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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2882 |
20th October 2018 Mt. Biking: Bignor Hill to Slindon Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny and warm Max Speed: 17.39 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 12 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Saturday 20th October – bike ***** – Bignor Hill to Slindon – sunny and warm. What a top night in the National Trust car park on Bignor Hill in Sussex with great views of the Downs with the sea near Brighton on the horizon:) Woke to a bright clear day all be it a little nippy to start with only spoilt by the trails of pollution left by the planes flying in and out of Gatwick, we don’t need more runways just less flights, things have to change before its too late and whoever thought fracking was a good idea, just say no to fossil fuels!!! I was out taking pics of the sunrise at the civilized time of 7.30 and we had it all to ourselves, surprising for a Saturday, in fact the first car didn’t arrive until gone ten, result:) We were treated to the usual deer, first a lone large male running from the woods on the left then returning later with 10/11 others. Relaxing lay-in reading enjoying the warm sunshine through the van windows even if my feet didn’t warm up for ages then yummy porridge and fruit. Mag packs a salad while I get the bikes off and leave the van at 11.30 just as a couple of horse riders are picked up after a 23 km. trek and washed their hot horses down. We soon reached our favourite, amazing Roman road, a clearly seen mound of earth and you can almost hear the Roman solders marching from Chichester to London! We have never seen so many sheep and our wheels are soon covered in crap! We frighten a Hobby into dropping its recently caught mouse while three Red Kites circle above being told off and chased by Crows! The path ahead is then blocked by three sheep that look like business but they soon rush off as we approach! At the six-way junction we stop to switch off the mobile as we are short of battery and then take the wrong track to the Bluebell wood. We have an OS map of the area but it was not much use to us in the van! We whizz down the track that is covered in leaves and with Mag’s brakes squeaking and my back brake gone soft - I have sent for some hydraulic fluid to sort that out and I have disc brake cleaner so can sort out Mag’s noise problem - could be my job when we get home. We come across a nice lady out riding her handsome horse and we stop for a chat, asking where the Bluebell wood was while the horse ate holly leaves! We had missed it by quite a way so continued down towards Slindon then biking up the steep windy road to the fancy college. While stopping to take a picture of the old building in the crystal-clear skies there were loads of cars trying to park. Another nice lady, this time returning from a walk stopped to chat and said there were several things going on in the village today, pumpkin soup was being served at the church, a pumpkin display featuring a scene of World War One Airships made from a variety of different coloured pumpkins and an Apple Fayre run by the National Trust:) First we headed down to the Orchard and were impressed with the display of different apples, who thought there were so many! The man on the stall had a tree with 250 different varieties grafted onto it!!! They were busy cutting up apples for the hand press and we even spent £3 on a bottle of freshly pressed apple juice which was too hot to hold as they had heated it up to kill the germs! We even spoke to a nice couple from Dorset with their cameras. It was then back up the hill to the yard with the pumpkin picture where the crowds were busy buying pumpkins at inflated prices! Getting hungry we headed to Slindon Folly an uphill ride where for the first time we had it all to ourselves for an hour eating our picnic and reading in the warm sunshine, still not a cloud in the sky! This time it was buzzards circling and calling overhead. With the mobile now switched on we learned that Rob had gone to London with 700,000 others on an anti- Brexit March and Arlo and Hannah had gone too! It would have been good to join them in support as we think it’s a huge mistake to leave the EU and have never seen the country in such a mess - that David Cameron has a lot to answer for!!! We are very proud of them making all the effort they did to attend and to do something when they feel so strongly. We continued up the hill and made a detour and find Bluebell wood, pretty but not as stunning as our last visit when the forest floor was a mass of vibrant blue! We then biked back up to the van using several paths we had not been on before and got back knackered after covering only 12 miles but they were hard miles! we had been out for 5 hours! Bikes back on the rack, kettle boiled we snack out with a welcome cuppa, doze and read as the car park empties. We will stay tonight and probably head home some time tomorrow as hopefully there will be some wind for a session at Bradfield on Tuesday, what a top few days away it’s been so far!!!! Photo Gallery Here |
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