Owner:
squiz
Member
Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3071
|
14th April 2016
Mt. Biking: Bignor Hill – Roman Road Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods Max Speed: 20.11 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 4.6 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)
Thursday 14th April – Bike **** Bignor Hill – Roman Road – 4.6
nautical miles - 20.11 knots max speed out for 2 hours 10 mins – a walk
later - sunny periods
We slept for 10 hours!! Lovely morning with cloud in the valley and a hot
air balloon in the distance:) After breakfast we set out on the bikes again
to find the Roman Road marked on our map. We first went up to the masts at
the top of Bignor hill then swooped down to join the South Downs way and on
to the Monarch’s way again. The Roman road is unmissable because it runs
along a raised bank through the fields with stunning views. We cycled
along it through more gorgeous lambs and had a good laugh at a group of
older ones playing headbutt and running off kicking their back legs in the
air:) The road went down through some trees and came to a cross roads
where 6 paths met. We took the path up the hill to take us back to the top
of Bignor hill a different way coming out at the masts. We were thrilled
to see a deer running through the trees. Had a chat with some hikers from
Norfolk who are staying in an apartment at a local farm. Back to the van
for lunch and a well deserved lazy afternoon reading and catching up with
photos and this diary! One of my best photos had gone missing and proved
quite a problem to find again! We went for an hour long walk around 5.30
along several different paths, finding a burial mound and coming back
through a wood we probably shouldn’t have been in and up a rape seed
field!! When we returned there were two more vans in the car park!
Friday 15th April – travelling and short walk - Esso beach to Hayling
bridge - rain and cold :(
It rained all night and carried on most of the day. We read for a while
then got up and had breakfast. Packed up the van ready to leave and went
to move off the wedges but they were wedged into the mud and it proved a
bit of a job but we did eventually get off them. Finished packing up and
went to drive off and surprise surprise we were stuck in the mud AGAIN! It
is definitely becoming a habit with us. This time the back wheels had sunk
into the mud which appeared overnight with the rain because it wasn’t
their when we parked!! A very muddy mountain biker who was exploring
possible routes for a mountain bike event gave us a push but it wasn’t
happening so he peddled off and we unpacked the back of the van to get to
the boot (easier than taking the bikes off in the rain!) and got the tracks
out. Amazingly it worked!! So we were off with two muddy tracks and a
trowel in a plastic bag ready to wash when we get home! We drove along the
usual English congested roads to Hayling Island. Had a ride round with it
still lashing down and called at a Tesco store for supplies. Parked up at
the lovely free car park at Langstone where we had parked before (Esso
Beach – as you turn down by the Esso petrol station) and had lunch. We
spent the afternoon reading the paper and our books then when it finally
eased off and virtually stopped raining we went for a lovely walk along the
beach and around the old oyster beds which are now home to a huge colony of
black headed gulls. The noise they make is unbelievable!! We carried on to
the old disused railway line near the bridge onto the island and returned
along the path with great hedgerows for bird spotting - seeing several
linnets. Back to the van for a chilli tea. Nice day, not much activity or
adventure (apart from getting stuck in the mud of course!) but nice to
chill out in the van and listen to the rain on the roof.
Photo Gallery here
|
Toys Used:
Statsbar:
About MY Statsbar
|