On the level, on the Downs

1 A good ride. We began, the occasional cyclist and I, in Horsham, with tea. To Christ's Hospital, to the route to the Downs Link. (A telephone call from Patrick Kiley: no, I was not available for an emergency meeting of a Loans Committee.) And so we cycled along the line of the old railway which ran from Guildford to Shoreham. Of course the route was a level one. From time to time though I was a bumpy one as well.

2 To the site of West Grinstead railway station, a recognisable site. The platforms are still in place; so is the shiny station sign. A railway coach sits on track. The information board declared that the coach was open 'some weekend days', a commitment to openness, we thought, that it should be easy enough for the volunteers to meet.

3 Further down we bought our lunch at a garage which could not do with a re-arrangement of the stock. Touch the ways things are, and have been for years, and the friendly man behind the counter, together with the customers, would have no idea, no idea at all, of where to find things (including the various bicycle tyres and impedimenta). We returned to the track, cycled to a bench and took our lunch in the sun and the breeze and said hello both to the friendly dogs and to their owners.

4 On, on. To Bramber, to the junction of the Link and the South Downs Way. Up, up. To the top of the Downs, westward cycling. My first time cycling on the Downs. Not easy. (The occasional cyclist, by the way, just cycled on and on, up and up.) Past Chactonbury Ring. Just the place for a fort though, we agreed, a tad chilly in winter.

5 Down, down to the road. To Washington, to Storrington, to Amberly. Smooth, undulating roads, ones popular with motor vehicles. No place for the nervous cyclist. At Amberly, we admired the substantial building which had once been the school, noted the absence of a café, and returned to the station to admire the man in the signal box as he pulled his levers and pressed the bells.

6 To Horsham. Tea. What a fine day's cycling it had been. To be on the Downs in the warmth was (close to being) as good as one can reasonably expect. (The parentheses allow for error.)

7 Bridge. Just four-and-a-half tables, a number which would content the EG Bridge Club.

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