Saturday 10th November 2018 Ride from Chichester Library to The Boathouse Café, Chichester Marina

The weather dawned cloudy with sunny spells for a ride to The Boathouse Café in Chichester Marina.

Twelve cyclists gathered at Chichester Library – Philippa, Steve & Carol, Chris, Maureen, Roy, Julian, Mike, Iain and newcomers Rosemary, Jason and Susie.

Philippa had an issue with her bike rack and knew she would be a bit late in arriving to lead the ride, so sent a message to everyone to let them know.  The group were about to set off when the heavens opened and everyone was forced to take shelter at the library.  Just as well Philippa was late!

The heavy shower soon passed, so the group headed west towards Westgate, over the Fishbourne crossing and then carried on until the end of the road, before heading through the A27 underpass towards the A259.  After emerging from the underpass, everyone then took a sharp left to take the cycle path alongside the A259, crossing the road in order to then turn right down Appledram Lane.

After a few yards, the group turned left onto Salterns Way and were almost immediately greeted by the dulcet tones of Sam, who was taking the cycle path back home to grab some lunch.  After a cheery wave and “goodbye” to Sam, everyone carried on along Salterns Way, via Dell Quay Road and through Salterns Copse, eventually emerging at Chichester Marina.

Iain is a member of Chichester Yacht Club and kindly suggested that we could use the restaurant there instead of going in The Boathouse Café, which was extremely busy.  Whilst the rest of the group followed Iain into the Yacht Club, Philippa went to the café to see if anyone had arrived there independently.  No one was there so she joined the rest of the group.

Everyone sat outside, with a lovely view over the water.  After about 30 minutes, the skies were starting to darken in the direction of Chichester, so Philippa suggested it might be a good idea to begin to make our way back home.  The same route was taken on the return journey, via Salterns Way, in order to get back as quickly as possible. Those returning to Chichester got there around 4 pm, with the rain starting about 20 minutes later and quickly becoming torrential!  A very wet end to a very enjoyable ride!

Philippa