Microadventuring, mini tours etc

Wanted a weekend trip from London...opted for London > Crawley > Tunbridge Wells > [sleeping in a field] > Ashford > Maidstone > London.

There's a lovely cycle way on sections of the route between Crawley and Tunbridge Wells and it was lovely cycling along the lanes in the first morning light. All up, was about 230km and would recommend it apart from the drag in and out of London.

Occasional stretches of gravel but generally on road with a couple of stretches on dual carriageway so hates not to be allergic to traffic

Do you have a .gpx of the route?

Best i can do is kml from Google Maps

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12mW4KNOvEGO2IEEdgq8z-wOCdGXKLmF2
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Bl1gTnXC9CwYoh2WArcDQ_O_pes_klgu

let me know if it doesn't work

Did an overnighter in Wells-next-the-Sea this week, testing stuff for upcoming tour. Good thing I did, too.

Shortly after I took this picture, a truck came by and the windblast blew the bike over and broke the derailleur hanger. So I did about 50mi with a bodged single speed setup. Fun. I've now ordered a replacement and a spare...

Anyway, it was a lovely route, amazing wild camp spot at the edge of the woods overlooking West Sands in a little hollow. Nice to do an inner-only pitch. Fish and chips were had. Arty hares found. Local driveway-bought eggs for breakfast. Swam in the sea in the morning. Cycled to Cromer, bought some fancy cheese and got the train home the next day. All in all pretty good.

Sorry about your derailleur hanger, that's unlucky.

Trip looks great otherwise. I'm planning on heading out that way this summer. It helps that advance train tickets out that way are cheap as chips and I live in Clapton so Stratford is very handy.

What's that weird sticky out building thing? I know it's not Cromer pier...

Yeah, lots of nice country roads to explore in that part of Norfolk! I think it's a granary or something, in Wells on the quayside

Ah OK, I went years ago but can't remember it very well.

Did you do the main road along the coast at all? It would be quite handy for me to go along that at points but not sure if it would be hellish?

Yes, we took the coast road all the way from Wells to Cromer. I've done it a few times. It's not always the nicest, and can be quite heavily trafficked, but there are some really beautiful sections (especially through Cley) and I've not had any real problems yet. I think there are enough cyclists riding it that the drivers around there are fairly aware.

Some mates and I often do what we've dubbed the "schoolnight overnighters" sometimes involves pubs and cafes sometimes it involves proper cooking out etc. Here's a few photos from our recent trips.

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tent looking sharp!

looks fun - based in london? if so, would love to join one time...

Bath/Bristol buddy.

had some good times in that area when I lived round there
gone to farleigh hungerford yet for a wild swim? loads of great spots to bivvy out near there too

Will have to check it out!

Small 3 day tour Berlin - Sächsische Schweiz - Berlin in picture format:

Next time I'll take 1/3rd less clothes and change the tent to a bivy. And I surely won't use wahoo elmnt routing for 200km daily legs unless I specifically want loose gravel roads/paths :D

Did a quick “micro adventure” last night. It’s amazing what you can fit in between office hours. I try to do a couple of these a year, but last night’s efforts were pretty much perfect. I need the stars to align to get away with it, and yesterday with my family packed off to the grandparents for the first week of summer holidays, the weather set particularly fair and a big project just wrapped up at work, I was in the clear for a night under the stars.

I need to use a bit flexy working to get most out of these, so in to the office at 8am on Monday means I can leave at 4. Hopped on the train at Vauxhall and I was off at Leatherhead by 5. It’s a good starting point for a trip into the North Downs. Five mins pedalling and you're onto a bridleway out towards Bocketts farm and then normally on to Polesdon Lacey and up Ranmore that way. This time I took detour to explore Norbury Park. It was nice. Best section was some nice flowing single track down a slightly naughty footpath to get over towards Tanners Hatch and the climb to Ranmore that way.

It was great out though. Really quiet, so you can get away with the odd footpath here and there. Im just always sure to be over polite if I meet anyone. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission. No need today, it was probably too hot for ramblers anyway.

From the top of Ranmore it starts getting really good. I love the blast down over the railway before heading to the Abinger Roughs and dropping out near Abinger Hatch. It’s a gentle road pedal from there to the bottom of Holmbury, then up the track to the top and a breather while admiring the view.

I was getting thirsty (I had plenty of water, the other kind of thirsty) and was hoping the pub in Peaslake still opened on a Monday....I also had the descent via “Barry knows Best” to look forward to. It’s the great thing about riding in the North Downs. It feels like a real cross country ride with lots of as the crow flies distance, but there are still a load of proper mountain bike trails to link up with berms and little (or fucking massive if you really search) kickers. It means you get the best of both worlds.

I was just getting into BKB on the way down till the hiss/sealant spaff of a pinch flat saw me somewhat delayed. Was quite pleased with my tyre worming though and was back on my way in no time. More pressure needed. Lo and behold, the pub was open too. Time for a pint and something salty before the last climb of the day.

