Mince Pie Ride

The Sunday after Christmas saw four of us have a jolly nice, short ride around Horsham and then a stop at Barbara's for lashings of mince pies. ken and I had ridden over from Crawley, Pete and Barbara met us at Horsham Pavilions in the Park.


Pete led us west, then south through the Horsham suburbs before crossing the A24 on the Tesco bridge. We then turned north and rode through Broadbridge Heath and on up to Warnham. Next we headed east, over the railway at Warnham station and then south, up Rusper Road to Barbara's.

Rendezvous Ride - The Plough at Lower Beeding

The trouble with winter is that it can be cold, wet, dark, gloomy, slippery or all of them at once! You just can't predict what it will be like, so when planning our December rides I thought I'd throw in a Rendezvous Ride to a pub not too far from either Crawley or Horsham. My thinking was that with people being able to choose their own start times and routes, we would all be able to maximize or minimize our mornings exposure to whatever conditions we faced on the day. For myself, I was thinking about possibly meeting up with Anton somewhere south of Handcross (Staplefield perhaps) and riding over to Lower Beeding with him, but a chat with Anton on Saturday evening revealed he wouldn't be riding due to him suffering from a cold. So I decided on a straightforward route, up Pease Pottage Hill, down Grouse Road, left and the Hammerpond, turn right onto Church Lane and then turn right to arrive at Lower Beeding. It was actually so straightforward that I arrived at the pub a full 50 minutes before it was due to open - what a fool!  I hung around for a while but the clock was ticking so slowly I realized I need to do a bit more riding. I rode into the close of new houses that had recently sprung up doubling the village population overnight, but that only wiped a couple of minutes off the clock so I headed south, down and up past (another) hammerpond before stopping to read a noticeboard at the side of the road. The noticeboard described the Sussex Ouse Valley Way and seemed to suggest that the hammerpond was one of the sources of the Ouse. Looking at that, and checking my mapping app on my phone whiled away some time. The I carried on riding down to the junction with the A281 where I turned right (I bet not many people turn right there). I was riding gently along, letting the clock tick away but I was soon turning right and still only a few hundred yards from the pub, As I got close I spotted Norman waving at me and we went around to the pub garden to lock our bikes up. More to come.


More to come - I wrote that nearly two weeks ago! I'd better finish this entry off.....


Neither Norman nor I were expecting anyone else to turn up but as we waited, so we were joined by a new chap who's seen our runslist on the web and then, once we were snugly located in the Saloon Bar in front of the fire, so more and more club members turned up - Pete and Marian, Gordon and Jacqui, Pete E, Frank and Pat, and Ken. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and we spent the best part of two hours there chatting, eating and drinking. What a nice way to prepare for Christmas and all the chatting, eating and drinking that would entail!!


Eventually, we pulled our warm outerclothes back on and headed for home. Together we went down Church Lane to Bucks Head and then Norman and Pete E carried on along Hammerpond Lane as the rest of us went up  Grouse Road back to Pease Pottage and then Crawley.

Christmas Dinner

Today's ride would act as an appetite improver for the main event, the Christmas Dinner.

We decided to have starts from both Horsham and Crawley. Pete E, Norman and Frank left from HPP, Gordon, Jacqui, Anton, Ken and myself started from Three Bridges, whilst Barbara and Sandra travelled independently via Colgate.

It was cold but not too nippy and the roads seemed to be clear of ice. The Crawley contingent headed north on the NCN21 as far as Gatwick. There we turned west, under the A23 and I then noticed I had a slow puncture. Trying to save time, we just pumped it up and carried on, through to Povey Cross and then left to Charlwood. Here we took the third left and headed up to Russ Hill where I had to stop for about the fourth time to put air back in my tyre. As I was doing so, Pete phoned to say that his group had reached the rendezvous point at Rusper. I reckoned we were about 5-10 minutes away, but a couple of minutes later Pete rang again to say that they were going on and to meet at the pub. This meant we could cut out a hill and head straight to Faygate.

