Sunday 19 June 2005 ,Ride to Rowlands Castle. (Tea Ride)
Arthur was away on a late arranged holiday to the Dordogne so I substituted as Leader.

Weather was unbroken sunshine and hot. Weather records showed a maximum for the day of 25c but it felt hotter with high humidity.

We met at 10.00 at the Cross. 9 of us started out, myself, Alan, Bruce, Gillian, Freda, Jim, Roy, Sonja, and a newcomer from Chichester Mike Trussler. Adrian joined us at Bosham. Eric, Clare and Vernon joined us at Rowlands Castle and Dave and Jan joined us at West Stoke so 15 were out at one time or another.





We headed over to Bosham taking the winding lanes to Bosham Hoe and the Harbour road with good views across the harbour. We stopped at the harbour front cafe. We had a short delay while Adrian mended a puncture.

We took the usual route on the South Coast Cycle Route lanes to Rowlands Castle where we met up with Arun Adur members including the 2 Dave’s, Fox and Galle and the 2 John’s, Maxim and Wickens.

In the afternoon we took a fairly direct route back via Funtington to West Stoke hall arriving dead on opening time of 3.00. Dave said I was improving. Unfortunately the motorists had arrived much earlier and bagged the outside tables. We found a bench outside at the side of the hall where we could shelter from the sun. Somebody made a comparison with sheep huddled together in the shade.





After lots of tea and cake we headed back into the still hot air to complete a very pleasant days ride.

Mileage from and back to start point - 35.

Edwin