London to Shoreham

Ride leader: Jim

A rare occurrence for the opening Fridays night ride of the year: it’s on a Thursday! Thursday 17th April to be exact.

Starting at midnight from Friday’s Central, we will exit London via the delights of the Clapham and Tooting nightlife and along sleeping suburban streets before we emerge onto quiet roads to summit (and descend!) the North Downs. Our half way stop is the Scout hall in Burstow.

​

Suitably refreshed, and after climbing Turner’s Hill we should see first light on the horizon. We’ll continue through sleepy hamlets and a cunning gap in the South Downs where you’ll be able to spot Lancing College, before we descend to Shoreham and breakfast. Our breakfast will be the fabulous Port Kitchen. 

​

Afterwards, it’s only a short ride to the station, where you can get trains to London (2 per hour direct plus 2 per hour changing at Brighton), both of which take around 1 hour 15 mins overall. Trains westbound towards Portsmouth run twice an hour. Southern Rail don’t have any issues carrying bikes.

There are no really long steep hills on this ride, more rolling ups and downs with most of the climbing immediately before and after the halfway stop.

A ride of 100 kilometres (60 miles) or so with a smidge over 700 metres of climbing in total.

Important note: Our half way stop at the scout hall is manned by volunteers who will be getting out of their warm beds to make sure we are fed and watered. So that they are not our of pocket if people cancel at the last minute or don't show up for the ride at all, we are asking for a non-refundable pre-payment of £10. For this you will get unlimited hot drinks and a sandwich -  a selection will be available - and perhaps a banana or something sweet.