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Alternate South Downs Way - Travel Log 15,000ft 135 miles
Heading towards Goodwood Introduction Over the Jubilee weekend I thought I would re-do the alternative South Downs Way in order to get a few mileage readings and take a few pictures for the site. I started off and ended in Queen Elizabeth Country Park, which meant a parking fee (if you want to park here over night make sure you get a temporary ticket from the visitor centre). The plan was to bike it to Brighton via the Alternate South Downs Way and back via the real South Downs Way. I put together the route to use as much off road away from the real south downs way as possible. The original plan was to go to Eastbourne but I cut it short as Brighton is where I live and over nighting in Eastbourne wasn't appealing. Might excuse for not having the will to do 135 miles and 15,000ft in two days! I do plan to go back and achieve the route fully in the summer of 2004, but not stupid enough to do it in 1 day, this routes is far from the easier official south downs way one believe me, especially with a busted fork second time around.
Queen Elizabeth Country Park Trails The ride starts off heading south from QE country park and soon gets away from the crowds as it follows a quite bridleway then onto some small roads for the first part of the trip. Five miles into the trip my suspension gave up, oil was leaking everywhere from my fork, I decided to carry on, however the ruts of the trails did noticeably sap more strength than normal. The first big climb comes after Stoughton village, but there is an excellent little singletrack down hill that follows before a climb up to Goodwood, from here a bit more road gets to another down and up off road section on to Littleton Down. Here the route descends and climbs just south of the South Downs Way and carries on over Bignor Hill to Whiteways and Amberly, from here a small road climb takes you on into Wepham wood and on through to Clapham Wood and a great little bridleway down to Findon. From here its onto Cissbury ring and over the river Adur Via Bramber. A bridleway then climbs up to Truley hill and takes you via Southwick hill to Devils Dyke, here I finished by freewheeling into Brighton for an overnight stop. Total Distance 55miles and 5.5 hrs in the saddle.
Bramber The trail from Brighton over the Eastbourne then follows the A27 bypass bridleway over to Stanmer park, it them climbs via a permissive bridleway to a network of tracks behind woodingdean and telscombe cliffs to Newhaven, from here its a simple belt up and over Snap hill and Friston to journeys end. Total distance 75.5 miles, a very good days ride or totally stupid ride if you want to do the whole of the South Downs Way back to Petersfield or Winchester. If like me you stopped off in Brighton, you would still have to go back on the real south downs way the next day to pick up the car left at the country park. This alone was a total of 99 miles and 12,500ft of climbing, that about the same as the south downs way in length but with more way more climbing. The whole route would be in the region of 140miles and about 15,000ft of climbing if done to Eastbourne. A huge challenge for 2 days and impossible for just one day. |
