It seems I haven’t had a bike trip for a good year and a bit, and with working from home since March I haven’t really been on a bike at all for most of this year (I used to bike 100 miles to work and back each week). Other things in life get in the way or replace bike touring. During the really hot weeks during the summer I did go out on the mountain bike over the South Downs with Tom. It has been a yearly thing to bike to Cissbury ring for breakfast, early in the day on around the longest day. This has meant waking up at 3am to catch the rising sun by the time I get there. We did it last year, with Tom and it was slightly later on in the morning, but still early. So the only real trip this year (which I failed to write about here) was the long day summer trip, but this time for tea, and this time at Chanctonbury Ring (with a ride past Cissbury Ring on the way home). A great ride that ended up in the dark on the Downs, which was good fun.

Back to now, I decided to restart the bike tours and a good trip to start off again would be a ride up to Horsham and back. This was around one of the first proper rides I did on the Royal Tourer when I first bought it over five years ago. Being kept in the shed, under cover, all I had to do was pump the tyres up.

An early start would mean I would get back in time for the bad weather in the afternoon, until that time it was meant to be sunny if not a bit cool. It was quite hard getting up and going. It was cold enough for my hands and feet to get pretty cold and uncomfortable, bits of low sun as it came up showed me this would be temporary.

The route planned would be a mixture of roads and Downslink, hopping onto a bridleway going past Denne Hill and ending up at Chesworth farm. I was keen not to do the whole ride off road as it would be pretty muddy in places, something for the summer. I don’t know why I’ve never spotted it before but it is possible to bike 20 miles up to Horsham without hitting too many roads.

I missed the beginning of the Downslink as I thought it nice to start on the road skirting the side of the Adur valley and seeing the mist below as the sun started to warm it off. I continued up to Partridge Green, past Stan’s Shack this is now no more (and wouldn’t had been open anyway at such an early hour). I could had joined the link there but I continued a little bit further up the road to the old railway bridge.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Having joined the Downslink I was surprised at just how good the surface was, no longer mud but instead a hard gravel surface. I had heard over the last year such work had taken place and it makes the route very viable all year. The idea of a flat clear route going across Sussex is quite good. I maybe had imagined this a bit too quick as soon the hard surface had ended and I was back on hard mud instead. It was still flat and actually not too bad going.

• 

• 

• 

I left the path to jump back on the road just before Southwater and then a short on-road country lane bit (giving way to horses and big wide four wheel drive posh cars). I joined a bridleway, Peddlars Way, or Lovers Lane (or maybe a bit of both) depending on who you are maybe. It looks like back in 2015 there was a venture to look at how suitable this route was for cyclists from Southwater, taking the A24 out of the it. They noted it was private land and not suitable for winter usage, which I can believe. I’m not sure what happened in the end. For this morning it was a nice ride through the woods although slightly put off by the massive and never ending metal fence along most of the length. The land owner obviously not happy with the general public and making sure they are caged in to the narrow path, even the side footpaths were contained within metal fences. This continued all the way to Horsham. It reminded me of the fenced in footpath that goes across the middle of a field and up to Denne Hill and looking at the map I think all this belonged to the same land owner – certainly someone who doesn’t like people. I didn’t spot watch towers but I’m sure they are planned.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

This path ended me up in Chesworth farm which years ago I remember as a place at the end of an unmade road and a working farm. Now it seems a very popular place for dog walking and young families. The road is now all made up and the farm seems to be some sort of nature place.

From here I decided to do a bit of a loop around the outskirts of the town, cycling through housing estates that didn’t exist that long ago,seeing familiar places looking slightly unrecognisable. I finished up in the park which was surprising very busy, looking possibly a lot busier than it really was due to the massive line of people queuing up to by take away coffee. I didn’t have to join the queue as I bought my own food and drink, which I eat. I kind of wished I had bought a flask of coffee like I was originally going to do.

• 

• 

• 

• 

After the break I started on my way home, I planned to keep to the roads mostly. As the first long ride for well over a year I was already feeling a bit tired and the expected wind coming from the north seemed to be coming from the south instead, so a against the wind all the way. Having got to the A272 I had planned a small shortcut along a bridleway which meant I would go straight across the main road instead of along it. This old bit of road quickly turned into a mud path which took me by surprise so much that when I stopped dead I was in the wrong gear and before I knew it I was no longer balanced and falling over to the side I still had my foot clipped in. It’s only the second time I’ve had a “clipped pedal” moment where I just topple over one way and end up on the ground with the bike on top of me. For this time, my fall ended with a load stinging nettles and straight away I could feel their affect on my leg, my back, my arm and my hand…. I picked myself up and pushed through the mud with one side of me stinging and tingling, something that didn’t go away for a good 24 hours.

• 

My second mistake on the ride home was the choice of keeping to a road instead of the normal flat bit of Downslink I normally use. By the time I reached Steyning I was more than ready for the ride to be over and really feeling my lack of biking recently. I thought I’d keep the road as it was probably a shorter distance, but I knew I didn’t normally do this because it was a bit hilly. I soon remembered why when I was faced with the hill. Other cyclists struggled up the hill, passing me as I walked the bike up. I hadn’t ridden this route for years, in the past I had obviously decided never to bother with it when there was a good flat railway line to bike along instead. When I looked at the map later I even found out that the flat route was probably shorter anyway.

I limped home, complained about the whole side of me still stinging and tingling….

Number of miles: 53

Number of stings: 10000000000000

Number of people queuing for coffee: 10000000000000

Number of hills I had forgot how steep they were: 1

Length of fence to stop you leaving the footpath: miles and miles