Our dynamic climate meant I planned and reccied the ride in early warm conditions, come the actual ride there was an offputting chill and earlier forecast of rain which, added to the distance of Tanhouse and challenge of Blackdown factors meant we just made double figures of hardy adventurers.
Andy was off first ..
My group consisted of Brian, Dave W, Frances & Sue C.
We left a rather busy Tanhouse Farm for an "adventure" to tackle Blackdown Hill in West Sussex via Jayes/Tennyson Lane.
Cool for mid-April, perhaps cold for some (I had 4 layers) we headed west into the North-Westerly wind.
Just after The PunchBowl Inn we came to a halt. Road resurfacing prevented following the route so out came the OS 187.
It appears "hole filling" allows access but partial/complete resufacing (without a pedestrian walkway) is more difficult.
And in this instance nay impossible, courtesy of a well trained "jobsworth".
During the three mile detour we were caught (& overtaken) by Neil's trio.
To re-group on Brewhurst Lane in Loxwood.
Quiet, unfamiliar & undulating lanes took us to lunch at Northchapel & The Half-Moon Inn where the landlord appeared to be a hoarder/collector of all manner of stuff....on the walls, ceilings and just about everywhere else.
A museum in itself, it definitely requires a revisit but probably a solo trip where I can linger.
We were down to a quartet (Dave headed for Haslemere BR) ,so after the obligatory photo opp at the top..
.. the fast/tricky descent of Blackdown the route took us north to tea at Shalford where we said goodbye to Frances & Sue, bound for Guildford BR.
Today's challenge of climbing Blackdown proved easier than staying on Daniel's wheel along the A246 back home.
Thanks to my group (backmarker Dave on the way out) & Neil's meticulous planning to ensure the ride's success.
My group left about 5 minutes after the first group, and kept to a genuine medium pace, Patrick split at Nudigate for home as he sadly has not recovered enough for the challenge. We tried to note the lunch stops we regularly use on the way - the Crown at Capel, the Punchbowl, Milk Churn, Fox at Rudgwick, but Ged wasn't able to help after the Crown .. crossing the A24 there was a hiss behind then a loud shotgun close by .. but no, it was Ged's bike rim expiring explosively! After a full musing over this we went on and Ged had about a quarter mile to Ockley station, as he said, it was a good place to fail, much better than on a remote downhill section.
We picked up the pace, stopped at the Brewhurst Bridge, (to be caught up surprisingly soon by the other group), Brewhurst Lane is a charming out of the way part of Loxwood. Its has many stories related to it, including brewing, a water mill, economic prosperity from the canal, a brethren community which had quite a big social impact in the area, decline as railways took over, and in our times community voluntary action that restored the canal to leisure use.
After Kirdford we took Pipers Lane, a long ideal cycling lane, we paused at a good viewpoint for Blackdown to see our challenge, and the orchid, but too chilly to linger, onto Northchapel and into the Half Moon >> the old curiosity pub <<. Stuffed to the gills with curios, the landlord told me he won the large ancient cycling trophy, (it was only £4 at a local auction!). In the far room was one of the earliest TV sets, with about a 5 inch screen, and a similar vintage vacuum cleaner, also a large telephone exchange operator console and maybe its operator - a real human skeleton standing over it(!). Lunch was fine, with excellent amber beer from Dorset or beyond, it went down well.
Climbing Blackdown was again an interesting experience, at the top we were split fairly evenly on whether the Jays Lane climb was easier or harder than Whitedown, but for sure its on a par with it. At the top was a sign informing us, (quelle surprise!), that Blackdown is twinned with Mt Tiede in Tenerife!
We went back by Killinghurst Lane, new to most of us, another charming cycling lane, Daniel injected more pace back to the Snooty Fox, overall this is a pleasing way back to Guildford, much nicer than the route we take (Hurtmore) returning from further west. At the cafe we talked over this being such a good route we should put in on again for more riders, and came up with a few variations that could make it appeal more. Roll on summer reprise!
Thanks to all riders for great company.
1 comment:
I trust GED will salvage the spokes, they are difficult to come by was that a fulcrum wheel??
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