I was invited to lunch at East Hoathly, so looking at the route I took last time I decided to make a few changes and to cycle it in an anticlockwise direction – keeping my fingers crossed that I would make it in time for pudding at least.

It was also a chance to try out a new saddle – which I had ordered up after my ordeal cycling from Winchester. It declared itself to be a “revolutionary breakthrough in bike seat comfort” – well lets see if it lives up to the name The Comfort Saddle.

The weather was good, with the sun shining through quite strongly, but the wind was gusty (and also at times very strong). It was good to get the shelter from the high hedges and sunken lanes around here.

I did not go into the gliding club again – though this time I could spot a glider having fun overhead, searching out thermals.

I made it in good time for lunch, and while the saddle was living up to the name unfortunately the pedels were starting to fall off (well the bottom bracket sounded decidedly dodgy).

Looking at the map I could shave a few miles off the return journey without having to resort to ‘A’ roads, so I altered my route back to go south of Uckfield. I am glad I did as I found a nice picture of a wind pump in a field of ripening and almost golden wheat. It cropped very well into the header image format as well, so keep an eye out for it…

no images were found

In all, the ride was 36.3 miles, no punctures, and no additional padding required – the saddle worked well !! Unfortunately the bottom bracket suffered a minor failure so it is back to the bike shop for a repair.

Center of map

Route

View the map in Google Maps, or here is the Google Earth KML file.