Saturday 28th September 2019 Ride to ‘Bracklesham Bay Tea Rooms’, Bracklesham Bay

On a sunny and slightly breezy day, nine cyclists gathered at Chichester Library for a ride to ‘Bracklesham Bay Tea Rooms’, in Bracklesham Bay.  Terry, a new cyclist on the Chichester Saturday rides, had come over from Littlehampton on the train.  A Spanish couple, Oscar & Beatriz, also joined the ride, giving Philippa an opportunity to try out her awful Spanish on them!

The group set off from the library heading west towards Westgate, crossing over the mini-roundabout and heading straight on before turning left to pick up the cycle path which runs in front of Chichester College, ending at Chichester Railway Station.

After cutting down the side of Chichester Bus Station, the group had to unfortunately wait about 10 minutes for the railway gates to go up.  Once they were raised, everyone set off again and turned left into Kingsham Avenue.  Carrying on until the end of the road, the group then turned left at the junction with Whyke Road and right, to pick up the cycle path along Quarry Lane which led to the footbridge over the A27.

Emerging the other side of the footbridge, the group then immediately took a track alongside Vinetrow Road, which eventually came out into School Lane in North Mundham.  Crossing the road via the very useful pelican crossing, the group then proceeded to go through North Mundham, picking up Regional Cycle Network Number 88 towards Fisher and Bramber Farm.

Just before the junction with the turning to Bramber Farm, Beatriz unfortunately had a puncture in her front tyre.  She was keen for everyone to carry on without her, being mindful that the tea rooms closed early at 4 pm.  As a consequence, Roy and Oscar stayed behind to help fix the puncture and Philippa lent them her map, after firstly explaining the route.

The rest of the group carried on to the tea rooms by taking a right hand turn towards Chalder Farm, eventually emerging onto the busy B2145 Selsey road.  Everyone then quickly crossed over the road to go down the road directly opposite, Rotten Row, towards the junction with Highleigh Road, where everyone turned right towards Mapsons Lane.  At the next T-junction, the group turned left down Batchmere Road, Batchmere Road merged into Almodington Lane and, at the next T-junction, everyone turned left down Clappers Lane, emerging just short of Bracklesham Bay Tea Rooms, arriving at approximately 3.40 pm.

To everyone’s disappointment, the tea rooms were closed, even though the board outside clearly stated they opened until 4 pm!  Philippa then took the group down to the seafront at Bracklesham to see if there were any seats available in Billy’s On The Beach.  Unfortunately, the cafe was packed out with only space for 2 people.  The weather was now starting to deteriorate, so sitting outside wasn’t an option.

By this time, it was gone 4 pm, so, as she lives in Bracklesham, Philippa decided the best option would be to invite everyone back to her house and provide tea and cake for them there instead.  Steve & Carol kindly offered to go with the group to a local supermarket to buy some cake whilst Philippa cycled home to put the kettle on!  When she got there, she met up with Roy and Oscar & Beatriz, whose puncture was now repaired.  A jolly time was had by all in the newly designated Bracklesham Bay Tea Rooms!

At about 5.15 pm, it was decided it was time to cycle back to Chichester.  Philippa led

the ride back, taking a more direct route via Birdham Pool and then Salterns Way.  Those cycling back to Chichester arrived there about 6 pm.

Philippa

Sunday 22 September. Ride to Selsey

 

Pictures from Michael and a report created from a few details and a Strava Map from Michael.

Harvey led the day’s short ride to Selsey and he was joined at Chichester Cross by Maureen, Samantha and Michael. It was a fairly good turnout despite an atrocious weather forecast

The heavy rain duly arrived soon after the group left at 10.00 though clearing earlier than forecast mid morning. The group headed out via the cyclepath towards Bognor before turning off for Merston and Runcton. Then south via South Mundham before picking up The Bill Way or the Route 88 cycleroute via Fisher and Sidlesham. Welcome refreshments were taken at The Crab & Lobster Sidlesham.

Then it was on via the Pagham Harbour Visitor Centre and then the main road to Selsey and a stop for lunch at The Riviera Cafe, Selsey

The return route took in lanes via Highleigh and then back via Hunston and then the Canal Path and a stop for tea at the Canal Basin Cafe

Mileage from and back to the start was approx 26. See below for the map of the route.

