South Downs way, end-to-end, TBC

#pray4mashton

#godonlyhelpsbelievers

Can we rename the thread "South Downs Way in a day is awful*, but doing small sections of it is great!"

*especially on a CX bike**

**even worse on a SSCX bike

@mashton Sounds great! Enjoy 😊

You can do it on a cx bike! If you’ve got 38 or 40mm tyres you’ll be alright. I think tubeless is the key thing as it’s the punctures that can spoil your day.

Taps are perfect for drinking. They put them in as there are no streams, so without them people could get badly dehydrated on a hot day. Also, the sdw skips almost all villages, so if you're walking, a pub/shop is almost always a detour away.

Good luck @mashton. Great day/night for it! You may need a good rub down after. While tubelessight minimise the punctures, your arms will be fucked. The singlespeed will ensure your legs are similarly mullered, but as others had said, it's a nice walk. Some crazy people do the whole thing without any bike. They call it 'hiking'. Odd sport.

And I'm on the train back to town, after a brilliant trip, that didn't always go to plan but was sometimes the better for it.

On the train down to Arundel I met a lovely woman, Felicity, a local to the area who gave me some good route advice on following the Arun from Arundel to Amberley. Mainly that the river side path would be impassable. I decided to ignore her advice at South Stokes and try the path. Within the first 20yards I had got stuck in a deep rut and fallen off the bike! I gave a virtual nod to Felicity and took her suggested fall back route across the fields - this was a bit of a nightmare with five kissing gates to hoik over within half a mile. In retrospect I should have listened to her first route choice and taken the bridleway up through Burpham on to the downs. You live and learn...

Into and through Amberley with no mishaps and just the one bit of bike pushing up the steep slope to the tops. I am pretty sure it is the section that was photographed in this thread on the last page. Steeeeep.

Lovely ride in the sun over the tops, with a very pleasant hour or so spent lying in the sun listening to Test Match Special. A hugely bumpy roll down off the top to Washington for a recee for possible dinner spots.

Sadly the pub in Washington has closed down, so I turned back on myself to Sullington that had a promising array of hostelries. Further sun sitting and cricket listening was punctuated by meeting a lovely chap called Matt who was on the hunt for a bike pump for his BMX tyre. We sorted him out, shot the breeze and listened to England wrapping up the series against India.

On Matt's advice I dined at The Crown in the early evening sun before getting on the bike and heading back to Washington and a further hiking section back into the heavens.

With the sun lowering I had my first sight of the glorious Chanctonbury Ring. Stunning. I rode on and past it for a couple of miles before returning to pitch camp. A shirtless slack liner soon departed leaving me and a romantic looking couple watching the sunset. I think they wanted me to leave them in peace and looked a touch miffed when my tent got unpacked. They soon wandered away, with me hoping I hadn't scuppered a proposal.

Soon after getting the camp ship shape, a guy rode past on an MTB and stopped for the view. My third impromptu friend of the trip was Graham, a fount of knowledge of the local bridleways. He not only told me about the Downs Link disused railway line that would take me easily to Christ's Hospital for the train home in the morning, but gave me the somewhat unwelcome news that the riverside path Felicity warned me off from Arundel to Amberley is in fact a wonderful bridleway that should not have been missed. Next time Graham, next time.

An uneventful but wonderful night under the stars and I was up and away by 6.30am, aiming to drop into Steyning and pick up the Down's Link. Sadly it was not to be, as a wrong turn took me down a glorious road descent into the wrong valley and toward Lancing and the seafront. Oops!

With no chance of retracing my steps and still getting my last possible train home, I rolled sedately along the esplanade to Shoreham-upon-Sea, into a cafe for a brekkie and a brew and then onto the 8.44 service to London Victoria.

Certainly not an Epic, but an adventure nonetheless and no real issues with SSCX on this trip. Thanks for all the help guys.

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round of applause

They soon wandered away, with me hoping I hadn't scuppered a proposal.

But you monster

I'm sure they found a hedge to have fumble in.

I did feel a bit like a monster.

Awesome job Mashton. One I have kept on meaning to do.

Thanks Tommy. Very cool to see you back in these parts.

Lovely write up. I was in the same area myself this weekend. Rode out from South London to North Stoke via Amberly, across the valley and over the Gurkha Bridge to South Stoke (agree about the nightmare kissing gates!) and then around the back way into Arundel.

The route I took is here: https://cycle.travel/map/journey/49947
Only a minimum of comedy off-roading on 28mm tyres. About 100km all told.

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I recognise every one of those pictures.

Beautiful day wasn't it?

I want to go and do it all again, right now!

It's one of my favourite areas to explore. I really need to spend some more time putting together routes in the area. Would love to explore off-road, but don;t have a mountain bike/gravel bike. The bike is really only suited to road use, although it can cope with a bit of decent quality bridleways. I've been out almost every weekend over the past few weeks and even on the cloudy days it's been glorious.

@mashton you basically did exactly what @chainbreaker and I did on foot a few weeks back. lovely overnight route, will head back there soon i think.

I have to agree. Well worth the trip.

I thought you guys did it by bike. My mistake.

It was the wild camping thread that gave me the inspiration.

Thanks.

Tempted to do a section this weekend if the rain holds off - anyone else up for it?

I thought you guys did it by bike.

I want to smoke what you're smoking. :)

I now have this on a list of 'maybes' for 2020

@Howard - could you link the GPX file of your ride please

this thread bumping in december is quite something

This thread in particular, or bumping in general?

I do love the SDW, I've ridden sections of it often since starting this thread.

Last year I did F500 miles on the SWD sections local to Winchester which was fun - I'll be doing some more of that in the week of Christmas this year.