Edenbridge - well Lingfield, actually!

I could get used to this - another Sunday, another ride and I'm not leading it!  Doesn't stop me from running late though :-(

I arrived at Three Bridges station to a barrage of friendly banter and time-keeping based punditry from a mixed bag of boys and girls all waiting to get going on their bikes. Anton was leading Norman, Val, Malcolm, Pete, Marian, Ros and myself, firstly on NCN21 out through the north of Crawley and on to Gatwick. There was quite strong wind from the southwest, so it would be behind us until at least the lunch stop. In spite of the wind, it wasn't that cold and even the full cloud cover didn't stop the day from feeling quite bright. Scaffolders were working on the terminal building and we had to wait for them to move their lorry out of the away before we could get past. Unlike last week, the underpass wasn't flooded, then when we emerged back on the roads, Anton surprised us by turning right where we normally turn left. Oh; hang on, wait a minute!, rewind a bit......... tfel nrut yllamron ew erehw thgir gninrut yb su desirprus notnA ,sdaor eht no kcal degreme ew nehw neht .......  I missed something:   SOMEONE fell off her bike! I won't mention names but I saw her valiantly claw at Malcolm's leg as she toppled slowly, some would say gracefully, to the ground. We were stopped at the time and it was the fall that everyone using clipless pedals has at some point - you lose your balance and can't unclip quick enough. Anyway, no damage done except for a bruised bum!

Anyway, to continue, Anton surprised us by turning right where we normally turn left. This brought us out in exactly the same place as usual - near the station, from where we crossed the railway and carried on East over the traffic light junction along Smallfield Road. Just before the motorway we turned left onto Hathersham Lane and further on, avoided turning into the wind by going up New House Lane. Axes Lane took us east, over the motorway before we passed the Dog and Duck pub (a major stopping point on the London to Brighton Bike Ride) and headed to Outwood along Brickfield Road.

At Outwood windmill we regrouped and Ros, who was out riding for the first time since a minor fall off her Brompton the other week, decided to take a shorter route to the lunch stop and meet us there. As she had a map I assumed she'd got some clever route worked out and rode off with the others, along Gayhouse Lane and down Hornecourt Hill having promised to phone when we reached the lunch stop. 

After just a few more miles cycling, including a short foray along a very smooth A22, we arrived in Lingfield and settled on The GreyHound pub as our lunch stop. I phoned Ros to find out where she was only to find that she had taken a much more circuitous route and was on her way down from Bletchingly! The result was that Ros had ridden almost twice as far as we had and we'd almost finished our lunch before she arrived at the pub. Never mind, that meant I could have a second pint whilst Ros ate her lunch :-)

As the wind had been pretty much behind us all morning, we knew it was going to be mainly in our faces all the way home. Anton countered this to some extent by his choice of route which firstly took us via Felcourt into East Grinstead where he took us on short cut through some quiet residential streets before we said goodbye to East Grinstead resident Ros. The A22 was busy but slow-moving until we turned off at Felbridge and took the Crawley Down fork. As we went up the hill a rather nice Scooby went by - gimme! After Crawley Down we went via Rowfant and then used a short stretch of the Worth Way before splitting into two groups - Pete, Marian and myself using the Worth Way back to Maidenbower and Furnace Green, everyone else using the road back to Three Bridges station.

All in all, quite a short ride of just over 30 miles but very enjoyable, especially as Anton tends to find roads we haven't used much before, thanks Anton.

Next weeks ride is a Horsham Pavilion in the Park start at 10:00hrs and will be led by me. It will be a Pootle to Partridge Green and will celebrate the anniversary of the club.

The White Horse at Maplehurst

By the time I got to the start at Horsham I was worn out - these winter months of too much sitting around and eating too much have taken their toll. But Anton had a lovely route planned for us and had even sorted out nice sunny weather.

A good turnout saw Anton accompanied by Barbara, Norman, Michael, Pete E, Frank and myself. We left Horsham using the Tower Hill route and headed past Bax Castle and almost to Barns Green where we turned left to go south to Coolham. Here Anton's master plan became obvious - Coolham is the easiest place to cross the A272 because, amazingly the A road has to give Way to the B road!

The first left took us over towards Shipley and past The Countryman. At this point Barbara headed back to Horsham with Norman keeping her company whilst the rest of us carried on to Dial Post and carefully crossed a fairly busy A24. Anton had been concerned there may be flooding on this part of the route but although some fields on either side were well under water, the road was OK. As we passed through Ashurst, a gaggle of riders from Brighton Mitre cycle club overtook us. We carried on up through the edge of Partridge green and then along Mill Lane across to Littleworth. The Windmill looks like it's having a lot of building work done.

