Down's Link - Guildford to Shoreham-by-Sea

[benb]

Has anyone cycled some/all of the Downs Link?
I'm interested in what the surface is like. I'm assuming a road bike is out, but would a hybrid cope OK?

 

[Andrew_P]

I have tried it from the very start it was pretty tough going much like cycling on a sandy beach, got about 2-3 miles with my kids before we walked back!

I would guess a little further on it would be tarmac. I was on a slicked up hybrid and had a seven year old moaning and crying so I maybe biased.

St Martha Church was where I started, then spent 3 hours cleaning 4 bikes!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The entire route is ridable in its entirety. I know I've ridden it dozens of times as I live mid way along it. There was even a time when i thought riding it was some kind of endurance challenge!

The sandy bits at the northern end are challenging but any halfway competant mtb-er can handle them easily if they have a semblance of a sand riding technique and can spin like a bandit.

I've ridden it on my mtb, my 38mm tyred roughstuff tourer, and regularly use the stretches north and south of horsham on my 28mm tyred audax bike. boy does it make the mudguards rattle. but other than that it is no big deal you just have to go slower on thinner tyres. A CX bike would laugh at it a croix de fer would spit in its eye.

last month did bramley to shoreham in company of someone on a condor road bike with 25's on. don't think he enjoyed it as much as he could have done/I did but he rode the whole thing and was still walking and talking at the pub afterwards and rode on to Brighton.

there is very little tarmac btw, and then mainly on the short sections where it goes on road (we are campaigning locally to get these diverted)

 

[benb]

The entire route is ridable in its entirety. I know I've ridden it dozens of times as I live mid way along it. There was even a time when i thought riding it was some kind of endurance challenge!

The sandy bits at the northern end are challenging but any halfway competant mtb-er can handle them easily if they have a semblance of a sand riding technique and can spin like a bandit.

I've ridden it on my mtb, my 38mm tyred roughstuff tourer, and regularly use the stretches north and south of horsham on my 28mm tyred audax bike. boy does it make the mudguards rattle. but other than that it is no big deal you just have to go slower on thinner tyres. A CX bike would laugh at it a croix de fer would spit in its eye.

last month did bramley to shoreham in company of someone on a condor road bike with 25's on. don't think he enjoyed it as much as he could have done/I did but he rode the whole thing and was still walking and talking at the pub afterwards and rode on to Brighton.

there is very little tarmac btw, and then mainly on the short sections where it goes on road (we are campaigning locally to get these diverted)

Thanks, that's really useful.
Once you get past the sandy parts (by the time you get to Shalford?) what is the surface made of after that?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Thanks, that's really useful.
Once you get past the sandy parts (by the time you get to Shalford?) what is the surface made of after that?

The sand is all up on the hills around St Martha's.

I don't know the technical term for the surface on the rest. I'm sure it has one but darned if I know what it is called. Highly variable but all hard packed. It is a firm surface full of pebbles for mile after mile in Sussex. Bits of road and concrete/tarmac driveway, near Horsham. Plush macadam near Steyning. or hoof churned hard clay up and over the tunnel near Baynards. Or sheer chalk south of Partridge Green. What I do know is it is washboard like and buzzy for miles.

Eminently rideable. Couple of tricky very short climbs to catch you out; Copsale where the bridge has gone, outskirts of Henfield and the aforementioned up and over nr Baynards all spring to mind.

 

[benb]

Sounds fun. Definitely one for the hybrid though, maybe even my MTB.

 

[srw]

I know it's been a while, but let's resurrect the thread...

From what I'm reading here, a touring tandem with 26in x 1.5in tyres (marathon plus) would have no particular difficulty, although we may want to divert onto the road somewhere around Shalford. It looks like a reasonably sensible route from somewhere in the Horsham area. We'd be fairly lightly laden, but would have come up from Kent.

And, while I'm on the subject, would the path be an appropriate introduction for relatively inexperienced riders?

 

[Wednesday]

I've ridden the southernmost 8 miles (Henfield onwards) on a hybrid with 1.9" and 1.1" tyres. Didn't notice that much difference with the tyres, but either way it's very juddery which gets me down if I don't have music to distract me. Also, 12mph feels quite fast going over all those stones, so I think an inexperienced rider would go pretty slowly.

 

[Ticktockmy]

I know it's been a while, but let's resurrect the thread...

From what I'm reading here, a touring tandem with 26in x 1.5in tyres (marathon plus) would have no particular difficulty, although we may want to divert onto the road somewhere around Shalford. It looks like a reasonably sensible route from somewhere in the Horsham area. We'd be fairly lightly laden, but would have come up from Kent.

And, while I'm on the subject, would the path be an appropriate introduction for relatively inexperienced riders?

It should be no problems for relatively inexperienced riders. Like Greg I use it quite often to ride down to Shoreham area, or ride up northwards ,but I take a train to Christ Hospital station and start from there, as after years of cycling out of my home town I am just fed up with roads around Crawley.
The one disappointment is the Pub which used to be alongside the DL at Barnards has closed now

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I know it's been a while, but let's resurrect the thread...

From what I'm reading here, a touring tandem with 26in x 1.5in tyres (marathon plus) would have no particular difficulty, although we may want to divert onto the road somewhere around Shalford. It looks like a reasonably sensible route from somewhere in the Horsham area. We'd be fairly lightly laden, but would have come up from Kent.

And, while I'm on the subject, would the path be an appropriate introduction for relatively inexperienced riders?

You'll be fine on your tandem, and our two children learned to ride (and be ridden over) on the DL. Just watch yourself on the odd tarmac bit, you've already had a close encounter of the west sussex driver kind.

 

[Wednesday]

Just found this, which should be useful. Lots of pictures of the track, and takes what seems to be ncn route 22 from Guildford centre instead of doing St. Martha's hill.

http://www.cyclingfromguildford.co.uk/route3.html

 

[Tim Hall]

The Surrey and Sussex chapter of the Tandem Club spend a fair while on the Downs Link. The tea stop at Southwater Country Park has a sign up for the staff, along the lines of "if not busy, make bread pudding". This is a Good Thing.