My phone rang again just as we were climbing the last hill up to Wimlands Lane and for family reasons I had to head straight home and miss the Christmas dinner.


However, I'm told that the food was good and hot and that everyone enjoyed themselves.

The Queens Head at Barns Green

Some days riding a bike is as easy as riding a bike, other days it just seems like hard work - I was having a hard work day riding over to Horsham today. I blame the wind as it was in my face all the way. The rain was just about holding off and arriving at HPP I was pleased to see several other club members all congregated ready for the ride. Michael was leading Christine, Barbara, Norman, Ken, Sandra and myself on today's easy ride. We headed out of Horsham on The Pedlars Way which, in spite of the recent wet weather, was firm enough for even my slick tyres. Ken was having trouble with one of his shoe clips, so we stopped and managed to straighten it up with some well-aimed pressure from a multi tool.

Michael now led us through Newfoundout, to and through Southwater and across the A272 to Shipley. Now we turned North and recrossed the A272 into Dragons Green. The rain tried to put in an appearance but failed and as we approached Barns Green, so the sky cleared.

We were pretty much the first people in the pub but almost all the tables were reserved. However we managed to find one big enough for all of us and settled down to a nice lunch with plenty of food and drink (I gave the free cheese and crisps on the bar a good going over as well).

When we got going again, the sky was still blue but the temperature seemed to have dropped a couple of degrees. We headed back past the Bax Castle, up Two Mile Ash Road and on to Tower Hill. Reaching Horsham town centre we all split up to head our separate ways home - Ken and I going back to Crawley via Roffey , Colgate and Pease Pottage.

Next week is our Christmas Dinner - you should all have booked and paid your money to Pete by now. We've arranged two rides - one starting from Three Bridges and one from HPP. They both start at 10:00 hrs with the intention of meeting up at Rusper at about 11:15 before heading on down to Faygate having worked up an appetite for dinner.

The Jolly Farmer

It's been a while since I produced a blog - I've missed the last two rides!


This week however, I was leader - no shirking, I had to be there....


A 10:30 start from Three Bridges station meant that I comfortably got there on time and quickly spotted Norman enjoying his breakfast by the (immobile) mobile café. I'd also received a message from Gordon and Jacqui who were in the coffee shop (along with Frank). Then Eric rocked up, followed by Pete E, then Michael and Christine. Nine riders - not bad, not bad at all. The half ten start and proximity of the pub to Crawley meant that I had selected a very easy and straightforward route. We used the NCN21 route out through Three Bridges, Northgate and the Industrial Estate to Gatwick Airport. We headed through Horley, past the Air Balloon pub and out on Meath Green Lane.


BANG!


The Sunday morning silence was broken by Michaels rear tyre blowing up - although it sounded far worse than it was. Once he'd removed the tube, all he found was a small stone sticking through the tyre and a 4mm diameter hole in the tube. Unfortunately his spare had too fat a valve but Gordon saved the day with exactly the right tube (in spite of the fact that it would have fitted neither his nor Jacqui's bike!!).


We were soon back on the road and after a couple of miles took the right turn across to Salford where we had to carefully cross the A23. Continuing eastwards, we were soon at Outwood and passing the windmill. Now we had the only hill of the day and it wasn't up!  Waahay - I just managed to match the speed limit as I freewheeled down and then we just had a short run along the lane to the pub, The Jolly Farmer.


As we locked up the bikes I was extolling the virtues of the last visit to this pub - good food, good drink, good atmosphere, good fire in the grate - so I was more than slightly crestfallen when the landlord revealed that they couldn't offer any food as their chef had recently left. Still, the beer was nice and cheap, so we had a swift quaff whilst working out Plan B.


