Sun 18 June: Fast ride to Hogg's Lodge, Clanfield
On a hot and sunny day Phil, Mary & Steve set off from Chichester Cross for the Hoggs Lodge. The route took them via elevenses at Rowlands Castle to the lunch stop at The Hogg's Lodge in Clanfield,where I met up with the rest of the
group.

Since we arrived quite early (11.30am) we had our sandwiches in the large and deserted pub garden before the pub opened at 12.00. Since none of us were ordering food from the pub we left quite early, at 12.30, for the cross country haul to Tangmere. We had discovered that the Tea room at West Stoke where we were originally going to have afternoon tea was closed, but Avril had kindly offered to provide this at her house in Tangmere instead.

Out route to Tangmere took us through Chalton, Compton, East Marden, Chilgrove, Lavant and then skirting the north side of Goodwood airfield before arriving at Tangmere. We made good time on this, despite the heat and the steep hills, arriving at 2pm 90 minutes after setting out from Clanfield.

Since we were early we stopped off at the Tangmere Aeroplane museum for refreshments. Unfortunately since a party of school children had recently visited there were very few refreshments left, so we made do with what they had and sat outside for an hour until it was time to set off for Avril's.

Upon arriving at Avril's we discovered a supine Mike relaxing in the front garden in one of the chairs provided. We made ourselves at home and soon after the other groups arrived, namely the Stansted Garden Centre contingent and Arthur's Moulton group, making for a fair size gathering of cyclists.

We had a slap up meal of strawberries and cream with a selection of excellent home made cakes, washed down with cups of tea. After a pleasant afternoon at Avril's, we made our own ways home.

My mileage for the day was 85km.

Adrian