Sunday 15 July. Climbing from Meon Valley to HMS Mercury

Sunday 15 July. Lunch at The Shoe.

Sunday 15 July. Rowlands Castle ride.

 

Five riders met at the Cross being Alan and Liz, Freda and Jim and Avryl.

 

The ride was down as nominate the leader on the day and Alan and Freda shared the lead.

 

The group rode across to Emsworth for a stop there for elevenses, and then rode on to Rowlands Castle.  There they found that the tea rooms were closed for the day due to staff illness.  The group had sandwiches with them, and lunch was taken on the Green.

 

In the afternoon the riders headed back catching just the tail end of one shower.  Tea was taken at Hilliers Garden Centre cafe near Bosham.

 

Edwin for Alan and Freda.

Sunday 8 July. Ride to the Tour de France.

Weather today was warm sunny and dry with scattered clouds building up more in the afternoon.

One of the 2 alternative rides today was to Arundel and 7 joined this ride led by Alan. The other alternative was to train or car to Three Bridges and join Horsham Section for their ride to see the Tour de France come through at Tonbridge. I took the train up and Avryl came by car. 6 members from Horsham Section were out and many of them led or backmarked at various stages in a good co-operative effort.

The route was excellent, introducing us to a new area with scenic lanes and paths. A short ride from the station and we were on the Worth Way Cycle route on an old railpath to East Grinstead. This was dry and in good condition despite recent rains.

We then headed east on very pleasant quiet byroads via Cowden and then Penshurst for elevenses. We got to the Tea Rooms just in time before about 25 riders from the SW London Road Club packed the place out.

We took a cycle route through Penshurst Park and then across to Tonbridge and the start of a hill up to Southborough where we settled to watch the Tour come through. The weird and wonderful vehicles of the Tour Caravan were first through with more free stuff thrown at the crowd. I got a reusable carrier bag.

The Tour came through about 1.00 with 5 in a breakaway group including David Millar and the main group 5 minutes later with the CSC team at the front riding hard to keep the race together.

One of the best parts of the day was riding on in the wake of the Tour with roads still closed and barriered off and traffic lights all turned off. We continued on this normally busy main road for about 4 miles through Southborough and on to Tunbridge Wells. We received a rousing cheer from a big group at a roadside Pub. Horsham Section members mentioned the trouble they went to in order to put on a good Sunday ride for guests!!

We continued to Groombridge and a stop at the Pub there. Then the Forest Way, another rail path, back to East Grinstead and then the Worth Way back to Three Bridges.

52 miles from and back to Three Bridges.

NOTE - Scroll down for pictures of the day and a report on the Arundel Ride by Adrian. Scroll down further for a report and more pictures on the Prologue in London on Saturday.

Edwin

Sunday 8 July. Elevenses at Penshurst Tea Rooms

Sunday 7 July. Tour Caravan with an out of area Kangaroo

Sunday 8 July. CSC riders lead the Peloton up the hill from Tonbridge

Sunday 8 July. On the Tour de France route. A main road as a cyclepath

Sunday 8th July, Chichester Cross to Arundel

With several members up in London for the Tour De France, the 'usual  suspects' at the Cross were Alan (leading), Gill, Helen, Harvey & myself. Liz met us at elevenses and Keith from Worthing at lunch.

The weather was much better than of late, being warm in the sun and cool in the shade, with a cool wind and only a few clouds in the sky - optimum cycling conditions.

We set off up past Chichester University, through Summersdale and past Goodwood airfield and headed via backroads though Halnaker, before arriving at Aldingbourne Country Centre for elevenses, where we me up with Liz.

After a leisurely session of eating, drinking & chatting in the garden, we headed off again. We cycled through Walberton and Binsted before arriving in Arundel at about 12.30pm. Three of us ate in the Tudor Rose Cafe, whilst the rest had sandwiches down by the river.

Afterwoods we met up again and then made our own ways home.

