Fixie Dave writes:
Our first group on the road managed to vacate Tanhouse Farm at 10 am.
A day of nines, nine cyclists in our allocated group, also nine of us rode down to Tanhouse Farm together, then thanks to suffering no mishaps or emergencies, all nine made it back to Horsham.
Six of the B group rode the return leg back to Leatherhead, from Horsham, perhaps enticed by liquid refreshments.
It was good that my Garmin was speaking to me on thi occasion, which it only seems to do on about 30% of rides, which saved me from getting annoyed with an inanimate device, and made for a salubriously flowing ride.
The all important weather was kind to us cyclists for our Shoreham ride.
However it was a March/April temperature that prevailed yesterday, but at least it didn’t snow. About 50% Sunshine enhanced the ambience .
It took almost three hours for our group to reach the Swiss Cottage Pub. The food was reasonable, although it wasn't served sequentially.
Thanks to all who took part yesterday; thanks to Tim G and John, our experienced back markers. Thanks to the original route designer, and to the Grand designer.
A pleasing route to ride, with a gregarious group.
~ Dave C (Fixie)
John writes:
The second B group began to gather at Tanhouse in dry but cool weather. We had been scheduled to have eight riders in the “In Betweeners” group but actually lined up at the set hour with only four. Fortunately Anne and John arrived just in time to join us and we six set off southwards.
As always, we followed delightful country roads into Sussex and towards the rolling South Downs. The weather stayed dry and we arrived at our new destination of the Swiss Cottage pub in good time after a leisurely ride. Five of the six decided to go home by train or cycle on to other destinations and so the subby joined the only group to cycle back northwards.
It was a lovely day out to the south coast.
~ John A
Madeleine writes:
The Shoreham run
The last group consisted of Paul & Maggie, Ian, Christina, Sabina & Bernard, and Mick Arber as trusty back marker. I was the nominal leader, though everyone but Ian had done the ride before and would have managed fine on their own.
We left Tanhouse at 10:25 after only the minimum amount of hustling.
As Christina pointed out, the weather was autumnal (and far too cold for the traditional summer dress). However, the ride, company and road conditions seemed to be appreciated by all. There was plenty of beauty and enjoyable, traffic-free cycling for everyone. Paul was also particularly gratified to have visited Warninglid at last.
And we all loved the hills! Maggie slipped up all the tors with grace, and Sabina & Ian were suitably apologetic when whizzing past us on their e-bikes. I generally led from the back on the uppy bits, kindly providing short breathers for the rest of the group while they waited at the tops. And we all got up each of the challenging sections with no pushing!
So we had a lovely time. Paul entertained us with his stories, Christina, Sabina & Bernard provided their usual good company and cheer, Ian gave us history lessons (do ask him about the hammer pond at Buck’s Head) and Mick was his steady lovely self as back marker. He and Ian might even have broken a chatting record for this particular ride.
After the green lanes and hills, and the busier section through Dole and the Beedings, the last section along the river was a lovely end to the morning’s route.
I had aimed to garner favour with the group with jelly babies and chocolate treats at short breaks along the way. These shored up morale and energy levels, but definitely cost us time. We were very pleased, therefore, to see other groups still in the pub when we arrived (though this may have been rather more due to the slow service rather than our speedy run down).
After some slower service, we recruited a few new members and went our separate ways: Expectation of an apple crumble had stopped me joining John and Anne (Connaughton) for their onward cycle to Brighton. Tony Hooker had stayed at our table for over half an hour and, since my crumble had still not arrived, was rewarded with it on my departure. Tony went home by train with Paul and Maggie.
Since some had tickets from Littlehampton, Mick led Ian, Francis, Sabina & Bernard and me along the coast on a lovely stretch. Francis and I jumped ship at Worthing and had time for an ice cream on the beach and one of us had a paddle before getting the train back to East Croydon. Hopefully, all the others made it safely back home, too.
Another lovely day with CTC!
Thanks
~ Maddie
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