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@Ecobeard
Glasgow Express ‘Beeching Cuts’
Glasgow Express is a route that a senior member of BCC (Gordon, from Glasgow) used to take us on, rather quickly.
Many a Sunday over a good five years was spent in pain just hearing “ ‘sake! C’mon! Jus’ keep tappin’ it oot” if the pace fractionally dropped below Gordon’s preferred pace.
Looking at the route, it’s clear why it was a bar chewer, it was long and only looked rolling on the profile, not on the eyes at the time, and certainly in the legs afterwards. When looking at the route I noticed that it went close to the old East Grinstead - Tunbridge Wells - Three Bridges line (now the Worth and Forest Ways) and with some tweaking it could be used in the ride.
Here is the route
The line was rumoured to be Dr Richard Beeching’s own commuting line, which he cut and it closed in 1967. It being ‘his’ own line maybe Railway legend, but he certainly lived and died in East Grinstead and part of the old line is called ‘Beeching Way’.
There’s nowt left of EG high level station, save the site of an old footbridge to the low level station, so the best place to pick the route up is on a big roundabout in the south eastern suburbs. You then swing onto an almost fashionable surface, almost unofficial 6th classic-esque....
There’s not a not a lot to see in Railway terms, it was all ripped up and demolished in the mid 70’s I think, but what makes this route great is that if it’s quiet (and it nearly always is) it’s an absolute smash fest.
I have fond memories of 6 of us, unspoken I might add, turning it into the Tour of Flanders, in our heads at least. As the surface is tightly packed you can use a road bike and use it quickly. There’s enough puddles, Ruts and the odd rock to keep it interesting. The bridges narrow to pinches as well, so some elbows come in handy at some points.
It’s over fairly quickly, a good 10miles out of 70, but it’s a great, fun part of an already excellent ride.
Definitely an Autumn/Spring Clubrun Classic, but also a pleasant ride out to the country with the family, a lot of the villages you pass through have pubs that look excellent.
I’ll dig some more photos out if I can find them
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