Seven cyclists (Philippa, Bev & Colin, Steve & Carol, Jill and Maureen) gathered at Chichester Library for a ride to West Dean Gardens Café.
The weather was lovely and sunny, although extremely cold with a north east wind blowing.
We left the library and headed west towards Westgate. Before the level crossing, we took a right hand turn to go along Centurion Way. We carried on along the cyclepath, using the new extension which brought us out in West Dean opposite The Dean pub. We then used the pavement to do the final part of the journey to West Dean Gardens.
After stopping briefly for a photocall, the group went into the café, which was surprisingly busy, with some brave (or mad?) souls even sitting outside! There was no room at any of the tables in the café, so we were content to sit in the foyer instead. We were grateful to be in the warm and also for Colin’s seemingly endless supply of Lidl chocolate which has a habit of appearing out of his TARDIS-like cycle bag!
Reluctant to go back out into the cold, we stayed at the café for some time and Philippa took another photo of the happy crowd.
Eventually venturing back outside, we all agreed the temperature had dropped even lower and, in unison, we promptly pulled up our snood scarfs over our heads to keep our ears warm.
On our return to Chichester, we took a slightly different route, using the original Centurion Way route which took us along a path which bordered the road. On arriving at Lavant, we stopped to admire the old station building, converted into flats in the 1990s.
We carried on along Centurion Way and arrived back in Chichester at approximately 4.30 pm.
Philippa
Bognor and Chichester Cycling UK 