For today’s ride, I went down Mill road, under the bridge to Waterhall playing fields and turned right to go along the cycle lane by the A23. I followed along until I came to the bridge to cross over into Pyecombe. From there, I went down the hill to the road to Clayton. After a mile or so, I turned right into Underhill Lane. A few miles of twisty, narrow road ensued (although a van politely decided to stop and let me past!). Eventually, I came out at the road up to ditchling beacon.
Yesterday, whilst out walking, a friend had commented that cycling up to Ditchling Beacon was best done only once a year. And I realised that it had been over a year since I’d last attempted it. So off I went. ANd to my surprise, it was nowhere near as difficult as I expected it to be. I’ve obviously been cycling a lot more in recent times. To my mind, Bear Road in Brighton is far, far harder. I think I had this irrational fear of Ditchling Beacon. But now, that’s all over.
At the top, after a few minutes rest admiring the view, I set off home again. I went along the top of the downs towards Pyecombe, following the path from the beacon. At the third field, I turned left and downhill via the extremely stony path that leads towards the Chattri. Eventually I arrived at the Chattri after watching some cows chewing the cud on the way. Seeing as today is Remembrance Sunday, there were fresh wreaths from a variety of groups. I took a snap as it looked rather lovely (even though the Sun had long since passed over).
By now it was getting quite chilly with the wind and lack of Sun, so heading home was the prudent thing to do. Thankfully, it’s only 20 minutes or so to get home from the Chattri. A quick ride down to the A27 interchange, along Braypool Lane, over the A23, along Waterhall road and finally back up Mill Hill, where I’d started from.
Jabbering Giraffe 