Dear fellow members and friends
2 April 2007
Anyone else like to join Ed for the fund raising bike ride for The Martlets Hospice & St Catherine's Hospice Crawley on 3rd June? If so, contact him ASAP at edward.furey7@ntlworld.com. Details in last circular and online at www.themartlets.org.
Referring to my 'points of interest' in relation to the Plumpton/Clayton ride, Simon adds a bit of interesting info:
'For some of us Plumpton Place has a place in our youth as it was once owned by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. In fact it features briefly in the film The Song Remains The Same, where the moat is clearly visible.'
Thanks, Simon.
I'll need to report on the Easter Meet (this coming weekend) in the next edition, so I'll keep this one nice and short.
Boots!
Ian
The Next Ride
Sunday 15 April
A brief re-visit to the Centurion Way and Chichester Harbour (aka 'round and round the sewage farm' Mk II). Another flat – and really short one.
I intended to schedule this one weeks and weeks ago – but was (as so often) thwarted by track maintenance and the consequent non-availability of trains. When we tried this one before – apart from me losing the way in the vicinity of the sewage farm, in spite of Roger's sage advice – we took so long doing a loop round the Bosham peninsular that by the time we'd had lunch it seemed doubtful whether we could get back comfortably before darkness fell, so we abandoned the rest of the planned route and made tracks straight for the station. Evenings are lighter now and anyway I'm proposing that this time we go straight down to Dell Quay, leaving Bosham for our 'regular' Chichester Harbour ride a bit later in the year (when Jeff's favourite ferry will be working). So:-
Just a short way up Centurion Way , then off down, initially, the B2178. South to Fishbourne , a short stretch of the old main road and down to Dell quay for lunch at the Crown and Anchor. Then the cycle route down to the Salterns Marina, over the swing bridge and back via the Chichester canal.
Catch the 10.17 from Brighton Station or meet at Chichester Station at 11.27. Best train back seems to be the (Southern) 15.43.
The Last Ride – Suzanne's Report
Sunday 1 April 2007
The Mysteries of Shoreham Beach
Palace Pier: Ian, Fred, Sue, Roger and Suzanne just made it by 10.30. Marocco's café: Tessa and Angela reading and waiting. Happless chappie innocently drinking his coffee on terrace: 'Would you take our photo,' dixit Fred. What choice did he have?
Suzanne, Angela, Tessa, Sue, Roger, Fred and Ian outside Marocco's cafe
Tail wind. Pedal, pedal, pedal to Carrat's Café. Mass passive resistance… to the temptation of coffee – so it was on to the jutty-out bit (I think that's the technical term) of the east side of the harbour. 'Oh look, there's a big boat coming in. Let's cross the locks before it gets there.' Dilly-dally round the locks. Big boat doesn't chug in to locks. Big boat turns round.
The view of the fort from the jutty-out bit
Just over the lock gates in time
Pedal, pedal, pedal. Into Shoreham. Over the un-rickety bridge onto Shoreham Beach – concrete is safe, but oh so ugly. We all sympathised with the huge banner demanding a new bridge. Sue has to leave. Then there were six. On to the west side of the harbour mouth. 'Oh look, there's a big boat coming in. Hang on! It's the same one we saw before.' Ah, the sweet mysteries of Channel shipping. Once round Fort Shoreham (sorry Ian, we never did discover the ruins of the searchlight tower 'to the west of the fort') and then off along the Shoreham beach coast road. Pedal, pedal, pedal.
Over the old footbridge
View of Shoreham harbour from the fort – Ian (or Tessa) is obscuring the power station chimney!
Shoreham Fort close up
Angela tests the Gaudi-esque seat
And two discoveries! A Gaudi-esque (or is that gaudy-esque) mosaic seat tucked away behind the Sailboarders' Club House and then, tucked in between sea and main road, the Widewater Lagoon. Sleepy lagoon? Not so. Dogs, walkers, cyclists (on the brand-new cycle way to Lancing), ducks and flamingos (OK, so the one and only flamingo was made out of plaster and was in a garden running down to the Lagoon, but it all added to the variety).
Widewater Lagoon
Brand-new cycle track
Pedal, pedal, pedal back eastward along the broad highway (aka: A27) and across the marshes to Shoreham Airport and lunch in the restaurant. New staff? New chef? Possibly. Potatoes fully cooked? Orders correct? No. Obliging staff? Tables promptly cleared? Yes – serving staff doing their best.
Shoreham Airport
P..e..d..a..l.., p..e..d..a..l.., p..e..d..a..l.. (got the idea? we'd had a big lunch) into the wind through the 'banlieues' of Shoreham, into the purlieus of Portslade and finally into the haven of Hove where Tessa and Angela headed for home. Then there were four.
P…e…d...a...l.…, p...e...d...a...l..., p...e...d...a...l… along the Lawns. Roger, Suzanne and Fred peeled off for their respective abodes leaving Ian, the (then there was one) valiant soul who made it back to the starting point at Palace Pier. Many thanks, Ian, for you support and guidance throughout.
Suzanne