A Day at the Races

Ride: Goodword West Dean circuit
Present: Al, Jon, Julie

We kicked off from Jon's house just after 6.00pm on a hot and sunny evening, a delay due to Julie's forgotten socks being averted when, quite miraculously, some of Jon’s (freakishly large, Ed.) socks fitted her perfectly. After a few weeks off we were keen to get back in the saddle and raced past Goodwood circuit, up past the Royal Oak in Lavant onto the Chalkhill lane. The 2.5 km uphill towards the Trundle was particularly hard in the heat and sun but the view on top was well worth it; affording great views of Chichester, Bognor and its environs (above left). The Isle of Wright particularly stood out on such a clear evening.

After this short break to recover, we rode eastward past the Trundle and on to Goodwood. In the hot weather it was hard to imagine the near-Siberian conditions we encountered earlier in the year with Billy-Bob when we made the same journey in 2” of snow! Just past the Goodwood race course (above right) we cycled downhill towards the pub. Much to Jon’s annoyance he soon realized that the newest recruit, Julie was speeding past him; he is now officially the slowest down-hiller in the TCA!

At the Fox, Chalton we enjoyed a couple of pints of Liber- ation bitter (Suthwyk) and crisps (left). Much to the dismay of the TCAUK committee members though Julie still prefers fizzy lager!

The next section of the trip was a new route; part track and then bridleway to the north of the Chalton. We stopped off near Broadham House to admire further views, including a field full of rabbits and a great view of some roe deer. We then cycled alongside the edge of Singleton Forest and into Nightingale Forest, which was strewn with many of confusing tracks. In true Bowman style, we got a little lost with no batteries in the GPS but (unlike days of old when Billy-Bob himself was custodian of the map, Ed.), we soon worked out exactly where we were, where we went wrong and efficiently joined the official route once more. At this point Al participated in some in-the-saddle Hare chasing, a challenging sport indeed - Hares 1 - 0 Al!

Back on the correct track we rode through ‘the land that time forgot’. The overgrown grass was as high as the handlebars and tree branches covered the track. We soon lost sight of each other but regrouped at the top before enjoying a long downhill section, joining our regular ‘Chicester Route #1’, albeit in the reverse direction. At the bottom we stopped at the familiar charcoal burning stoves (below left) which were still smoldering away. We also chanced upon a badger at very close quarters crossing the road leading down to the Selsey Arms. It was about 9.00pm at this point, by which time we were beginning to slow. We therefore took the flatter route to West Lavant rather than up over the top of the trundle again, picking up the normal route along Goodwood Circuit. We got nice views of young fox cubs playing in the last light of a balmy evening as we approached West Lavant, then Jon cycled home ahead to put on the rice for the Hungarian Goulash (God bless ‘im, Ed.).

(Posted by: Jon)