A beautiful morning,just a slight northerly breeze but with sunny skies.
A little after 8am seven of us made good progress to arrive at Haskins,Copthorne at 9.35am to find Jeff sunbathing.
It is with regret that I hadn't considered the timings and our likely arrival before the place had even opened.
I understand that seven members were essentially mislead and met at a later time but missed the ride because of this..........sorry.
With a tailwind,our first stop was a new cafe in Lindfield at around 11am.I say cafe but in this locality it means tearooms and with bone china & a pricey menu list.
Back on the B road which we've followed south from Copthorne.
Up and over Ditchling Beacon........phew.A slight detour to join the B2123 to Rottingdean.
We were soon riding along the undercliff cyclepath to a busy cafe at Ovingdean arriving 1pm.
With my pre-prepared sandwiches still in my fridge.....doh! it was a round of tuna on brown for me (£3).
Paul & Ken Day had to leave us but we continued to relax until 2.10pm.
For some,the two substantial climbs away from Brighton to rejoin the Ditchling road were completely energy sapping so by the time we arrived at Lindfield thoughts were turning to rest,eating,drinking and alternatives as it was 4.30pm by now.
At this point the two fittest riders (Janice and Keith) bid farewell to continue the ride whilst Jeff,Helene and myself focused on the rather attractive train assisted prospect from Haywards Heath.
Ed had already been attracted to Brighton Station earlier.
It was decided early on the cheapest ticket would be a groupsave (pay for two,three can travel for the same price) £25.50 single to Epsom.
Confusion ensued at the ticket office at where we had to change (engineering works on the West Croydon line meant travelling to either East Croydon and changing to a train to Balham or staying on the train (forbidden - ticket says not via Clapham Junc) to Clapham.
We joined a First Capital train.
In a while,it dawned on me that conditions of the groupsave ticket is that all MUST travel together for the whole duration of the journey (to Epsom).
But Jeff was leaving the train at East Croydon................surely he's gonna get a penalty fine???
At the announcement "We are approaching London Bridge,please make sure you take all your belongings" Helene and myself looked at each other................LONDON BRIDGE?????
How did we end up here...........awww gawd................now what?
The clue was First Capital............they don't stop at Clapham.But it didn't dawn on either of us until it was too late.
We decided to take a train to Waterloo East to join the Waterloo-Epsom mainline.
Aware that we were travelling on an invalid ticket as Jeff had left us,we were cautious at the ticket barrier in Waterloo (the guy did walk off with my ticket to ask his senior to "check").
"I don't have a problem mate.............but you may get stopped on the train and subject to a penalty fine".
Phew!
Home at 19.45 exhausted,relieved and with serious concerns about forthcoming long rides..........................7am start anyone?
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| Spot Ed anyone? |
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