Our now traditional last ride of the year –which might even turn out to be that this year if no one volunteers for 14 December – is a really short and flat-ish one that maybe will tempt everyone out unless the weather is atrocious – like it was in 2010 when I had to cancel it. [Finally did it in February!] Before that we had mixed experiences – only two of us on the first, 2004 ride and things have not been without variety since.
It was icy in 2011 Poor Jenny came to grief even before the ride started though fortunately we had no further problems of that kind. As she reported:
“The sky was clear and blue, the sun was beautiful and bright, but the temperature was still deceptively low even at 10.30 in the morning, and ice was lurking on the country lanes. As I discovered when I turned right at the Langtye Lane crossroads on the way to Berwick – the bike slid from under me and I hit the deck. Luckily I was going pretty slowly but it was a shock to the system nonetheless – no lasting harm done though, and most importantly the bike was undamaged apart from a dislodged chain!”
In 2012 it was lovely and sunny and, carried away by the winterwonderland of it all I led the ride straight past the pub for about half a mile! As Leon’s report put it:
“Ian’s story was that they were possibly in a state of enlightenment as they passed the pub, or was it true that they were just daydreaming, or blinded by sun reflection off the road. Who knows.”
Who does, indeed!
Will we have decent weather this year? Fingers crossed! But wrap up warm in any case.
We’ll do the usual loop round the Berwick, Ripe, Chalvington area and stop for lunch at the Yew Tree pub. There’s no point trying to “book” at such a popular pub at this time of year, but we should be there by 12 (or soon after) and if it was too full we could always try the Lamb at Ripe, which would add just a couple of miles to the ride or just wait until we got back to the Berwick Inn.
Distance: c 14 miles.
Hills: If I say there aren’t any hills, someone is bound to point out that the road went ‘up’ for 10 or 20 metres at some
point – but it really is pretty flat with just one mod
Off road: None
Traffic: Quiet roads
Catering: Yew Tree for lunch.*
Possible tea stop (depending on train times and our own progress) at the Berwick Inn for tea
*see ride outline
Catch the 10.20 from Brighton station or meet at Berwick station at 10.43 .
[There’s only one train an hour –so I can’t suggest an alternative.] Train back at 14.48 reaching Brighton at 15.12 or 15.48 (16.12)
(Be at Brighton Station by 9.50 for Groupsave – I assume that’s still going.)
My mobile number is 07770743287