Got my new bike yesterday, a Dawes Colorado – a “hybrid” bike as I have gotten use to the chunkiness of a mountain bike in recent years, and have you seen the state of the roads!! It has a better upright riding position for on the roads. The trailer is on order at the moment – keeping my fingers crossed for delivery at the end of the month.

Decided to take it for a spin today around a bit of Sussex, taking in part of a published route that by chance almost goes past the house, and goes near East Hoathly (to visit my Sister) and the Gliding Club. Though the variations I made added a few more miles…

The route was between Ashdown Forest and the South Downs near Uckfield, the first half of the route (near Ashdown Forest) is a combination of fast descents and short steep climbs (unfortunately some of the climbs were not short enough!!). The route just grazes the southern edge of Ashdown Forest, never quite making it out of the broadleaved woodlands and arable farmland within the Weald of Sussex. The guide suggested crossing 8 rivers, this might be one of them – it was easy to ford it, I just hope the others are as simple to cross. A little further it was up and over the bridge with the railway line running north from Uckfield.

The highest point on the route was about a third of the way along the route, at Hadlow Down. While it was the highest point on the route it was not that high at 147 m (485 feet), though that compares with the lowest point around Ripe at just 9 m (30 feet).

After Hadlow Down I took a short detour to visit my Sister in East Hoathly, and had a bit of lunch (thanks Becca for taking care of the waif and stray). Moving on towards the village of Ripe, the southern half of the route is very flat, and I made good progress through Chiddingly (despite the obvious attractions).

I then cycled through the deliciously named Muddles Green.

Heading back north instead of going through the town of Uckfield I headed south east towards the village of Isfield before heading almost due north to get back home again.

In doing so I passed the Gliding Club and dropped in on Dad, who was busy with tow line retrieval.

The railway line that now terminates in Uckfield used to go through Isfield on its way to Lewes, a short stretch is now open as the Lavender Line with a steam train – though no trains today (and the picture of the Pound was much more interesting.

In all, the short little ride ended up being 38 miles, no punctures, and no additional padding required.

Center of map

Route

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