Saturday, June 11

Another lovely sunny morning. Elise, Mercy and Caroline made the ride. We met at the Earl of March pub in Lavant and cycled to Rowlands Castle along our usual route and up that short  sharp hill - it seems never to get any easier! A very busy morning with other cycling groups out at the same time, this ride is extremely popular and the cafe must make a fortune from us all!

Talking about the cafe.....we all laughed at the size of Mercy's cake, I think we've been here before during an earlier ride this year....

After tea and cake we made our usual way home via Westbourne but at West Ashling we took a different route and found a tarmac track which cut out that busy section of the road and we ended up in the perfect place along the Lavant/Stoke road and back to the meeting place.

Along the route there were fields full of linseed, which looked so pretty...

At Hambrook we saw this lovely chestnut foal....

Lots of horses today...a pony in West Stoke

Mercy and Caroline in Lavant...

Thanks to everone who came out today, it was a fun ride - we cycled 22 miles, but Elise and I can add another 6 miles to this as we cycled from Tangmere! Mercy's Garmin tracker says we used up 417 calories also!

Our next ride is next Saturday, we're catching a train to Christ's Hospital and cycling along the South Downs Link track - you'll need MTB.

Sunday, June 5

We met outside The Fish House in Chilgrove, cycled along the main road for a short distance and took the right handed track (Philliswood Lane) down towards Hooksway.

The pub at Hooksway.

From Hooksway we went along some bumpy and rough tracks and headed towards the South Downs Way.

Nikki's face says it all ......

However, we got a little lost and had a bit of an adventure along the ridge overlooking South Harting on what's called Didling Hill. It didn't take us too long to find our way back on to the SDW.

Nikki found a lovely fossil...

The CDW was quite busy with walkers and other MTBs. Cycling towards Cocking Down we turned right along a bridleway heading south back towards Chilgrove. It was a lovely ride down the hill and quite a cycle friendly track back to The Fish House.

We cycled through West Dean Woods and came out on the lane behind The Fish House. We stopped for a coffee at the pub and said our goodbyes - thanks to Nikiki and Caroline for helping with the map reading!













It was a fun ride and I would like to cycle there again to get to know the area better and cycle along the many tracks on offer. In a few weeks time we have a ride planned along the SDW starting in Winchester, something to look forward to.

Next week it's a road ride to Rowlands Castle and that lovely cafe!