(Y'day)
I am a cyclist* and though TLH owns a bike and half our tandem she is not. But since term ended, she's a teacher after all, she has taken an interest on getting out and about on her bike. Last weekend we rode, with two friends, the Crab and Winkle Way (Whitstable to Canterbury), mooched about in Cantuar for the afternoon, and then rode back. Then she went off to Wales for the week, and with her bike no less, with one of her brothers and his wife, and ended up riding along the towpath of the Montgomeryshire Canal with them.
So it was with some trepidation that I suggested, on Friday night when she got home, that we might go for a ride on Saturday. She jumped at the chance. So 10h30 on Saturday morning saw us putting our bikes, hers an old Coventry Eagle five-speed and me on the 'purple people eater', a custom built, Evil Resident singlespeed geared specifically for riding slowly so as not to drop TLH, and heading off to Chichester to ride around the harbour.
We left the station and walked on foot until we got over Avenue De Chartres, Chi's ghastly in-town dual carriageway, and then cycled through the psuedo-pedestrianised city centre to the Market Cross by the Cathedral to start the
Salterns Way. Out along Westgate and onto the Fishbourne Road we followed the blue signs for Fishbourne and found ourselves crossing the railway on a huge green and yellow cycling friendly bridge which replaced the accommodation crossing I used the last time I rode down this way. TLH was up and over this massive bridge like some sort of racing snake. Under the A27 we missed a turn at some point and found ourselves riding behind Fishbourne Roman Villa but reaching a major road I worked out we were slightly west of where we needed to be and a convenient cycle-path was pressed into service until we found the road to Apuldram. Shortly after joining this lane we saw the first sign for the Way and off-road we went, through fields until we rejoined the road just before one of the many marina's in Chi Harbour. Riding first along a concrete farm track the Way cuts across a field and there encountered the first of many pairs of his'n' hers Bromptons of the day, clearly a bike much loved by the owners of posh yachts!
Pausing at the waters edge to take a photo,
off we went again, along and around the water's edge until we ended up behind the distant buildings behind TLH's right shoulder. There we had to dismount to cross a lock gate before joining the appropriately named Lock Lane which took us to the delightful hamlet of Birdham. We moved west into quite a stiff, but delightfully warm, breeze and came to Itchenor where later we were to catch the ferry. Here we came across a couple of very young cyclists one of whom expressed much delight at my purple bike and matching purple Campagnolo cap; a cap that TLH derides whenever she see me wearing it! And not a helmet between us so we were scolded by the younger of the two riders.
Off road and across the fields again and eventually, joining a fairly busy road to this popular seaside location, we reached West Wittering. TLH was tired and thirsty and not a little hungry, and so was I, so she decided to save the beach for 'next time' and we hit the pub. The queue for the bar was huge, due to a wedding in the village so I took a gamble and ordered food for both of us to avoid queueing again. Tempura prawns for TLH and whitebait for me, both from the starters section, with pints of pineapple and soda and bitter shandy.
Suitably refreshed we retraced our steps and headed back across the fields to Itchenor where we turned north and rode to the quay. En route a silver Range Rover just pulled out as I was passing it, fortunately not riding in the door zone meant I was giving it a very wide berth and the driver jumped at my shouted "Oi!". The
ferry also works as a water taxi so we were treated to a mini-cruise as two of the passengers were yacht owners wanting to board their vessels some distance away. Eventually, after a delightful little boat trip, we were dropped at the hard on Smugglers Lane where TLH attempted to leave the little boat by jumping over the side, not realising a gang plank would be lowered from the stem. My how our skipper laughed.
A short ride from Smugglers Lane is the Shore Road which takes us around the perimeter of the inlet at Bosham where anyone who has seen the Bayeaux Tapestry will know
"Ubi Harold Dux Anglorum et sui milites equitant ad Bosham ecclesia[m]"
(Where Harold, Earl of the English, and his army ride to Bosham church)
As the tide was out were were able to take a shortcut across the inlet and laugh at two cars stuck in the mud, one a black brand new Range Rover, as their desperate owners faced the prospect of them being drowned by the soon to be incoming tide.
We stopped for tea and cake and were treated to the fire brigade arriving to help the drivers. The Range Rover - a theme emerges- owner was most mortified as all her 4WD seemed to do was dig her car deeper and deeper in the mire. Road tyres. tut-tut.
After tea and a wander around the shops, off we went with a keen eye for the blue signs for Fishbourne. We ended up on the ominously named 'Main Road' but all was well as the drivers respected the on-carriageway cycle lane. I was as mortified as the Range Rover driver when TLH complained I was setting too slow a pace "Gregy, I can go a lot faster than this". All of a sudden the mandatory cycle lane was blocked by three parked cars; inevitalby this turned out to be people visiting
Barreg Cycles, this I know because I stopped to gawp at the Pedersen and the tandem trike and watched these idiots loading their cars. TLH was unimpressed and gave them her best 'hard stare'. I won't be shopping there any time soon. Some nobbers drive cars, some nobbers ride bikes some (perhaps like me) do both.
We then picked up the South Coast Cycle Route and followed it back to Chi. Up and over the big bike bridge and then into Westgate and its heavily traffic calmed 20 mph zone. Nobber in a blue Beemer decides the 20 zone and two cyclists in it is more than he can bear and he executes a close pass on TLH and then tries to pass me just before the narrows where I'm keeping out of the door zone. Assertive positioning prevents his pass until after the choke point so riding the hornd and gesticulating like a monkey he roars past with only mm's to spare and then cuts across me and slams on his brakes. having sussed him I stare him down through his own rear view mirror and then off he goes seeming shaking some dice in his left hand.
We spot a sign point to the station and break right past Chi College and along their playing field where a couple of years ago as a rugby ref I got too close to a badly executed tackle and knocked out a 7's teeth and broke his nose gaining myself a fractured condile of the femur in the process. Happy days.
At the station we spotted a couple of serious euro-style touring bikes and a huge kiddie trailer on the platform so rather than fight two lovely nordic tourists and their child for the bike spaces we went for a lobby further down the train.
TLH reports she really enjoyed it and wants to know when we can do something similar again. Pootling about with her is quite different to the sort of cycling I am more used to doing, and no less fun, so she's got herself a date.
*actually I'm not, I'm just a bloke who owns a few bikes and enjoys riding them.
oh well... problem dealt with, blood tests done and an attempt at home again. Uphill most of the way, exposed roads and a stiff headwind have given me more of a work out than I really wanted for a Monday morning..
