For Fox Sake!

Sunday. Bike ride. The wind and rain of last night seems to have exhausted itself. Great! Hmmm – the road’s still wet though, better put my waterproof trousers on. Pack the waterproof jacket into my pannier, add an extra layer under my fleece and I’m ready. For once I arrive at the start on time (it is only a mile away from home mind you). At Three Bridges station Pete S, John H and Barbara are already waiting by the phone box and Anton arrives as I pull up. Pete is meant to be today’s leader but his croaky voice reveals he’s suffering from a bad cold, so I take over the reins and borrow his map so he can get back home to a warm house. As we wait in case anyone else turns up, the wind returns and brings rain with it – on with the waterproof jackets.

No-one else arrived so off we went through the traffic lights and then through Three Bridges on Hazelwick Road and North Road. Crossing Northgate Avenue then Woodfield Road we used the underpass for a traffic free route into the Industrial Estate. As usual on a Sunday, the roads here were pretty quiet and just as I was pointing out that lots of Crawley’s residents had learnt to drive on the estate, we passed a young lady having a driving lesson.

Turning left onto Gatwick Road we then crossed a roundabout and turned right towards the Beehive – the original (we’re talking 1920’s) Gatwick Airport terminal building. It’s a shame the environs have been filled with empty modern office blocks with a naff ‘avenue’ style road layout reminiscent of central Milton Keynes (only naffer). We were hoping that John on his recumbent would go under the barrier onto the next part of the route but he went round the side of it just like us.

Crossing the Gatwick Stream we noticed how full and rapid flowing it was, then, further along the path a couple of blokes in fluorescent yellow jackets were just standing having a fag. I wondered whether they’d walked the quarter mile from the terminal building just for a smoke or whether they were looking after the security of that particular part of the airport. We didn’t stop to ask! Splashing through a slight flood in the underpass the route (it’s NCN 21) emerges into a green oasis of trees and lakes on the outskirts of Horley. We continued following NCN 21 as it passed through the centre of Horley and under the railway but then we stayed on the Smallfield Road and continued east.

Just before the bridge over the M23 we turned left onto Hathersham Lane and after a few hundred yards I realised that I’d lost half of the group! I turned round and got back to the junction just in time to see Barbara and Anton heading over the bridge. I shouted but I don’t think they heard even me over the noise of the motorway traffic. Fortunately Anton stopped to ask a horse rider if she’d seen two cyclists and as she hadn’t he reasoned that we must have taken that turning before the bridge. As soon as he turned round he could see me so we regrouped and continued up the lane. We took the first right onto New House Lane and climbed the small hill before turning left onto Axes Lane then right onto Mason’s Bridge Road. This has a small climb as well before we took the right onto Kings Mill Lane to go past Redhill Aerodrome. We decided not to stop here but press on towards the lunch stop. Passing through South Nutfield we headed along Crab Hill Lane to recross the M23.

From here we headed south along Prince of Wales Road before heading east again towards Outwood on Brickfield Road. Arriving at the windmill we had a quick chat and decided to cut the ride short as it was now ten minutes to midday and we all felt peckish. I suggested we try a pub I knew of nearby, the Jolly Farmers, so off we went down Gayhouse Lane and east along Whitewood Lane.

What a revelation! We received a friendly welcome at the pub, there was an empty table in front of the log fire, the Sussex Ale was really good and they had a good variety of food on the menu at reasonable prices (and the servings were of a very hearty size). This pub is definitely going on our list of places to stop.

Our lunchtime discussion mainly centred around Dave Galle and hopefully Barbara or Bob will be able to visit Dave sometime this week.

Eventually it dawned on us that sooner or later we’d have to venture back outside so we bit the bullet and got going again. I offered the choice of either riding directly back to Crawley or going a – “Straight back please” they all interrupted – so I didn’t need to look at the map. Back along Whitewood Lane, turn right onto Smallfield Road then left onto Dowlands Lane. As we turned right onto Cross Lane, Anton made his goodbyes as he was continuing south to get home via Turners Hill.

It was hard work riding up Copthorne Bank as the wind was quite strongly in our faces and carrying a lot of rain. In fact we sheltered at the side of the road for a minute whilst a particularly heavy squall passed over. However, by the time we’d travelled along Copthorne Road and reached the M23 overbridge, the sun had emerged and there was a rainbow behind us. Now it was time to say bye-bye to John as he headed back home into Pound Hill and Barbara and I pedalled on to the station.

We were discussing the need to have a committee meeting as I saw a car pull up outside the station that I recognised. It was one of our section members, George, and we had a quick chat with him – he spotted the fact that I’ve barely got any mudguards on my bike (but I did do John O’Groats to Lands End on it). We were getting cold now so Barbara headed for her car (the station car park is free on Sundays) and I headed home.

As I washed my bike down and sprayed oil on it I noticed that we’d covered a mere 26 miles today but with all the wind and rain it felt like we’d gone a lot further.

Next weeks ride will be to the west and north of Horsham. Leaving Horsham Park Pavilion at 10:00hrs, Mick will lead us on a medium rated 30 mile loop with a stop for lunch at a nice country pub – the Punchbowl at Okewoodhill. After all the rain of recent weeks, I’m hoping it will be drier (though that will probably make it colder!).