems to have been extensively rebuilt/extended and we couldn't work out whether it'll reopen as a pub or as a private residence. We continued north and then turned right onto Sedgwick Lane. This took us onwards, over the A 281 by the Garden Centre. After this we headed east through Doomsday Green and then retraced our steps back along Grouse Road, through Pease Pottage, past K2 and back to Three Bridges. We ended up riding about 40 miles on a day that although cold, was actually quite pleasant when riding a bike.

Floods, Pot Holes, Puddles and theSilk Road

The ride was always intended to be a short easy morning ride, which is just what I needed having overdone things at the gym during the week.

Besides myself there was only Michael waiting at the start at Three Bridges, but we waited to see if anyone else turned up. At least the wait allowed me to put on waterproofs since it started to rain. So shortly after 10:00 we started the ride, taking the normal roads and cycle paths (Route 21) to get to Gatwick Airport and Horley. By Horley the rain we had at the start had come to nothing, so off with the boil in the bags (waterproofs) and on with the ride.

With the new housing estate, north of Horley, Route 21 now proceeds along a better road, but since I was following the route on the map (out of date) we ended up on the very rough and potted holed former track, near Great Lakes Farm. I should have been paying more attention to the road and not a number of Labradors having a great time in the stream running alongside, since soon it was a matter of trying to find the best course through the many potholes, craters, quarries, plus puddles, ponds and lakes that covered the route. Coverings of mud/sand  and streams crisscrossing the “path” also added to the technical nature of the ride, but soon we were both safely on a more solid road.

At this point it was time to leave Route 21, and start the first climb of the day. (More of a long drag than a serious climb – honest).  The first right took us onto Picketts Lane and beyond passed the turning for Redhill Aerodrome, but no tea stop since we continued northward passing the Hospital just to the south of Redhill / Reigate.

After a short stretch on a main A road, followed by a shortcut though a housing estate we were soon on the “silk road” leading back to Horley. Why the “silk road” you ask? Well not only was it pot hole free, but it appears to have been properly surfaced (BUILT), and not only for a short section for nearly its entire length. It goes to show that some Council’s can provide/maintain SOME decent roads. Passing a number of flooded fields and Flood Warning signs, we encountered only flood free roads, with only the occasional large puddle, but there were signs of previous flooding.

Soon back in the northern part of Horley my plan was to get round to the western side of Gatwick Airport, before returning to Crawley. The route now crossed the A217 and soon started climbing again. The last climb of the ride, but once we had arrived on the ridge and continued towards Norwood Hill it offered clears views North and South, including that of Gatwick Airport.

A left turn at Norwood Hill soon saw use both in Charlwood and the final part of the journey, which I could have continued directly into Ifield, but decided to take a slight detour towards the Rusper Road, before approaching Ifield from the West and returning to Three Bridges via Ifield Station, Southwater and Furnace Green.

Statistics:

43.4km or 28.32miles

185m of climbing

A map of the route is below along with my GPS track of the route.

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Next week’s ride is an Easy / Medium 30miles South of Horsham, lunch at The Wheatsheaf, Plummers Plain. Depart HPP at 10:00am

Planned Statistics:

48.3km or 30 miles

306m of climbing

Planned route is

Christmas Dinner 2012

Fifteen of us turned up at the Dragon in Colgate for this years Christmas Dinner - but only four on bikes! Barbara and Pete rode from Horsham, Frank and Pat from Crawley.  The rest of us arrived by car or taxi. 

We started in the Lounge Bar and enjoyed our pre-dinner drinks, conversation and Barbara's speech prior to awarding the Mick Horley trophy to Pat and Frank for their sterling support for the club in our successful delivery of the Two Weald Ride.

We then sat down for dinner and the wine, conversation and jokes started to flow. We suspected that fifteen people in one group was a little too much for the pub to handle as there was quite a spread in time between the first plate and last plate arriving at the table. On top of that, my initial dessert spoon was more suited to the depths of a Knickerbocker Glory than the shallow joys of Christmas Pudding and Custard! Meanwhile, the variety of different shaped pudding bowls caused some raised eyebrows as well!

Eventually, some three or four hours after arriving, and having gained an inch or two around the waist, it was time for us to head home through the rapidly approaching gloom of  a fairly mild mid-December afternoon.

Next weeks ride will start from Three Bridges Station at 10:00 hrs with Anton leading a gentle morning loop out to the northwest of Crawley and back.

CTC beginners ride - Woodhatch garden centre

We always seem to get a good turn-out for our monthly ‘introductory’ rides for some reason.  Maybe we should be able to figure that out?!  So it was, that this Sunday we had seven riders – Sandra, Sandy, John C, John V, Norman, Bob.  

My stoker was still tucked-up ‘al la duvet’, so I was on my hack bike in case we went along the Worth Way.  But she had suggested Woodhatch garden centre and so we set off in that direction as everyone else thought that this was a good idea.  

The route 21 took us to Horley on a bright but chilly morning and there we carried straight on through the town centre to the cross roads with the A23.  Once over we arrived at Lonesome Lane.  Well it’s not as Lonesome as it used to be when I commuted daily down it in the 70’s, but it is still very pleasant and the light traffic was well behaved.  Arriving at Woodhatch we found that the garden centre had some kind of seasonal fund-raising event on, but fortunately we were able to get in to the café.  

After refreshments and a natter we crossed Woodhatch to the west of the A217 by a diverse route through the back doubles, courtesy of John V.  Although I lived in Woodhatch for several years John still manages to know routes that I don’t!  I don’t know how he does it.  Arriving at the A217 we turned right to the south and hurried along for about 500 metres to the right turn for Irons Bottom at Sidlow Bridge.  I don’t think that I will speculate how this village/hamlet got it’s name!  This road was lightly trafficked and we had a quiet ride through pleasant countryside, to Povey Cross where we said goodbye to Norman as he headed back directly to Horsham, and we headed through the back entrance to Gatwick.  

After retracing our steps through the terminal we arrived back at Three Bridges.  Total ride duration about 4 hours including long coffee break.  Distance about 25 miles and average speed around 8 mph.  Anyone can ride at this speed and we’d love to see you at the next one – Sunday 10^th Feb, 10.00 at Three Bridges Station.  Go-on, put it in your new 2013 diary now!

See us and Crawley related Cycling on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/123008357770954/

Peter Smith

CTC Crawley/Horsham

South of Horsham

Anton led this ride from Horsham Park Pavilion. He took us along Depot Road to Doomsday Green and across the A281 onto Sedgwick (formerly Magpie) Lane. We carried on down to Copsale then used the Downs Link to cross under the A24 and arrive in Southwater, from there we headed towards Shipley but turned right onto the A272 for a short while before going through Dragons Green and on into Barns Green where we stopped for elevenses at Sumners Ponds. From there it was straight back along Two Mile Ash Road past Bax Castle and up to Tower Hill and back into Horsham.