My mileage for the day was 109km.

Adrian

Saturday 7 July. Tour de France Prologue.

Today I travelled by train and joined a crowd estimated at over a million watching the Tour de France get underway through the streets of central London

Weather was  clear and sunny with temperatures up to 22C. This was a welcome relief after many weeks of showers and high winds.

I was there at 11.00 well before the scheduled start of 3.00. I strolled up Whitehall past the start watching the preparations. It was great to see the usually busy streets of Central London closed down for the Tour and all the Tour banners everywhere.

There was a cosmopolitan atmosphere with many French and Spanish voices. After a picnic in St James Park I headed up the Mall past the finish to Buckingham Palace and watched the Tour Caravan come past. Lots of free goodies were thrown into the Crowd but I didn't catch any. Some of the Tour riders rode past among the Caravan including David Millar.

Then back to the Park and to the Tour village in Horseguards where mechanics were giving bikes a last check. Between Horseguards and the start in Whitehall the riders were warming up and I watched them come through Admiralty Arch and past Trafalgar Square.

Then on to the start to watch and photograph the first riders come down the starting Ramp.

I then headed down Whitehall towards Westminster and spotted a gap in the crowd and there I found 2 friends from Bognor CC, Dave Prior and Don Lambert. I stayed there for a while and then walked on down to Westminster aiming to get some pictures of riders coming round the road with Big Ben in the background.

The right spot was obvious with a lot of Pro Photographers with giant lenses lying on the road behind special barriers. I lucked out when somebody standing by a railing moved on and I got their spot with an ideal view.

All in all a great day out to a very special event.

Edwin

Saturday 7 July. The Start gate in Whitehall

Saturday 7 July. A rider speeds down Whitehall

Saturday 7 July. David Millar rounds the corner with Big Ben behind

Saturday 7 July. Bradley Wiggins powers round the corner at Westminster

Evening Ride: Felpham to The George, Eartham

For the 2nd time this year (this ride was originally scheduled for April), the ride to Eartham was cancelled due to heavy rain.

So far this season, the evening rides programme has been decimated by bad weather; I had to go back a month (to 6 June) to find a ride that took place in reasonable weather conditions.

 

Graham.

Sunday 1 July. 2 Weald Ride.

 

 July started in the same vein as June with the weather wet and windy.

 

I opted to take the train up to Billingshurst and then rode a few miles to Wisborough Green for the event start. A mile before the village Colin rode by in the other direction riding the eastern route.

 

By the Green Horsham Section members had put up a small shelter which helped against the rain. Last year on the same day it was shelter from a blazing sun and temperatures of 33C.

 

I met up there with John Maxim, John Wickens and Sue Howe and we decided to do the northern route. Guests turned up from West Surrey DA, Chris Juden, technical advisor at CTC HQ with his family. They rode the southern route.

 

The 2 Johns Sue and I headed north getting a dry interlude to reach Cranleigh and a stop for elevenses at the Garden Centre. There were 4 riders there from West Kent DA. The rain started again while we had elevenses and on and off as we headed back south via Plaistow and Kirdford.

 

Back at Wisborough Green we met up with Colin and were later joined by Dave Fox and Dave Galle who had arrived just after we left and also rode the northern route.

 

Considering the weather on the day there was a good turnout with 20 taking part. There were 8 from Horsham, 5 from Arun Adur and 2 from Bognor. The DA Events points competition is now very close with 2 Events left for the year. With 10 points for each rider completing an Event the totals are now 210 for Bognor/Chichester, 190 for Horsham and 180 for Arun Adur. The full results are on the DA Website.

 

I headed back by train. Soon after Arundel the dark clouds gave way to blue skies over the coast. For me 38 miles for the day.

 

Edwin 

Sunday 1 July. Sue Howe, John Maxim and Chris Juden and his wife

Evening ride - Felpham Start

This ride was planned to run to Donnington, but the three of us that turned up at the Felpham start - Julian, Chris, and myself - decided that the poor riding conditions and usettled weather were not condusive to what is quite a long ride for an evening start, additionally for the whole way out, we would be battling against a strong head wind.

