The Bedham Ride

Around 15 years ago I was taking part in a kitcar run, a convoy of kitcars and one Beetle, I was driving the Beetle, not strictly a kitcar although you could say it came in kit form all the way from Mexico to be assembled as a brand new aircooled car in the UK – slightly off topic. It was an interesting run through country lanes through bluebell woods and a deserted church in the middle of nowhere, slightly spooky to find it there. I thought today I would find it again.

The church was Bedham church, which in fact is actually Bedham schoolhouse built by the Church of England in 1880 which was a schoolhouse in the style of a chapel for Sundays. At one point it had 3 teachers and 60 students, infants and seniors separated by a curtain. The school carried on until the 1920s, the Sunday services remained until the 1950s when it must had been in a pretty bad shape. It no longer has a roof or a floor, and it is being held up props, it is overgrown and easy to miss. It’s not on the way to anywhere and actually Bedham itself, the village, is a bit hard to notice.

I have not been on a ride for months, this would be the first for the year. An early start during a hot Mayday weekend. Worthing was quiet as I rode through and towards Arundel where I would start going North. I’ve biked to Arundel lots before but normally via Bognor, today I went through Angmering and up to the A27. I’ve never really been through Angmering and round it quite a nice little village with various thatched houses. Onto the A27 I tackled the rough surface of the shared pavement and cycle path, it wasn’t really much use as either but it was better than joining the fast traffic on the dual carriage way. It came to point where I had to cross the dual carriage way, something that would be a bit of challenge during the day but it was still early and there was no traffic at all – itself seemed a bit unheard of for the A27! I did re-join the A27 and even cycled down the middle of it, although it was many years ago that Crossbush was bypassed and the ex-A27 has been a country road ever since.

All quiet.. apart from the woman crouching by her camper van having a wee, I said a cheery ‘hello’ as I passed. She didn’t look as happy.

I took back roads into Arundel at which point the GPS suggested a route through Arundel grounds. I didn’t know if it would be possible and this was soon confirmed as not possible as it attempted to take me through the big wooden gates of the estate, they were not open an nor would they likely to be. I went by road instead, up the long long hill taking me up to the roundabout and snack bar, and the toilets. The hill isn’t steep but it does go on for quite a while, I slowly plodded up to the top, at which point I had a snack while I read the prices of a breakfast bap (with 1,2 or 3 items). The prices were good, pity we don’t have a need to go on the A29 very often.

I was sure this bloke would get to the top way before me – I was right

I headed off along Bignor direction and a labyrinth of small roads which seemed like history had plastered itself all over them in their sharp corners, the deep cuttings. The romans were big in this area, but afterwards I could imagine these roads, then tracks being used by travelers, danger around every corner. I took the corners slow, the only danger would be a car coming fast the other way.

More modern history came up in the form of a hump back bridge that looked very much like a railway bridge of old. This was confirmed when looking to see what was passing underneath showed an old, straight and overgrown path. The railway of old, Pulborough – Midhurst line was not well planned and never well used. Dr Beeching didn’t have too much to do to determine this little used line would close, it seems now quite forgotten. The path didn’t look inviting, I carried on over the river Rother the the old railway used to follow.

Ex-railway bridge selfy (or ‘a picture of my bike’)

While planning a route I noticed a section of offroad that would cut off a corner and a bit of the A272. It seemed like a good idea, the A272 is not much fun in a car and less so on a bike, but I didn’t want to get ‘bogged down’ with off roading. It was hot and dry now, but only 5 days earlier it had felt like the middle of winter. This time, it was a good gamble which knocked off a number of miles and landed me straight into Bedham. I hadn’t thought about keeping an eye out for old overgrown churches, it was only because a car had stopped in the middle of the thin country road that I had to stop to let it pass when it eventually pulled off again. I wondered what it had been up to when I looked down on my left and it was there. Lucky, without the car in the way and going downhill, I might had missed it.

A bit of offroading, much nicer than the A272

I climbed down the steep hill to take a closer look. I thought it would be more spooky than it was, even when I notice the (what looks like) human hair in the old fireplace. Instead, it was just peaceful. The bluebells had already been at their best, 15 years ago I remember huge blue carpets making everything look a lot more magical. Even without, it was quiet and peaceful, walking in a building that in the past would had been a bit of a focal point for the sparse population, a chance to get a bit of an education and sort out your spiritual side on a Sunday. It was nice that they hadn’t let it completely crumble, it was also nice that they hadn’t restored it.

I started by journey back home which I thought would be uneventful, but I soon came to a road closed sign. If I were to follow the diversion then it would take me miles out of the way, so I took the second gamble of the day and it paid off. I don’t know what the road closed sign was all about, although there were a number of red flags along the road with the sign “shooting in progress”, so maybe that was it. I didn’t hear any gunshots.

On the way back I zigzagged major roads which added to the miles but made the journey all a bit better. I found myself going through Stopham, another small hamlet (I don’t know about any old schoolhouses and churches, I’m sure they might be there somewhere). As well as being a small hamlet, the road goes downhill and so was surprised that doing just over 30mph on a push bike I happened to notice an ancient bridge off of the main road. I stopped and took a closer look.

Stopham bridge is an “scheduled monument” which is strange when you think it wasn’t until 1986 that a new bridge was built next to it and traffic would not bother the 600 year old bridge any more. With the bridge, the canal, and the pub, I imagine just as school children were getting ready for lessons at the Bedham schoolhouse, there was a great deal of activity here too. The new concrete bridge had major work done to it last year, I doubt it will still be there in 600 years time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the old one is.

Imagine all traffic trying to get over this

The rest of the journey was uneventful. I passed a long street of very posh houses where I lost count of those funny looking squashed Range Rovers sitting in driveways. The appeal wore off after a while especially as each house was behind its own security gate and high fence. Country living… I doubt many on that road knew anything about each other. If they did, they could swap notes on Range Rover Evoques (I searched for ‘squashed looking range rover and Google knew what I was on about).