We soon arrived at what should have been the lunch stop for today's ride, the Camellia Botnar garden centre, where we were met by John C. However, ALL the tables in the cafe were marked as reserved and they would only serve drinks and cake in the coffee area where we had to sit, so we decided to lunch at The White Horse in Maplehurst instead.  This was just a crossing of the A272 and a couple of hills away. Frank however was feeling a bit tired and decided to stay at the cafe, rest for a while and then head home.

What a great pub - proper dingy interior, great selection of ales (I went for a Hepworths Stout - it was fantastic) friendly staff and plenty of locals propping up the bar. the food was really well priced and included lighter meals as well as the bigger platefuls. 10/10 for this pub. 

As we were finishing we spotted John B strolling in - it is his local after all - so we stopped and had a chat with him. Then we split into two with Michael and Pete heading back to Horsham via Copsale, Anton, John and myself heading up Newell's Lane, through Lower Beeding and on to Handcross. Here we said goodbye to Anton as he turned south towards Hayward's Heath, then a few minutes later John and I were back home in Crawley. I'd clocked up 42 miles and enjoyed it but boy was I tired!

Next weeks ride will once again be led by Anton - he'll probably come up with another good route. It will start from Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs and head to the North and East. It's rated as Medium and will be somewhere in the region of 40 miles long with a pub or cafe at the halfway point, just in time for lunch. Will Anton be charmed enough to have a second dry Sunday?

Easy Ride

Pete S led Jacqui, Sandra, Val, Gordon, Norman, John V and myself out on a ride designed to encourage newcomers to cycling. A simple route saw us follow NCN20 up through Three Bridges and the Industrial Estate and then alongside the swollen River Mole up to Gatwick Airport.

Further evidence of the recent high rainfall was the flooding in the tunnel under the motorway link. It was only a couple of inches deep though, so we easily negotiated it. Apart from that the path was relatively clean and clear. Until we got to the subway under the railway in Horley - that was closed due to flooding, so we had to lug our bikes over the footbridge instead.

Pete was going to take a slight detour from the NCN20 to avoid the bumpy and gravelly bridleway but Val had wandered ahead and took us onto it before Pete could intervene. It was therefore slightly ironic when Val was heard to suggest that we should have avoided the bridleway!

This area is where Horley seems to be expanding into but at the moment it is pretty much awash with floodwater - perhaps the council will stipulate that all the new houses there are built on stilts or floating pontoons.

Reaching tarmac again we just had about three miles and two climbs to go before pulling up at Redhill aerodrome where the cafe was busy (as usual).

Refreshed, our return journey was the exact reverse of the outward journey - except that this time we avoided the dirty bridleway bit. On reaching Three Bridges we said goodbye to Sandra who was heading for home whilst the rest of us headed over to Broadfield for lunch at Gordon's, followed by the Q2 Runs List meeting.

Many thanks to Gordon (and Jacqui) for hosting the meeting and many thanks to all the members who took part and helped produce a nice varied selection of rides taking us through to the end of June. I've sent the list off to be published in The Pedaller and I've also posted it on our website.

Balcombe Tea Room

Late, late, late again! As I approached the Roffey traffic lights my phone rang. It was Anton, politely enquiring whether I would be taking part in his ride. Having confirmed I was, he let me know which route out of Horsham he would be using and therefore where I could intercept him. Sure enough, as I approached the roundabout, I spotted everyone and joined up with them (in spite of John C heading off in the wrong direction). Anton took us along Depot Road, out to Doomsday Green and south on Sedgwick Lane. It was nice and sunny although fairly cool and, apart from the occasional puddle or stream let crossing the road, relatively dry. We went on through Copsale and Maplehurst then up Newell's Lane to Lower Beeding. Anton kept us on the B-road as far as The Wheatsheaf, thereby avoiding a couple of hills and then we turned right to go past Slaugham pond and through Slaugham to Staplefield. Here we took Brantridge Lane all the way up to the water tower before turning right onto Redbridge Lane. It was a nice fast descent pretty much all the way to Balcombe.

The cafe was quite quiet - until we arrived!. Anton, Michael, John C, Pete E, John V and myself. Minutes later, Pat and Frank arrived having ridden down from Crawley, then Val popped in (she'd driven over). We all had a good chat and quaffed our teas and coffees before heading back off outside.

