April - Shoreham-by-Sea | Surrey and Sussex

13 Apr

April - Shoreham-by-Sea

Ride by Mick and Rose

*****Ride organised by Mick and Rose

It was a clear sunny morning for our rendezvous at the sea front at Shoreham-by-sea for our April ride.

8 tandems and one solo set off up the puddly and bumpy Downs Link path beside the river Adur as far as the bridge that takes both the Downs Link and the South Downs Way across the river.

Here we rejoined the road to go through Upper Beeding where Tim and Brendan’s chain decided to jump off and get completely jammed up. The only course of action was to remove the crank to free it so after a slight delay we all regrouped at the start of Edburton Road. This is lovely lane which undulates eastwards just to the north of the Downs with excellent views. We followed this as far as Fulking where we headed north towards some ominously black clouds. The heavens opened on us along Truslers Hill Lane so we stopped to don waterproofs and some rain legs. At first there was some hail, a few claps of thunder and some lightening and the temperature seemed to drop by several degrees but we were quite lucky and only caught the edge – within a few minutes the sun was out again.

At Wineham we turned west on the lane and then bridleway to Shermanbury Place. This is a nice little bridleway running along beside the higher reaches of the river Adur which is basically firm underneath but had a bit of a muddy surface after the heavy showers of the previous days and nights. Dave and Caroline were ahead and Caroline was holding the gate open while Dave was taking photos. On the approach to the gate Liz and Mark’s back wheel took a slide but they recovered brilliantly and continued through the gate. Unfortunately (for them) the front wheel decided to slide away after the gateway and they took a very impressive tumble in the mud. Dave’s reactions were very quick and he managed to turn and catch on camera Mark rolling on the ground with his feet in the air! After this entertainment it wasn’t far to the lunch stop at the Windmill pub in Littleworth, where we arrived just before the next shower started. We enjoyed a good lunch whilst speculating about the uses of the many old tools and implements that were hanging from the ceiling.

After lunch we did another bridleway across the Locks Estate towards Dial Post, in the middle we had a brief puncture mending stop in a really warm sheltered spot. Back on the road we continued through Ashurst and then Steyning. The short sharp little climb in Annington caught a few people unawares and then a soft rear tyre was pumped up in the hope that it would make it back to Shoreham. Unfortunately it didn’t so, after a couple of miles, a few tandems waited whilst the rest continued around the airport and back to Mick and Rose’s beach hut.

The showers had all cleared away by now and the views out to sea and along the coast towards Brighton and beyond were superb.

Another excellent ride of about 37 miles was finished off with much tea being drunk and a delicious selection of cakes enjoyed. No-one took up the kind offer of a paddle in one of their canoes but, in our defence, there was a bit of a chilly breeze and the sea didn’t look all that inviting!

Report by Liz[img]http:../Joomla/uploadfiles/IMG_3869teddy.jpg[/img]