Plan B: where's the nearest pub? A quick look at the map, coupled with a determination not to ride further away from Crawley, and we decided to head for The Plough at Smallfield. It only took a few minutes but as we pulled up I was worried that it was bit too posh and 'restauranty' for a gaggle of cyclists. However, I was pleasantly surprised as we received a very warm welcome from the staff who quickly pushed some tables together so we could sit as a group and presented us with a varied menu containing plenty of lighter meal options. The food arrived quickly and was most enjoyable. Everyone chipped in to the various conversations and the time just flew by.


As we left, Frank got us all together for a group photo - an impressive feat that I rarely manage due to the similarity groups of cyclists have with herds of cats!  You can rarely get them all in the same place, at the same time, looking the same way.......

From Smallfield I planned to head towards Shipley Bridge via Church Lane and the small bridge over the M23, but I changed my mind and used a tiny lane from Smallfield leading under the M23. A short, slightly muddy section then led us on to another small lane skirting the moat of Thunderfield Castle in Horley. At the end of the lane I had thought about turning left and following the Balcombe Road all the way back to Crawley but a dose of common sense and a nudge from Eric persuaded me to turn right, head for Horley Station and then use the NCN21 back to Gatwick. From Gatwick we retraced our steps into the Industrial Estate but with a quick detour to use the new linear park / cycle path called Crawters Brook. I've ridden through it about five times now and I don't think I've seen anyone else using it so far!

Our group now started to part ways - Gordon, Jacqui and Pete heading West to use the A23 cyclepaths to Broadfield and Horsham. Norman was next to go, heading up Northgate Avenue. The rest of us stayed together until Three Bridges where Frank, Michael and Christine headed back to their cars at the station. Meanwhile Eric and I used the newly resurfaced NCN20 into Furnace Green for me and on to Maidenbower for Eric.

Our next ride on Sunday 7th December will be an easy ride starting from Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 10:00hrs and heading for a Lunch stop at the Queens Head in Barns Green. There is the possibility that we will use some gentle offroad tracks but all but the most fragile of bikes will be able to deal with them.  Come on, come out, give yourselves some fresh air and exercise, before Christmas really kicks in!!



In Memoriam

The freedoms we enjoy and the privileged lives we lead are down to the sacrifices and endeavours of those who have preceded us. We must carry those freedoms forward and defend them from the darkness of prejudice and ignorance. 

DA AGM

Today's ride was simple - leave Horsham Pavilions in the Park at 9:00, get to Pulborough Village Centre by 10:30. My ride over had started off slowly but I'd got into my stride by Roffey and arrived at the start with 10 minutes to spare. Ken rolled up a few minutes later having used the same route over. Next we were joined by Norman and new member, Frank.

I led us out of Horsham over the golf course, down through Broadbridge Heath and on to Bashurst Hill. The skies were mainly blue with a light wind and the temperature was quite balmy for November. 

We were all enjoying the ride and we're having a good old chat as the road took us South. Crossing the A272 was event less and we carried on through Broadford Bridge and up Woods Hill to West Chiltington. After zigzagging down the hill we turned into Stream Lane which lived up to its nam with water running along it for some distance. With no mudguards on my bike I was trying to keep my speed down and bunny hop the worst bits but I still ended up with a damp behind!

I didn't have time to dry out before we were pulling up at Pulborough Village Centre - we'd arrived with 10 minutes to spare and enjoyed some tea, biscuits and a chat before the meeting started. 

The meeting was pretty much the same as usual, friendly and business-like. Oh - we won a couple of trophies as well!! There was a well observed two minute silence at 11:00 and the meeting wound up at about 11:45.

Along with Barbara we made straight for the pub - the Oddfellows Arms and settled down for lunch. Shortly after we were joined by Dave and Louise Galley and then another five DA folk turned up and we had a nice lunchtime drinking, eating and discussing all manner of things. 

The weather was still pleasant as we made our way back but this time via Barns Green, Bax Castle and Tower Hill. Back in Horsham there were now just two of us left to ride along to Crawley. 

Next weeks ride is an Easy Ride suitable for beginners, starting at Three Bridges Station at 10:00hrs.