South Downs Way - day 0

SDW day 0
So, the big day arrives!!! Feeling somewhat bloated, sickly and with a throbbing headache (it's going to get better!!) I leave Cambridge and head south. After picking up my bike lock from work and filling up with diesel I take the M11 south and hook up with Steve and Andy at Dartford services. Following an hour's coffee stop to "catch up" we head off to Alfriston. Arriving late afternoon we dump Andy's A2 and jump in the Disco to go off into Eastbourne. During a nice walk along the front we buy trinket bracelets and necklaces and find a lovely Italian restaurant. Back to the guesthouse and Andy wins the toss so gets the single room!!! Steve and I will be Morecambe and Wise tonight!!!

Following a look at the maps it's off to the local hostelries for some "Lady Lagers". In bed by 11 ready for an early start.

South Downs Way - day 1

SDW day 1
What a great day to start. Up early so the boys could have a full English while I went for the healthy option!! Away by 8 am and the traffic was kind to us so we were parked up in Winchester not long after 10 am. Ride into the town centre and pop in at Simply M&S where I convince the boys to go for a healthy lunch and it's round to the cathedral. We get pictures of the three of us from the lovely German tourist and we are away, in completely the wrong direction!! Backtrack, start again and we manage ok second time round. The weather is good but the hills are not. The boys discard their helmets after only a few miles. There is much complaining about having brought too much stuff and we seem to be going so slowly even when we have not stopped for Steve to rummage through his bag for something we think is a figment of his imagination!!! The scenery is nice and around lunchtime we stop for orange and lemonade at a pub but wait until we are round the corner before tucking into our salads. In the afternoon, Andy manages to fall off after hitting some surfaced roots but he's ok. By that time it is 4:30, we still about 6 or 8 miles out from our stopover place and then I need to ride back to Winchester, some 20 or so miles by road to get the car!! We agree I should leave them. I speed off and get to our turnoff point for the B&B by 6 pm. Just the little matter of collecting the car. Of course whilst we had been driving from Eastbourne and using my iPhone for music and navigation I had not thought to charge it so it's been low all day. Now there is only emergency juice in it so I have to relay on my own sense of direction and help from strangers. Refreshment comes in the form of sour fizzy cola bottles and coke and I find the right road and I'm off. Only not too fast at all! I'm quite tired and now it's my turn to be going slowly and taking too many breaks. At one such break I go to pick up my bike and the back wheel has managed to cone loose somehow! That could have been a very nasty accident. I also turn to PED's (performance enhancing drugs) for the first time in my life and hit the paracetamol to ease the aches, especially my back, which after 6 hours in the saddle is starting to complain!

I eventually make it back to the car not long before the sun goes down. As I'm riding back towards the B&B Steve rings. They've got off route and it's up a big hill back to the trail. They have not got the strength so they've decamped to the pub and can I pick them up. I do, we head to B&B and chuck our stuff in before heading back to the nearest town to MacDonalds. Everybody is shattered and asleep quickly and tomorrow the boys have extra miles to do!!!!!!

Steve and Andy 25 miles
David 48 miles

South Downs Way - day 2

SDW - day 2
Monday night was interesting. Steve declared that he was so tired that he needed the room to himself with double bed. Ok, I take the top bunk in the other room and that works well as every time Andy wakes me snoring I just rock the bunks and that wakes him enough for him to stop. Not the best night sleep but in between the interruptions I enjoy a deep sleep.

