It was really nice pedaling away from home, along familiar roads without packing the bike up for a flight. While the roads may have been familiar, I still got swooped upon by an “eagle” (or other similar bird of prey) twice before I was 10km from home – a good omen. I took the quiet Sussex lanes to join the Downs Link at Small Dole. Unfortunately the Downs Link was on the other side of the river,  so I ended up on a nice small path along the river – it’s good to start the navigation in the manner you intend to continue!

Eventually I reached the Downs Link, a really good surface which took me to Shoreham. I had known that there were lots of houseboats in Shoreham, but I’d never seen then until today – an impressive range of craft!

I got onto the NCN 2 (National Cycle Network) – to Worthing, a really nice easy path along the beach front, completely flat and easy to follow. However, the oblivious dog walkers helped increase the technical grade a few notches. Once in Worthing I headed inland slightly onto the A259, not too busy and often more out of the wind. Littlehampton marked about halfway, so a pasty and cake went down well for lunch. I continued to followed the A259 around Bognor, ignoring the Road Ahead Closed signs – presuming they didn’t apply to cyclists – the new road was closed at a railway bridge and it did apply to cyclists (I had this in Scotland last year). A quick look showed it was a very long way around, but managed blag my way past if I pushed the bike through, plenty of work going on with lots of plant moving – having the hi-viz and a helmet must of helped.

 

I went through some very nice towns as I got into Hampshire, Emsworth in particular, and out onto the cycle paths into Portsmouth. We looked at a job a few years ago to put a pipe along the cycle path (it was the furthest walked on a site visit ever!). Into Portsmouth via a roundabout route and to the ferry port. The cyclists get a shed to chat in before boarding – my journey is quite tame compared to many.
I take full advantage of the mod cons of the ferry​, before the camping starts.

I have no idea what the formatting in WordPress is doing! (edit; I still don’t)