We used the most direct route back - up Redbridge Lane and on to Handcross, then Pease Pottage. The Horsham contingent headed back along the Forest Road whilst us Crawleyites were pretty much home already.

Anyone for Coffee?

Michael had a nice little route planned for today with long or short options to cater for whoever turned up. Due to a party on Saturday night, I'd only managed about three hours sleep and only had 20 minutes to get to Horsham. Just as I was deciding I would have to miss the ride, Anton phoned to see if I needed a lift! So it was that Anton and I joined Michael, Val and Norman in the cafe at Horsham pavilions. Have I mentioned that it was raining hard and that the temperature was only a few degrees above freezing? Well, we all had a coffee and sat there chatting, no-one seemed keen to get out into the lousy weather. We each came up with reasons not to get all cold and wet (mine was that I needed to get back to bed and catch up on my sleep!) and the time ticked by. If anything the weather was actually getting worse and we were enjoying our chatting and coffees so eventually we all decided to forego cycling for the day and just head for home. We'll try and run the ride later in the year. 

The Green Man at Horsted Keynes

I rated this ride as Easy/Medium on the runs list because it would be easy in terms of mileage but medium because there would be some hills - you just can't avoid hills if you go south of Crawley. After the wet and miserable weather of recent, it was a pleasant surprise to wake up to a nice sunny day, albeit a tad nippy. The sun brought out four other riders - John C, Val, Michael and Norman.

I avoided the Pease Pottage climb and didn't use the Turners Hill one because I don't like it. Instead I led everyone through Maidenbower and then up the Balcombe Road as far as the bridleway which took us east to Whiteways Lodge. From there we headed on through Worth Abbey before turning south into Back Lane. This lane gave us a nice two mile plus, generally downhill, quiet, run before launching us steeply down to the reservoir. There was a lot of water running down the sides of the road and at the bottom it was obvious that the road had recently been completely flooded. It was clear enough for us to get through though and then we had the second climb of the day. There was a lot of clear running water cascading down and in some places, across, the road.

Having reached Ardingly we turned right onto the Lindfield road for another downhill run which continued as we turned left and then right and up to Horsted Keynes railway station on the Bluebell Railway. The railway station is over a mile away from the village which gives it its name and is the location of our lunch stop. However, we'd made good time so we stopped on the way into the village  in a sun trap of a spot with a convenient bench. 

As the pub was about to open, we got going again and covered the last few hundred yards to the Green Man. As we locked up our bikes Anton arrived and as we settled down inside the pub with our beers, Pat and Frank turned up. Not bad - eight cyclists out on a cold January day!. We spent a pleasant hour eating and drinking as well as discussing future rides and some facets of a planned end-to-end ride Anton, Norman and myself will tackle in 2016. 

The homeward route took us east then north away from Horsted Keynes then, near Birchgrove (where Harold Macmillan used to I've), I tried to take a debris strewn downhill corner too fast and ran out of road! Luckily I got away with it and managed to regain the tarmac without falling off :-)  Next, one of my favourite lanes took us through a ford and then presented us with a short sharp climb. Continuing north the next Lane took us gradually up as did the following lane, which is called Chilling Street. At the top of the street we turned left and headed through Sharpthorne then West Hoathly and on to Turners Hill. This meant that the last few miles of the ride were all pretty much downhill.

Getting back to Three Bridges station I could see that we'd only covered 24 miles - although Norman reckoned we'd climbed something like 20 hills!

Our next ride should be a bit flatter. Michael will be leading us from Horsham Pavilion in the Park at 10:00 hrs and take us to lunch at either Kirdford or Barns Green - depending on who turns up. It's rated as an easy ride and should only be about 30 miles - sounds enjoyable to me, perhaps I'll see you there.

North and West of Crawley

The first ride of 2014 was preceded by the news that two of our riders had fallen off their bikes in recent days. One due to ice and the other due to a pothole. Both riders are recovering but won't be riding for a few weeks yet. Get well soon gents.

Weather wise we were lucky to have a nice clear day. There had been a light frost but with a 10:00 hrs start all the roads were ice free. part from myself, today's riders were Barbara, Val, Frank and Gordon. 

I'd produced a nice easy and relatively flat route which took us up NCN21 through Gatwick and then out of Horley via Meath Green Lane/Lonesome Lane. We took the bridleway across to the A 217 then headed south to Black Corner where we forked right towards Ironsbottom. From there we headed to Charlwood then Russ Hill and finally Rusper. We were the only people in the pub for about half an hour and our food arrived really quickly.

The weather forecast suggested rain in the mid afternoon so we headed straight back home from the pub