Edwin

Sunday 15 September. Ride to Dundridge

Four of us met at the Cross last Sunday (15th Sept) for the long ride to Dundrige. Actually six of us met, as we were joined briefly by Chris on his way to bell ringing, and Edwin giving out Peddler copies and facing a long wait for the short ride. Those embarking on the long ride Sam (leading), me (Bob), Paul and Roger, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.

So Sam took us through Westbourne to Rowlands Castle, where we turned right before the bridge to go through Finchdean and up New Barn Lane to the hilltop by the Queen Elizabeth Park above Buriton. There Roger began feeling the strain rather: he had returned from cycling in France on the previous night’s ferry, and the lack of sleep caught up with him. So he sadly left us to find a quiet spot to have a kip before returning, while Paul, Sam and I continued to East Meon.

As we approached the village, the road had a “Road Closed” sign up. Of course this meant nothing to a stalwart group such as the Bognor and Chichester CTC, so we carried on down it, finding near the end that the road was indeed impressively blocked. A digger had dug a large hole to get to some pipes on one side of the narrow road between high banks and dumped the wet chalk on the other side. Paul led the way in clambering with his bike over the chalk, and helped Sam and I do the same. The chalk pile looked much the same afterwards, but I couldn’t understand why as most of it was on our shoes and tyres.

we spent a lot of time with sticks etc afterwards and I found a spot to walk about a bit in the River Meon. Fortunately being hot and dry most of the chalk fell off after a while. We had coffee and flapjacks at the village shop perched on their windowsill, wondering why they didn’t capitalise on the demand from cyclists more than they seem to: several passed us even while we sat there. Then we turned left and up a long hill to Teglease Down I hadn’t been up before, that formed a very direct route, then turned right to go through Droxford, up the hill and then a long satisfying downhill (Reward For All Our Efforts) stretch down Dundridge Lane to the Hampshire Bowman, who served their usual satisfying food in the now very hot sunshine. Sam’s machine claimed it was 30 degrees, though I think it was exaggerating for attention..

After we went on over Damson Hill and, I was pleased to see, Cut Throat Lane, and back under the Meon Valley Trail and through Soberton Heath to Newtown and thence to Hambledon, where we stopped again for an ice cream at the Old Forge.

I was reluctant to try the steep hill through the village, so we took the alternative route up through the old estate, down Rushmere Lane and Crossways and then up the hill to Catherington. But turning off as usual after Horndean towards Rowlands Castle I got a puncture. This was Sam’s fault as that morning he’d asked me about my tyres and I’d said I didn’t change them as the back wheel arrangement was an unusual one invented by Reg at Fishbourne (combination of hub and derailleur set up) so I just used fairly puncture proof tyres to avoid having to take the back wheel off. The puncture, of course, was in the back wheel.

Then I found I didn’t have my spanner on me, which I always carry so obviously had been removed by a poltergeist the previous evening, though Paul and Sam made comments mystifyingly implying it was my fault. Sam however managed to get the inner tube out without removing the wheel, we found the leak, and with a combination of my patches and Paul’s cement mended it. We got the Impossible Tyre back on with my Koolstop tool which Edwin had recommended to me ages ago (he also wrote a piece in the Peddler a while back); first time I’d used it and worked excellently.

Sam by this time had got himself wound up into Totally Obnoxious Mode (or TOM as it’s known to anthropologists), all the more so as when we arrived at Rowlands Castle the Beehive was closing. I did buy them both a coffee from the shop opposite as a thank you and Sam calmed down briefly before Paul and I wound him up again with Sensible Political Discourse (or SPD as it’s known to anthropologists). So we rode back the usual way through Westbourne with Sam shouting out “ ******* MARXISTS” to entertain passers by.

And it was a really, really lovely day out actually, the combination of excellent weather, good company, wonderful route over some invigorating hills, Holes in The Road, good lunch, ice cream, a puncture, TOM mode and Marxism making a potent and delicious mixture. Thanks to Sam for the excellent route and puncture mending experience and Paul for his cement and political good sense. My mileage was about 60 (my computer wasn’t working between The Puncture and Rowlands Castle where Sam got it working again).