Started the day watching the boys have breakfast, their normal full English whilst I take a more healthy option. Then I drive them back to Buriton, where they stopped on Monday (and drank beer without me!!). Once they have been deposited I drive the car onto West Harting, only a few miles past my starting point, and head back by bike to meet the trail where I had left it the day before. That all works well and in under an hour I'm back on the SDW and wondering if they are in front of me or behind me. I text (waste of time due to lack of signal again) and wait 15 minutes before heading off. I catch them after a while and we enjoy a nice morning ride together. By 1:30 we are on Cocking Hill. I leave them so I can attend to the logistics of the car, cycle back to West Harting and drive it all the way over to Bury, our next stop. The roads back to Cocking go all over the place so it takes me ages to get back on the trail (5 pm). I've already had a double ice cream stop and hit the paracetamol as my back is aching again (fancy that, after 6 hours in the saddle!!) I drive on as fast as my legs will go but now I'm walking up hills too. After a few miles I manage to break my seat and I'm sitting on it less and less. One of the rails just collapses under me on a descent!!!! I spend much of the rest of the ride standing on the peddles which does n't help the back issue, fortunately the drugs are working just in time. However, the day is just a pleasure. This part of the trail is lovely. Great views helped by the evening sun, fantastic trails and I'm really having a ball inspite of my minor issues. I speed into the b&b at 7 pm, just about 1 hour after the lads. Plenty of time for tea and cake, a chat with the landlady and then off to the pub for the most expensive average steak and kidney pudding ever (the chef should have gone to Tesco's to buy a Fray Bentos!!). Afterwards, I manage to get a signal to make a call which is no mean feat here in the grim south. Thenback to the b&b for some more gentle ribbing before I head off to my own ro (yippee!!) for a good nights sleep.

Steve and Andy 24 miles
David 44 miles

South Downs Way - day 3

SDW - day 3
Bury to Pyecombe. Did not pan out as expected this one.
Following the usual breakfast routine we headed off relatively early. Even leaving the guesthouse provided it's "moments" as our landlady was quick witted and, perhaps, a little too honest. As she cleared away the empty plates that were boys full breakfasts she turned to Andy and asked him if he would like anymore, as he "clearly has a figure to maintain". First time I've seen Andy speechless actually. After we had officially left but were still on the drive "discussing" the logistics of the day she came out and told us "to stop bickering like a bunch of old women"!!!!
Well, eventually we dragged ourselves away from the fun and started to ride. Although rain was forecast, possibly from dawn, the morning was overcast but with plenty of sunny spells. I decided that I could not beat them so would join them in pushing bike up hills and conserve my energy for when I was riding alone. We stopped for lunch part 1 at 12:02 (I remember as Steve was going time the break) but I left them at 12:14. I made good speed past one road and down to the river and the second road at which point I planned to leave the trail. I texted Steve with my time and position feeling very impressed with myself and very I pushed off only to realise my front tyre was flat (impact puncture from the descent??).
A quick change and I'm off just before it starts raining, which it does for about 30 - 45 minutes and quite heavy for 5 or so. The strong wind is in my face too but the greatest irritation is caused by the bloody truck drivers who think they only need to leave me three inches and I won't be upset by their thirty tonne trucks.
I hit the bike shop and roll in a warm welcome from a nice lady (remember I'm pretty bedraggled by now) who sells me a new saddle (£30) and a multi-tool to replace the one I left at the side of the road when I punctured (£15 - expensive day!!). I head off back to car in the sunshine and make good progress in drying out.
Steve had texted me and said they had reached the point where I turned off the South Downs Way at 1:30 pm. That only left them about 6 miles to go so I was thinking they would be at the guesthouse very early. In which case I could complete today's section tomorrow and we could head off into Brighton to mouch about and find dinner. I grab the car and head off to the new B&B, very pleased with myself for the new plan I'd just hatched and the fun we were going to have that evening. En route I stop off at a shop and buy 15 lucky dips for tonight's double roll over Lotto, as we'd agreed. I'm served in the shop by a lovely young girl who is being quite chatty so I say to her "the next time you see me I'll be a millionaire". Quick as a flash she comes back at me by point the index fingers on both hands straight to her face and saying "then remember THIS face"!!!!!
I get to the guesthouse and am somewhat surprised to find I'm the first here. After "checking in" a quick chat with Steve suggests the boys are tired and bickering but just at the top of the next hill hiding from the lightening in a wood. Further communication later states that they were not where they thought and they do not arrive until after 6 pm. It's a bit late to go far by then and the recommendation for the pub across the road is strong. Furthermore, our lovely hosts Wendy and Terry invite us to share a pre-dinner drink with them.
Dinner is excellent. Calzone and banoffee pie for me washed down with more lady lagers. Andy gets the single room.
Steve and Andy 22 miles
David 25 miles

