Guildford, Emsworth, Brighton
Jim and I decided to do a biggish ride this weekend. We got up early on the Sat and got the train from Waterloo to Guildford and then cycled down to Emsworth. We too a little detour to Hindhead for some cake. That turned in to a large hill just for that but nevermind. We wound our way through lots of little villages to the South Downs and then had to slog it out over the downs to get to Chichester and then Emsworth. There was a fair old headwind so we took it in turns sitting in front with the other tucking in to the slipstream. Total milage was around 45 miles but a very hard 45 miles. Plenty of cheese on toast when we arrived at Jim’s parents place and then a nap on the sofa and some well earned chilli! A force ten storm came in overnight but fortunately had blown over by the morning.
After a late start on the Sunday we eventually headed off to Brighton. The plan of staying on top of the South Downs was never going to work so we headed over them past Chichester and then sat behind them to shelter from the wind. We had the wind with us for most of it until the end. The route we took avoided most of the A roads and went through the wealthy villages of West Sussex. 3 punctures from Jim and a snapped chain with me but we got there in the end. The hardest part was the climb back over the South Downs up on to Devil’s Dyke to enjoy the view. By this time the sun had started going down and was getting cold fast. We grabbed a photo or two and then headed down in to Brighton for Fish and Chips at the Regency. Around 58 miles and lots of hills.