Bob Birtwell

Sunday 15 September Morning Ride to East Wittering

It was a beautiful clear sunny day today with light winds and temperatures up to 20C. Harvey was the leader with the Report prepared by Edwin with the first picture contribution from Michael. There were just 3 on the ride being Harvey, Michael and Edwin. When we about ready to leave some men from the Rotary Club started setting up by the Cross and Michael persuaded one to take a picture of the group.

Harvey led us out via West Street and across the Railway Cycle Bridge. Then it was Fishbourne Road East before making our way to Appledram Lane to pick up the Salterns Way Cycle Path to Dell Quay Road before picking up the path across the fields to Chichester Yacht basin and an elevenses stop at the Boat House Cafe. We eventually got to enjoy refreshments after the usual long Sunday morning queue..

Then a short way to the Yacht Club and across the canal.

After Birdham Pool and past Birdham Church we headed along a quiet Country Lane to link up with more paths across fields.

After a few more paths we came out at Shipton Green and then headed east to cross the West Wittering main road into Piggery Hall Lane which took us direct to East Wittering. Our scheduled destination was the Boulevard Cafe but that was packed so we diverted to Calamity’s Cafe which is much smaller but far less crowded and served good food with large portions.

Then it was back via Bracklesham and Earnly. Then it was lanes across to Sidlesham to cross the main road by the Anchor Inn along Chalder Lane to later pick up the Route 88 cycle path across a few fields to pick up the lane to Fisher (10 houses)

A short way on at South Mundham we split up as Harvey and Michael headed back via Runcton and Merston and I headed back via Honer Lane to Pagham.

Mileage to and and back to the start would have been about 19. My mileage from home was about 28.

Edwin

Saturday 14 September Saturday Ride to Arundel

It was a beautiful clear sunny day today with light winds and temperatures up to 20C . Graham was the leader with the Report prepared by Edwin with picture contributions also from Michael and Graham. There was a really good turnout of 14 for the Ride.

Graham led us out under the underpass and then via the Cricket Club and Leisure Centre. Then it was via estate roads and Paths to the Barnham Cyclepath and a brief stop at Barnham Church to regroup.

Then up via Barnham and the Cyclepath to Walberton before cutting across to Binsted and a narrow lane. A good surface was interrupted by a short stretch lacking tarmac. We regrouped by the Binsted Madonna Pond which is  said to be  haunted by a coach & horses which had ridden into the pond but never came out.

After a climb we headed on initially away from Arundel before turning off and taking a path into an estate north of Arundel. Then it was a fast descent into town between trees having a hint of Autumn.

After taking back roads into the town centre we got to the Putting Green Cafe and were soon tucking into refreshments.

As we prepared to leave Michael very patiently got us arranged into a group of all 14 of us with a kind lady from another table persuaded to take the picture.

It was a more direct route back via the Ford Road and then Ford Lane towards Yapton.

We continued via Yapton and at the A259 the cyclepath to Flansham. Then after the playing fields on to Limmer Lane and on to the Prom cycle route and making our ways back. My mileage was 29. Mileage for the route from and back to Bognor was about 21.

Edwin

Sunday 8th September. Ride to Rogate

Eight of us gathered at The Cross on Sunday 8th for the ride to the White Horse at Rogate, myself (Bob) leading, with Rosie, Linda, Sam, Paul, Michael, Steve and Chris, though of course Chris left us to go bellringing, planning to join us later. It was a tad cold in the light northerly wind, but bright, sunny and clear.

We set off down East Street and St. Pancras to go down Stane Street to Strettington, and up Sculpture Hill to East Dean. Thence to Upwaltham and Duncton Hill, and through Seaford College to Graffham where Jeff and Beatrice joined us just for coffee having got there by car. The cafe at Graffham struggled a bit with the numbers, but it was good to have a slightly extended coffee stop to catch up with Jeff and Beatrice after Jeff’s long absence from rides, hopefully soon to come to an end. Jeff kindly took a couple of photos of us ready for the off:

At Graffham I tried to ring the White Horse to make sure they were doing food today as ten days previously when I had ridden the route they had a temporary sign up saying “kitchen closed”, but I got no answer. So we set off north to Selham, then through Lodsworth to Lickfold, where we turned off towards Fernhurst. I tried the pub again at Lickfold without success, and had begun getting a bit nervous about lunch.