We therefore decided to abandon the Donnington route in favour of a short, 10 mile circuit that would avoid the worst of the wind by tacking against it in an anti clockwise direction.  In the absence of a report from the Chichester start, we assume that too was similarly abandoned.

 Our ten miles took us on an adventurous cross country route  to Barnham and then to Lidsey via 3 stiles and a foot crossing of the railway, making me wonder if perhaps the route to Donnington would not have been so bad afer all.

However from Lidsey we went straight back to Felpham via Shripney, to return still in daylight, and  before the rain started.

 

Graham.

Midsummer Evening Ride

To reflect the longer daylight hours, the ride this evening, out to the Angelsey Arms at Halnaker, was one of the longest in the clubs programme. Unfortunately, the weather did not live up to expectations, being overcast and windy, with the threat of heavy rain forecast.  This probably accounted for why only 3 of us - Edwin, Jo , and myself - met up at the Fox, Felpham.

We set out round the back of Bognor, to Bersted, where we picked up the Chichester-Bognor cyclepath, which we followed to Colworth, before branching off towards Oving. Then it was via Woodhorn crossing and across Tangmere Airfield, crossing the A27 at Boxgrove, and straight up through the village to Halnaker, to complete an uneventful ride in just under the hour. The Chichester group - again only 3 - had, once again, beaten us to it.

For the return ride we dropped down through Boxgrove, crossed the A27 then followed it heading east along the parallel  cycle track, to East Hampnett, then round the loop to emerge at Aldingbourne and the Island at Wetergate. 

At this point Edwin and John, who rode back with us from the Chichester contingent, decided to beat the very threatening black clouds and sprint down the A29 to Bognor, leaving just Jo and myself to carry on back to Felpham via Barnham and Yapton. However we made it to Middleton before the rain started to come down, and by the time we got back to the Fox it had eased off again. It was to be a further hour before the rain really made itself known, so we were lucky to get away with it.

Mileage from and back to, the Fox, was 20.2.

Graham

 

 

Sunday 17 June. Strawberry Tea Ride.

Weather today was cloudy but dry with some sun in the afternoon. Temperatures reached 20C.

I led the ride and I was joined by 10 more at the Cross, Phil, Mary, Gill, Ann, Avryl, Harvey, Ernie, Linda, Freda and Jim. Alan and Liz and Adrian joined us at Hooksway and Arthur, Lynn and Kath at Avryl's for tea. 17 in total were out during the day, could the Strawberries have been a draw?

I led the group out on the cycle trail to Fishbourne and then direct to Bosham village for elevenses. We then took lanes via West Ashling where some geese wandered in the road by the pond and took exception to my disputing road space and hissed quite viciously.

We continued up Watery Lane to Funtington and then across to Walderton and Stoughton. Then continuing on the quiet wooded lane to East Marden and a sharp climb to the ridge. A short way along the B road and we turned off on the very steep descent down to Hooksway for lunch. We had not visited the Pub for many years and it made for a very pleasant stop.

The afternoon ride involved a few lumps starting with the steep climb back up the hill. Then down to Chilgrove and left on the undulating back road with hardly a car seen and lush green woods and fields. Also the giant boulders to spot, a bit like big snowballs sculpted as part of a culture trail across the West Dean Estate.

We reached the main road and headed south on the Centurion Way where in parts we just squeezed through the rampant vegetation overgrowing the trail. Then down to Tangmere via Lavant.

Avryl had laid tables and chairs out ready. The tables were soon seemingly groaning under the weight of great bowls piled high with Strawberries with cream and biscuits added. Some of us felt obliged to get though 3 helpings to make some impression on the strawberries.

After 1 1/2 hours at Avryl's we made our ways home. My mileage for the day was 44.

Edwin