Sussex Gravel

The other evening, Maggie had a gang of girlfriends round to supper.  I gave some thought to the best contribution that I could make to the festivities, and decided that being Out Of The House was favourite.  I'd planned a ride on the South Downs a while ago, when I rode Streat Bostal, and it looked like a good fit for a June evening.  So I drove down to Ditching Beacon, and parked the car at the top.

The route takes the South Downs Way to the top of Streat Bostal, then goes South towards Falmer, gravel all the way.  There's a good cycle bridge over the A27, then a good gravel track up to Woodingdean, where a sharp turn on to Drove Road takes you up on to the Downs again.

This is a ridge route, so good views all the way, with the Seven Sisters becoming visible after a while.  Down to the Abergavenny Arms at Rodmell, a bustling pub where I enjoyed a good supper. It's a couple of easy miles to Lewes from here, but I chose a longer way through Southease to try the Egrets Way, a new Sustrans route.  It started well, but ended abruptly at a gate after a mile or so.  A sign explained that the track from this point wasn't surfaced, 'at the request of the landowner'.  The landowner appears to be DEFRA, and the 'track' appears to be some sort of European set-aside scheme, oddly called 'Paths for Communities'.  There is no path at all, it's a field, with cows in it.  Someone at Sustrans must have rocks in their head.

I lifted the bike up on to the levee alongside the Ouse and rode along the footpath to Lewes.  It's not that great a ride, but it is passable.

Through the town, then up towards Mount Harry. This was the only slightly awkward bit of the whole ride.  There were grooves in the surface about a foot deep.  You couldn't quite ride between them, and if you rode in them your pedals caught the edge every now and then, which was a bit unsettling.  After a few hundred yards it opened out again, and the rest of the route was good chalky trackway.

I met a chap here pushing an electric mountain bike.  Something was obviously wrong, and I asked if he was OK.  He seemed very downhearted, and didn't reply.  Fair enough, I thought, and rode on.

Back at the car by dusk, and home as Maggie's guests were leaving, so everyone was happy.

A very good ride for a dry evening, just over twenty miles, and there are plenty of options to extend it for a longer day.  I used my Boardman, but the surface is all pretty good so you could ride it on anything that wasn't actually a race bike.  Recommended.

Mark