Charity Ride, June 25

£426 raised!

Thanks to all those who made this possible!

The day started off at lunchtime with Ellie, Angela and myself tying the balloons all along the route. Poor Ellie was stuck in the back of my Land Rover finishing off blowing up the balloons, which were kindly donated to us by Bike Week.



Doreen blowing up the balloons and tying them along the route, most of them lasted .....

Back home for a quick change and then back to the start for a 4pm meet. The turnout was very impressive, with 35 people turning up. Thank you to everyone who made our first BB's charity ride such a success. We had people who hadn't ridden in years, young Grace who's now been named as our Baby Belle. I hope some of you will come back and join the BB's again soon. It occurs to me since this ride that we should have a monthly Easy Belle ride...details to follow!

At the start.....lovely and sunny, thank goodness!

Thanks also to Mercy who kept us all topped up with Jelly Babies throughout the ride and of course those wonderful pink tassles and pink horns!...

Mercy and tassles...

Man tassles also.....

Josie Dew joined us with Molly and Daisie on her wonderful trike - which was much admired by one and all. She signed the three books which she had donated towards our raffle.

Elise led the first group towards Bosham. Our route was towards the railway crossing then over onto the Legionary cycle route...

From here we cycled along the side of the Roman Villa, crossed over the Fishbourne road and then cycled along the quiet country lanes to Bosham and to the ferry meeting point, we hardly saw a car on the roads.















Here, we waved for the ferry....Tim kindly loaded each and every bike onto the boat, I think he made 4 trips for us!

Once landed at Itchenor we made our way to The Ship Inn for supper. The service and food here was great and many thanks to John and his staff for making this an enjoyable evening for everyone.

Nigel, our very own Bike Doctor met us at the pub and I hear he repaired a couple of bikes - so many thanks Nigel. I'm speaking to him soon about setting up another bike maintenance course, if anyone should be interested please email me. Nigel's contact details are on the main Blog site.

Outside the pub....

After a lovely supper we made our way towards Salterns Way and back home via Chichester Yacht Club.

It was a beautiful evening....

Seeing a selection of wildlife along the way....

Look closely, you should be able to see two ears sticking up out of the wheat at the top of the picture, just underneath the white house ....

We returned to the start of the ride at about 8.40pm. We all said our goodbyes...again thanks to everyone who made this ride such fun and a success, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves!

Good luck to Ellie and Angela in November!

BB's Club colours...

We're in the process of producing our brand new and unique Club Colours and hopefully they will be available in time for our 1st Anniversay ride to the Isle of Wight on Aug 21st.

As below...

Let me know if you're interested in buying one.

Saturday, June 18

This was our ride along the Downs Link track from Christ's Hospital to Shoreham.

We caught the 0803 train from Barnham and met Mercy at Christ's Hospital station, the morning started off sunny, which we were very relieved to see.

Mercy, Karen and Caroline

New Belle.....Doreen, the chap to the right of the picture was very gentlemanly and kindly helped carry her bike for her.

From Christ's Hospital we joined the Downs Link track passing through Southwater, West Grinstead, Partridge Green and as it started to rain we decided to stop in Henfield for a tea/coffee break at a small cafe which was hidden away on an industrial estate. It was a funny little place  but was very popular and busy serving breakfasts.

Bikes in Partridge Green

Rain had stopped by the time we left the cafe and we carried on to Bramber and eventually arriving in Shoreham at about 11.30am. We had made very good time, from Christ's Hospital to Shoreham is 28.8 miles.

The countryside along the route was stunning.

Shoreham Airport....

Yet was a little muddy in places....

Doreen's muddy drinking bottle, which didn't stop her drinking from it!

We cycled into the town centre and looked out for a cafe as we were in need of tea and cakes!

From the cafe we crossed over the bridge and cycled onto the South Coast Cycle route which took us to Worthing, here Karen and Caroline decided to catch the train home. Mercy, Doreen and myself carried on along the very windy seafront to West Worthing station, before catching the train back to Barnham we stopped for ice cream.

Our total distance was 33.5 miles (those of us who cycled from Tangmere can say 43 miles!) and we used up 905 calories! Back at Barnham Angela and myself cycled back to Tangmere and Mercy caught a train back to Horsham.

Go-carting along the seafront

It was a great day out and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.

Reminder: It's our Family Charity ride next Satureday - we're meeting at 4.30pm in Westgate and cycling to Bosham - ferry to Itchenor and supper at The Ship. Lets hope for a lovely sunny afternoon and please bring as many friends as you can to support Ellie and Angela on their womenVcancer 400k cycle ride in Kenya later this year.

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!

Friday, June 3

BBs go horseracing at Goodwood.....

We had a lovely time.....  picnics which were full of goodies, pink champagne, wonderful views, and after the horseracing DJ Boy George who was supposed to thrill and excite us, but left us all rather unimpressed. I would suggest that Chris Evans, who's appearing next Friday evening will be more fun and enthusiastic!

Elise and myself cycled from Tangmere, through the Goodwood estate and up the FoS hill climb - which was hard work especially with that wind blowing. Our time was about 15 mins rather than the few minutes the racing cars take during FoS - at least we can say we've cycled the route!

The picnic....note the hamper and the royal connection!

Elise and Mercy...

Elise found a sheltered dip in The Trundle - and with a bench! .....where we sat and had our picnic and watched the races. It was a lovely sunny evening, but windy! Mercy came all the way from Horsham and stayed until the last race which was at 9pm.

The BB flag, flying with pride at the top of The Trundle!!

 

The evening drawing to a close.

We cycled back home, in the dark at about 10.30pm. Elise and myself back to Tangmere and Angela back to Chichester -  how she made it back in one piece I'll never know as she was laden down with about 4 rather large bags! She texted me when she got home saying she had arrived safely and laughed all the way home...I know Elise and I did the same!

It was a fun evening, we are planning to go back to The Trundle on June 24 for Abba and wonderful fireworks. The evening starts as from 6.30pm. Let me know if you fancy joining us, we are all taking a picnic.

Sunday, May 29

Fox Goes Free, Charlton

This was our first late afternoon cycle ride followed by supper at the Fox Goes Free. The weather was cloudy and with a fairly strong wind at times. However, we all met outside the Goodwood Hotel - Elise, Nikki, Angela and welcome back Karen!

From the hotel we cycled up New Barn Lane, turned right at the crossroads and cycled towards the Petworth/Chichester Road. From here we turned left and enyjoyed a free cycle down the hill towards Upwalham, which was fun but you have to be ready to turn a sharp left at the base of the hill!

We all made this turn safely and cycled towards Drovers and on to the pub.

Grey clouds over Charlton Hill












At the pub we had a lovely chat and supper - from fish and chips, goats cheese and chirozo salad and mackeral salads. We decided not to have a dessert on this occasion! Chatting amongst ourselves Karen has kindly offered to look into the possibility of us having a BBs weekend away in France this year.....more to follow on this.

On offer was either cycling up Charlton Hill (short and sharp) or along the Centurion Way (long and level), due to Karen's knee we offered her the choice - which was to go up Charlton Hill...

Elise and Nikki heading towards the top of the hill.









Back to the start of the ride via Kennel Hill - lovely long free ride down this hill, cutting through Goodwood Estate where there was a cricket match in session.

We must have arrived back at about 7.30pm - a fun ride and one we must do again during the summer before the bad weather returns.

Thanks to all who made the ride this evening and hope to see you again soon - the next ride is a MTB, meeting at the same meeting place as last time. Full details will be posted on the Blog and email me if you're interested in joining us.