Meeting East Sussex CTC

Relive Video by Janice:   https://www.relive.cc/view/1695851711

Arriving at the Tesco store at Hookwood there was a gratifying number of bicycles outside, and we made a brisk start by a different route from normal.  Heading south through Gatwick Airport we stopped for a moment to see a plane pass, as we have before.  And, as before, it proved more difficult to get a photograph than might be expected, as the planes are reluctant to put themselves in the right place.  So here's one from another ride - you get the drift, just imagine a group of cyclists on the track.

On to the Worth Way, passing through the car-park of yet another enormous Tesco, and then sun-dappled gravel for six or seven miles until the outskirts of East Grinstead.  This Sustrans route serves us well, avoiding some pretty busy and uncongenial roads, but the trouble with all of these rail-trails is that they're a bit samey, with not a lot to see.

Anyway, off the track and on to the road - the rest of the route to Horsted Keynes is very pretty indeed, fine rolling country which was looking at its best.  We were at the pub just before one, just before our East Sussex friends, and John was there too, having missed us at Hookwood.

The pub was a mixed success.  Despite warning, they struggled a bit with the very large group that presented itself, and poor old Brian was last to be served again this year, despite an early order, as last.  But the event itself was a considerable success, with the cheerful conversation and reminiscences that flow easily enough with any group of cyclists.  A token of the success is the growing numbers - seventeen of us, and more than twenty from East Sussex.  The most I have seen in my time.

As ever, we were slow to leave, and it was well after half past two before we were back on the road.

Over lunch, there had been loose talk of a bonus hill, Cob Lane, a 25% Sussex classic.  Glass in hand, it had looked attractive, but we didn't do it and I don't think anyone thought we were short of hills, in the end.

Road all the way back, with tea at Tanhouse Farm at half past four.  From here we went our various ways, many keen to be home for the footy.

Not everything goes as well as a Wayfarers' ride on a sunny day.

My thanks to Ged for sterling work as a back marker, to all of the corner markers who helped to manage a complex route, and to our friends from East Sussex CTC for a grand day out at the height of summer.

Mark