South Downs Way - day 4

SDW - day 4

Usual breaky except Steve goes healthy. Boys set off on bikes whilst I drive back to Steyning in order to pick up the trail where I left it. I race across a couple of hills and I'm back at Pyecombe on 90 minutes. People are paragliding off Devil's Dyke and at the other side they seem to be rolling down in "hamster balls". As I'm passing Hobb's Cottage again I get Wendy to fill my bottle (cheeky!!). I then set off chasing the boys hard, foregoing the services to pick up lunch and race after them so fast I miss a sharp right turn and head down a big hill back a T-junction where there are no signs for SDW. I fly down a big hill and hit a T-junction with no signs. Five minutes with map and gps (that would be iPhone then) confirm I've gone wring and I need to climb back up that hill. Fortunately, it is tarmac so does not feel so hard. I take my frustration out on the pedals, not even stopping at the ice cream van!!! I catch the boys just in time for lunch and we ride that afternoon together. I'm wearing my sleeveless v-necked T-shirt in order to try to get some colour up my arms (this has been referred to as the "muscle man" T-shirt which causes Steve to comment that I might be breaking the trade descriptions act!) Anyway, it works, I get good colour and probably only the repeated administration of lashings of aftersun stop me being in pain.
Towards the end of the afternoon the winds gets up. The good news is that it is pushing us home but it is also quite cold. I only have half a shirt on and Steve starts getting ear-ache so ends up with his gloves hanging down out of his helmet (sorry, no photo).
The last parts of these rides are always the best. After around twenty miles you are tired and in spite of the great time you are having you are ready to arrive at the welcoming B&B. Once you crest that last hill, see the village you are aiming for and know it is all downhill from that point, the rest is just awesome.
We arrive at the B&B in Alfriston in good time where the landlady tells us that the single room has not been used all week and the bed still has the same sheets on from when Andy slept in there on Sunday night. Well, that's tonight's sleeping arrangements sorted then, thanks.
After retrieving my car (Andy drove me back this time) we all shave and shower and head off hunting for dinner. The boys have been drooling for a steak all week and as this small village seems to have three pubs serving food and a restaurant so we have choices. The guys get their wish, whilst I enjoy some lovely lamb (and banoffee pie for the second night in a tow). We spend the rest of the night in the pub across the road because we think it is new to us but as soon as we walk in we remember that we watched Top Gear in there on Sunday night. In all, we have five drinks each, the majority of them "Lady Lagers" before heading off for some well-earned sleep.
Steve and Andy 21 miles
David 26 miles

South Downs Way - Day 5 - the finish

SDW - day 5
Last day. I'm already feeling a twinge of sadness as I wake. There seems to rather a lot of bathroom activity, even before I get up.
We have breakfast and then Andy and I drop the disco off on the seafront at Eastbourne. As we drive back Andy is maybe a little subdued, but I put it down to sleepiness. As we arrive back at the B&B in Alfriston Steve is just getting the bikes out. Andy is back in the toilet and when he comes down he does not look well. We give him a few minutes sitting on the bench and then wander over. He's not well and does not feel as though he can ride. He's upset and apologising to us but we tell him to stop being silly. Sadly, Steve and I ride off alone. It's a nice day again and we go over one hill and down into Jevington before going up a second hill, crossing the main road into Eastbourne, pausing to take photo's of the town and cliffs in the opposite direction. We then ride down the last hill and into the town. For me the ride along the seafront is a mixed bag of feelings; we've done it but now it's over. There's one last photo opportunity at the start of the way (yes, we did it backwards because I think traditional people went on pilgrimages to Winchester).
We sort the bikes into their respective cars and head off for dome seaside fish and chips. Andy seems to be feeling better but the conversation is lacking somewhat. Are we tired or just sad that our great adventure has come to an end?
Steve and David 8 miles

Final thoughts:
What an amazing week. The riding, the weather, the company was all great. The boys were immense given the extra weight they are carrying and their poor preparation. We suffered only one puncture and one broken saddle (both for me!) and no real injuries past the food poisoning. Loved it. Hope to do it again some year.