Meet: 08:30 London Bridge Station map (ticket hall) for 08:53 train to Battle.£18 return, £12 network rail card, £9 in groups of four

Distance: 35 miles

Phone: Ian - 07896 872 205

A short, circular but hilly ride starting and ending in Battle. There should be plenty of time to take in the places of interest such as Battle itself, Ewhurst Green, Bodiam, Brightling and Penhurst.

We’ll find a pub to have lunch.

Bring lights for a possible late finish

Battle Loop – Saturday 7^th February

It was one of those weeks where you had an eye on the forecast desperately hoping that the weekend would turn out OK. When you schedule a ride for one of he hillier remote parts of East Sussex the last thing you want is snow and ice. As I set off for London Bridge things didn’t look too good, it was cold and there was sleet in the air – I wouldn’t have been surprised if no one had turned up for this.

Five brave riders decided to chance / brave the weather. –

Rachel, “I’m training for a big charity ride in India.” 
Janine, “A bit of snow on the hills doesn’t bother me, remember Canterbury last year?”
Robert, “I got the day of the ride wrong, I’ve been waiting here since last Saturday and I’m not going home now.”
Alan, “What do you mean its cold, I’m in my sandals?”
And me, “No further comment.”

£9 each - 4 for the price of 2.

On the train, the conductor told us that it had been snowing when he left Battle on the way up. As we went through Sevenoaks and Tonbridge there was probably an inch of snow on the ground. As we reached Battle there was no sign of snow and the prospects of a good ride were looking good as the sun mad a momentary appearance through the murk. I warned people to be careful of ice and off we went. A quick flourish of my arm as we past Battle Abbey indicated that the Battle of Hastings took place over there – I wanted to keep moving to stay warm.

My body temperature quickly rose as we ascended the first of the many climbs we would do today. This was a ride in which apart from one small stretch where we would ride along the top of a ridge we would either be going up or down.

So that’s how it went, up and down until we reached Ewhurst Green. Ewhurst Green sits on top a ridge overlooking the River Rother. We made a B line for the White Dog and dinner. Layers of technical clothing were removed and appraised for effectiveness to wick away moisture. The plaques on the walls outside indicated that this was a good place for food and the prices reflected it. I need a good hot meal though and went for the Wild Boar Casserole. I’ve never had Wild Boar and the taste was somewhere between Pork and Lamb, definitely not like chicken. After dinner we gathered around the roaring log fire to dry out the reainder of the perspiration on our techies.

I took a quick walk down to the church with Alan to look for the striking view, overlooking Bodiam Castle in the Rother Valley, which we had been promised on the Ewhurst Green web site. Although a line of houses was in our way a kind resident invited us into her back garden to get a great view of the castle. Don’t go knocking at their doors – wait to be invited.

Down we went into the Rother Valley, past Bodiam Castle (a visit another time beckons) and we began the 4 mile climb from Robertsbridge to Brightling.  

A mechanical hitch the like I haven’t seen before halted our progress as we reached the top of the 530ft climb to Brightling. Alan’s rear mech shifted itself into his back wheel bending the gear hanger horribly. Trying to straighten out the gear hanger snapped it in half. The chain was then shortened and the rear mech removed to try and make the bike into a single speed. This was only partially successful because we couldn’t get any tension on the chain and it kept moving up and down the cassette.  While this bodge was taking place Rachel and Janine decided they were getting too cold to stand around and they were going back to Battle the most direct was possible. The bodge complete we took a quick look at the pyramid tomb of Mad Jack fuller in the church yard of Thomas a Beckett. It really is wacky. The first 2 miles from Brightling were all downhill and very easy going. When we had to up hill though the bodge wasn’t working and the chain was slipping. It took us about 45 minutes to travel the 6 miles back to Battle where met up with Rachel and Janine again for the train home.

No snow, no ice, no rain – a little cold but only when you stopped for too long.

3500 feet of climbing
35 miles

Ian Pendleton