We woke to good weather and, initially we thought it was going to be a fine day. However, during breakfast and looking more closely out the window it was still raining at a similar intensity to the night before. The rain did subside a little, as did the other Andy’s resolve to cycle to Eastbourne. He decided to stop at Firle, which seemed an eminently wise decision as the last two of us headed out in damp conditions to pedal up a massive climb to the top of Firle Beacon. It clearly wasn’t raining when we left, as I had forgotten my coat, and needed to cycle back to get it.

So from the four of us who started, only two of us remained, both of us on gravel bikes, from which you can conclude which is the best bike for the South Downs Way. As an aside, we met the “green shirts” later in the day and their group had a nearly 50% drop out as well – the South Downs Way is tougher than it sounds!

Its quite a climb up to Firle Beacon, and I couldn’t manage it all in one go, there were plenty of road cyclists coming down after a training session up the hill, and also a fully loaded touring cyclist, who, given the time of day may have camped out on the top? Anyway, on the climb I had my first major crash! Although I had gone back for my coat, I hadn’t put it on, only tied it around my waist. However, when I stopped, the coat has slipped under the saddle, trapping me half on and half off the bike, with an uncontrolled comedy rolling back down the hill and a tumble into the bushes. It was a bit of light relief from the hell that was about to occur.

When we got to the top the weather instantly changed, to heavy, horizontal rain and wind. It was nasty cycling, but worse for all the groups of hiking girls coming the otherway – I’m hoping my cheery waves and thumbs up helped keep their spirits up – as their maps flapped in the wind. We had a slight tail wind, but the walkers had a face full of rain. We descended out of the worst of the weather into Alfriston, and although it wasn’t too bad, it was still raining and we knew we had to go up to the top again.

While we didn’t have too far to go to get to Eastbourne, we both knew that there was no train back due to engineering works, and we wouldn’t be able to put our bikes on the replacement bus. This was further compounded by the annual London to Brighton Bike Ride, resulting in a ban on bikes on trains into Brighton. We contemplated going back up onto the downs in the bad conditions, and then an afternoon with a 50km ride in rain (and headwind) to get back home. It was very unappealing. A couple of calls later and we had secured a lift home from Eastbourne which made the last bit of cycling and weather more manageable, but deep down we knew it was a cop out.

No sooner as we started the last major climb of the south downs, out of Alfriston and across the top of the Long Man of Wilmington the weather cleared up considerably, we bumped into a group of cyclists that we met on the first day, which confirmed it had been particularly hard work, and wasn’t just us. So we cancelled the lift home and cracked on with it.

We nearly went wrong at the very end and nearly took a long descent the wrong way into the back of a housing estate. After realising the error we climbed back up a short distance and got back on the right route – the final section seemed the hardest to follow! We eventually arrived at the finish, which we kept as a low key affair with a single piper and bagpipes, which suited the occasion – and had definitely been sent to greet us! We had a photo taken at the end signpost, then had a second breakfast in the rather nice cafe next to it and planned the next leg.

It turned out it was possible to get a train to Polegate, which saved cycling through the suburbs of Eastbourne and took us to the Cuckoo Trail. The trail is a lovely flat, tarmacadam, sheltered (all the things we had missed in the last three days) cycle path, and we took it all the way to Hailsham. From Hailsham we needed to take busier roads, but all very wide and fast cycling. I think Andy used the fact I was navigating to shelter in my slipstream all the way, but to be fair if he had been in front I wouldn’t have held on to his pace. My computer showed I kept an average of almost 25km/h into a headwind which is pretty good for me.

As we cycled down the A22, I could see flags fluttering in the distance, which could mean only one thing. We had stumbled across a cycle speedway match at Hellingly, with the Lions riding against the Ipswich Stars. I have only seen cycle speedway twice before and it’s a fascinating sport – a really basic physical competition between two teams, and real relic from the post war years. We only stopped to see one race, as we still had a distance to go (and the riders were taking a break – so perfect timing).

We (I, Andy sat in my shadow) pushed on into the headwind until we approached Lewes, we stopped just outside Ringmer when we knew the worst was over. This gave us a chance for a last stop and a look up to the Downs where we has spent the last three days. As we were stretching a surreal moment occurred, when a UN armoured car came around the corner, followed by a uncommunicative cyclist who seemed dazed by presence of peace keeping forces in Sussex.

It was as short hop to Lewes, and a pint in the John Harvey Tavern, creating a perfect circle, as it was where Andy and I had finished our short training ride 10 days earlier. At this point we went our various ways, both with another 20km to cycle.

The South Downs Way is a great ride and much harder than I thought it would be. I think we had very good conditions under foot, with the exception of one very muddy stretch. I knew from my winter attempt in 2015 how bad the mud could get at the Eastbourne end, but had assumed it would improve moving west towards Winchester. This trip showed how wrong that assumption was. The whole route could be practically impossible in bad conditions. As an adventure, the trip was excellent, with ever changing landscapes, from the rolling hills in Winchester, the lanes and streams in the Meon Valley and the high chalk downs from Worthing through to Eastbourne. It was really good challenge and an incredible experience, pretty much right on my doorstep.

On the subject of things on my doorstep, cycling back home I passed a sign welcoming me into the Western Hemisphere, it was nice to know I was nearly home and leaving the abject poverty and lawlessness of the Eastern Hemisphere behind me!

There will be more on the South Downs Way, as Andy and I will have to cycle the stretch between Housedean and Firle Beacon to join up the whole route. I will update the blog when we have done it. The bit we missed doesn’t look too bad, and when we took the cycle path in the rain, we missed about 13 miles and one big hill. The profile shows two hills, but we did cycle up Firle Beacon from a different direction.