Thanks, Neil. I'm still cross with myself for the cock-up - riding down the Lewes main A road rather than some lovely lanes was not my intention!!
I've ridden that route at least a dozen times and having looked at the map I can see where I went wrong but still can't make sense of it! Probably old age. I'm going back there next week to see how on earth I missed the turning - I'm obsessive when it comes to things like that.
Anyway, apart from that, nice to do something different than the usual ride down. Good bunch - Amy, Robbie, Rob, Lyndsey, Robyn, Steve, Pete, Mikel, Marek, Geraldine, and of course you Neil. Amy took us through the lanes parallel to Smallfield and I took us through Sharpthorne along side the Bluebell railway which probably added 5 miles to the journey. Rob got the Ditchling KOM, and Robyn the QOM. Waited at the top for ages for Lyndsey, Neil and Pete (who'd either dropped off the back and missed the turn or popped into the loo at Ditchling
). Met up with the 18s, quick chat and on to the Regency.
The usual delicious seaford pasta (under the cloudy skies that seem to be always only over Brighton) and then I took a small group back via Shoreham (where the sun came out and never left us)- Lyndsey, Tom, Steve, Robyn, and Pete. Fantastic airshow at the airport. We arrived just in time to see a P51 MUSTANG put on a spectacular display and as we were heading off a Spitfire and Hurricane swooped gracefully passed us. magic!
Steve and Lyndsey did most of the work on the way home - thanks fellas. Met up with John's 15 mphers just before Faygate as we waited to regroup after half my group missed the turn and went charging up the road!!! In the 'race for the cake' my group put a spurt on to lose the 15s (if they got there before us there'd be none left) but we also lost Robyn and Steve in the process
Going over the golf course I was really starting to suffer (still haven't recovered from my recent illness - well that's my excuse anyway) and even the thought of coffee and cake at Nonnas couldn't persuade me to do another dozen miles or so, so I said my goodbyes and bailed out at Redhill. Legs really ache today - but good fun as always. I clocked 160 kms door to door at 24.7 kph. thanks to one and all.