A day after our ride (home too late and too knackered).
A few weeks ago Gill mentioned that amongst other "adventures" she and Lizzie were planning, they were going to ride from Guildford to Shoreham. This was a ride that Jeanette had done 3 times already with other friends and so clearly had enjoyed it. I asked if I could tag along? Jeanette then decided that rather than ride it again with us, she would be our driver, take us to Guildford station, meet us at the beach, then bring us and our 3 bikes home. Perfect!
Except that 3 days prior to our chosen date to suit all of us, Lizzie has Covid.😔 My first thought was to wait until she recovered but she insisted that we should go ahead since Covid has already caused enough disappointments and cancellations. Such a shame, and thankfully Lizzie is not too unwell.
It turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far, and as we stepped out of Jeanette's air conditioned car at Guildford station, a wave of heat hit us.... was this a good idea? Having dropped us off, Jeanette and our picnic lunches, sun hats, and chairs would pootle her way to Shoreham and wait for us to join her for lunch. It was already 10.30. We just needed to drop down to the Canal to start our ride... and we're off!
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| Scorchio as we set off from Guildford station, |
Within 100 yards we came across a sign saying "Canal path closed". Off to a great start then! We spent a good few minutes, and a couple of miles messing around trying to find how to join the route. My Garmin not at all helpful and constantly suggesting a U-turn. I had downloaded the route, which clearly started from a different point. Were we even heading the right direction?😁. Gill was confident we were. We eventually got the thumbs up from the Garmin, and found the signed path. At last I felt more relaxed.
Route
The path was a good surface much of the time, but also it's fair share of muddy sections, where the old rail line was lower, so you had to concentrate a lot on where you rode. There was fortunately plenty of tree shade too, keeping us coolish, but being such a hot day, suncream was also dripping from my face. The greenery meant that the views were restricted for much of the ride, but certainly opened up on the last third of the ride. Some screen grabs from my Go Pro on my handlebars....
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| Checking the route just one last time but at last we feel on track. |
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| Good surface at this point. |
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| 10 miles in, and still smiling. |
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| A rare bit of colour. |
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Got a bit lost at this point, but kept going through these woods to eventually find
the right path again. Garmin route was not far to our right, but still don't understand where we went wrong. A bit of cycling, a bit of walking. |
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| Typical wide section of the track, so could mostly ride alongside each other. |
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| Pretty dark in this one, and no idea what the ground was like! |
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| The views opened up eventually |
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| Somewhere! Tarmac!! Bliss!!! |
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Stopped for delicious drink at a cafe near Rudgwick, and topped up water bottles with ice too.
We just shared a blueberry muffin thinking lunch wasn't too far now. We were wrong!
Having come off the road, but only by about 100 yards to the drink stop, we then couldn't find how to get back on! We rode back a forth a few times but kept coming up with a locked gate. Gill to the rescue, we just used the main road, which was a pleasure to ride on some tarmac, and after about a mile or so, spotted another way marker post. Weird how it all went so well most of the time, but this was the second time we lost the path completely.
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We crossed quite a few roads but just straight over and back to the off road tracks
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| Hot, hot, hot now that we have left the shade behind. |
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| 12 miles to go! We sent Jeanette a message so that she could expect us "soon". 😄 |
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| Big open views now. |
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| Found you! |
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| And 30 seconds later..... |
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After we ate our very late lunch, Jeanette insisted on buying us an ice cream.
A Mr Whippy with a flake. Perfect. |
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Shall we swim? Gill had already decided she would miles back!
She has been swimming at South Shields for the last few days in the cold north sea,
so this was like a hot bath in comparison. |
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| Watching Gill swim..... |
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| Couldn't resist. Bliss. |
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Taken by a man on the beach on holiday from Suffolk
A fun day out, made so much easier by Jeanette's very kind offer to drop us and collect us. No train route back from Shoreham, so we would have needed to continue into Brighton, then changed trains at Gatwick too. Bit of a faff, so her Broom Wagon offer was very much appreciated. 😘
Although this trip was pretty flat and 38 miles, which is a distance I well used to cycling, we did not ONCE ever free wheel, so today my legs are aching. Maybe the heat too, but definitely having a rest day today. |