It was a cracking beer too. Just the right abv for this heat/the exertion to come but still tasty and gluten free, if that’s a thing for you. They also let me have a bottle of something cold with the cap left on for later.

Anyway, after a nice sit down it was time to crank up Pitch Hill, have a little play on El Capitan and Curly Wurly (trail names) before hopping over to Winterfold Hill and a camp spot I’d been eyeing up since a family walk a month or two back.

As the sun set I freshened up as well as I could and fired up the stove for a meal of freeze dried beef hotpot By “adventure food”. They’re not bad really, but the chicken curry (with added chilli powder) is still my favourite. I was glad it was cooling down as I set up my hammock, the stunning view over to South Downs helping clear the head further still, all aided by the cold beer I’d grabbed as I left the pub. Perfect, just me and the birds.

It never got really dark. First time my efforts at sleep have been hampered by having the moon in my eyes, but the land of nod did not elude for long. It didn’t stay for ages though. By 5:30 It was getting light, the birds were up and I was happy to snooze a little while watching it get beautiful.

I had two options from here. Lazy breakfast and pootle down to Guildford to train in from there, or get a move on, pack up and crank over 4 hills to Westhumble and head in to the office that way.

Given my early bird/dawn alarm it would have been rude not to take up the offer of option 2. Which was good as so followed two of the best hours on a bike I’ve ever had.

The trails are so dry they are running better than ever. It feels slightly naughty riding them so early, on a school morning, imagining my work colleagues just waking up to a shitty commute into town, here I am blasting through stunning countryside on some properly good bike trails.

The descent off Pitch Hill was as good as I’ve ridden it, back up Holmbury, down the “Yoghurt Potts” then a cracking bridleway blast to the bottom before the long slog up Leith Hill from Upfolds Farm. I actually love this climb. I gauge my fitness by how fucked I am at the top. Today was a good day, that coffee back at camp and oaty breakfast bar clearly giving me the umph I needed.

I didn’t pass a soul as I summited Leith tower. The views both South to the Downs and North to London town were perfect. Next it's down the newsish trail that links the top to the original Summer Lightning descent. After that there is even more fun downhill all the way to the main road at Wooten, by definition the longest descent south of London.

The last climb is my other favourite, particularly in the morning. Contouring up Ranmore as the sun is still rising over Dorking is a cracking view, nearly there now! From the top I had a new to me bridleway down to Westhumble and an appointment with the 9.04 to Vauxhall. I had 20 mins to burn and the cycle cafe wasn’t open. No bother. Sparked up the stove on the platform and enjoyed a coffee in the sun on my todd.

The train duly whisked me in to town, a quick pedal to the office, shower and shave and I sauntered into my 10:15 meeting bang on time still grinning like the cat that got the cream. Was pretty fucked by 5pm though. Fortunately the office cleared out quick, so so did I.

Amazing, getting the most out of life. Well done!

Great stuff - you should be a travel writer.

So jealous of this. Must create a South Downs variant for myself

Praise indeed! Thanks, I'll bank that!

Awesome. It’s not all about weeks away!!!

Excellent write up!

Rode (most of) the Badger Divide.
Took some pictures.
Wrote some words.

http://www.cotic.co.uk/news/2018/badgersandbackroads

I went out and rode a good chunk of NCN21 this Sunday, picked it up near Crystal Palace and rode down as far as Eridge before running out of time and having to bail onto the train to get home.

I was riding my Audax bike, so skinny 700x28c road tyres, full length mudguards, Carradice Barley, Campagnolo triple with a lowest gear ratio of 30x29, the works.

A lot of the route is off-road and pretty hilly (Strava says up to 38%, but I can only imagine that was a very short section), but even so it was rideable and had drained well after the recent rain. The flatter sections were a complete blast, I was able to cruise at 25-30kph easily. It would be a lot of fun on a hard tail MTB or gravel bike.

In terms of access, There's a lot of fiddling around on back roads until you get up to the brilliantly named Skid's Hill Lane and from there to Redhill it was an absolute blast - if I did it again, I'd just straight line it on main roads to that point. Between Redhill and Crawley it's a bit of a chore through industrial estates and urban back roads and then you pick up The Worth Way (an old railway line converted into a rail trail and finally at East Grinstead, The Forest Way (another Rail Trail). These were a bit dull if I'm honest, fast, flat and not very interesting, but they'd be great with kids in tow.

I met a lot of French families coming the other way on fairly heavily laden mountain and euro-style touring bikes. What they made of steep gravel climbs on heavily laden touring bikes I can't imagine.

I'll be back later in the month to try to finish it off, but the bit up to Redhill would be a good spot to try backpacking and sleeping out.
The route is on cycle.travel: http://cycle.travel/map/journey/479

Maybe a good forum ride for the future as well?

Bit of a write up here if anyone's interested: https://www.lfgss.com/comments/14371492/