Negotiating the one way system at Fernhurst was slightly more difficult than usual due to large numbers of faithful streaming towards the church, but we continued in the bright sunshine to Milland where I tried the pub again to no avail. We decided not to risk it, and to have lunch at the Community cafe at Milland instead (I had warned Chris of this possibility). However, the Milland cafe had run out of food, which is a problem there if some kind of ride or event goes through. So we reverted to the previous plan and went towards Rogate anyway. Half way there we came across Chris, who was riding to join us at Milland having found the White Horse’s kitchen was indeed closed.

I began to wonder whether we were going to get lunch, and wished we’d bought sandwiches at Graffham. But Sam came up with the idea of Durleighmarsh, which, I was surprised to find, wasn’t far. I pessimistically began to wonder whether they might be shut as well, but thought at least we would be able to get something in Petersfield if so, thinking that if Sam’s warnings of road works on the Petersfield road came true I would be hungry enough to close them down by sheer force of will power.

So we turned off down the delightfully rural Slade Lane which, we found, did have a tarmac surface underneath the sludge, and discovered the fashion for closing down all food outlets hadn’t reached Durleighmarsh yet, so had an excellent lunch. A staff member took a picture, however half of us were in shadow and half in bright sunshine making exposure difficult and leading to a certain Imbalance of Pictorial Representation:

So I took two separate photos, one of the Shadowy Group:

and one of the Sunshine Group:

We also got a group picture as we were getting ready to leave.

Afterwards we went south through Nursted and turned off to go up the hill at Ditcham Park School, thence to Rowlands Castle, where Sam and Paul went for a tea break at the Beehive, while the rest of us carried on back to Chichester. My mileage was 56 from and back to Chi.

Bob

Sunday 1 September Sussex Churches Ride

It was a perfect day for the ride today with clear blue skies with scattered clouds and temperatures up to 20C. Apart from our group there were members out from Horsham Crawley and Arun Adur and a total of 18 rode the route. 5 of those were from Bognor Chichester with 7 from Horsham Crawley and 6 from Arun Adur. I had prepared detailed route sheets to find the way. Although the option was there to go round individually in general people went round as Section groups with one person checking the route as they went. The start was at Wiggonholt RSPB Reserve cafe leaving at 10.00 after an early elevenses.

The route involved visiting various Churches including Wiggonholt, Greatham, Coates, Graffham, Heyshott, Cocking, Selham, Sutton, Bignor and Bury. Some of the Churches were up dead end roads and never seen before on a ride. The route involved either a shortened ride of 30 miles or a full route of 40 miles. Horsham Crawley did the short ride and Bognor Chichester and Arun Adur did the long Ride

I went on the first part of the ride with the first one at nearby Wiggonholt Church up the dead end Church Lane. There were simple questions on the route at the Churches to prove attendance at each Church with participants directed where to find the answer. In this case the question was “On the sign at the start of the path to the Church it states it has been used for Christian Worship since which Century” The answer on the noticeboard is 13^th Century”

Next it was Greatham Church up a dead-end lane and up a footpath where Harvey was sent on to find the answer. Sam was determined to make good time with no time to be lost looking round Churches much to Bobs frustration!

Then it was on to Coates Church on a narrow lane where many cars were parked for a Service, cars trying to get by and lots of cyclists adding to the chaos as Horsham Crawley caught up with us

Last year some people speeded round without lunch so I turned back at Barlavington to be back to accept Route sheets. Not needed this time as it turned out as everybody stopped for lunch. Bognor Chichester stopped at The White Horse Graffham, Horsham Crawley at The Forresters Graffham and Arun Adur at The Country Inn, Bepton.

Below is a shot of the last Church on the route at Bury at the end of another Church Lane. This was taken earlier when scouting the route and processed for HDR

Bognor Chichester arrived back at Wiggonholt at 2.45 followed by Horsham Crawley and then Arun Adur. For winning the event there were tie break observation questions for those who went to all 10 Churches. Peter Train of Arun Adur won answering all 4 questions correctly. With the Churches Ride the DA Events for the year are finished. Horsham Crawley came first with most Event attendances and Bognor Chichester were second. Dave Fox of Arun Adur won the individual by being the only person to attend all 5 Events. Full Results can be seen at the DA Website at https://ctcwestsussex.wordpress.com/da-events/

Edwin