Wednesday 17 August, Evening Ride, Felpham Start.
On a beautiful sunny evening 8 started from Felpham. Myself, Graham, Roy and Anne, Chris, Julian, John, and Val. We headed out on backroads through Felpham to the footpath going across the Rife to the Felpham bypass.

It was then that an incident filled evening started. Just as we turned onto the footpath and still out of sight of the bypass we heard an almighty bang. We headed on up to the bypass and the lights crossing and 100 yards up towards the Leisure Centre 2 cars were skewed across the road with the front ends caved in from an apparent head on collision and a van also involved was sideways into the grass verge. One car was still smoking with the engine revving possibly from a drivers foot being jammed on the accelerator.

Some nearby car drivers made mobile phone calls to the emergency services and others helped get some of the occupants out of the cars. One seemed still to be trapped when the ambulance and Paramedics arrived.

With everything under control and as we were running late we headed on taking the cyclepath round the playing fields and lanes to the cyclepath to the coach park and then through town and up Linden Road to North Bersted. We took the cycleroute round the estates to the cycle crossing of the A259. Here the next incident occurred with a spot of road rage.

A small car pulled out of a side turning narrowly avoiding a collision with another car on the main road. The other car hooted the small car. Then a few hundred yards up the road the small car driver jammed on his brakes and leapt out of his car obviously incensed at being hooted and started running back toward the other car which had stopped just behind him. The other car then did a smoking wheels reverse (Dukes of Hazzard style) to get out of range and eventually they both drove off.

Worried by now about when incident number 3 would hit us we headed on up the cyclepath and then Merston and Runcton to the Royal Oak. I had arranged to meet Dawn and Fred at North Bersted but we were quite late getting there because of the accident so they had made their own way to the Pub. We met 9 on the Chichester ride making a record total turnout of 19 for the evening.

We returned on the B Road to Aldwick/Rose Green and I deputised Graham to lead back to Felpham while I turned off for home.

Edwin