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squiz
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Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3688
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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.
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