What: Bicycle ride
Where: London to Hastings
Why:
- It's on your bucket list, after skydiving and ruffling Boris Johnson's hair.
- You've been quarreling about all the rides you do and want to give your partner more ammunition.
- A chance to see Hastings before it's closed and everybody leaves. Or it burns down. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-17797876)
When: The first one [was] planned for September 10th. Meet at Trafalgar Square at 9 a.m., right in front of the National Gallery:
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/NG.jpg)
Or you can join at Crystal Palace in the Dinosaur Court at 10. Find the Iguanodons.
If you miss it there may be others; stay tuned.
This is weather dependent. The views are best appreciated and the hills friendlier under a benevolent sun. The final decision won't be made until the day before. If it doesn't happen, another date will be picked, then another, until it does.
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/weather.jpg)
We will be passing by or through or over the following:
Dinosaurs
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/dinosaurs.jpg)
Note that there's a bit of walking through Crystal Palace Park
The M25 (https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011-1/may/20/cow_causes_mayhem_on_m25.aspx) (link now dead, but hover over it...)
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/m25.jpg)
Chartwell
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/churchill.jpg)
Hills (https://www.notanothercyclingforum.net/acf/index.php?topic=50798) with great views
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/northdowns.jpg)
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/troll.gif)
More hills
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/hills.gif)
Bateman's (https://prettygoodbritain.com/library/kipling.html)
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/kippled.jpg)
A Pyramid (https://notanothercyclingforum.net/bikereader/solo/sea.html#pyramid)
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/pyramidbike.jpg)
inside
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/insidebrightlingpyramid.jpg)
1066 Country
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/1066.jpg)
Another hill or two
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/everest.jpg)
and Hastings. Here is a recent photograph:
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/past.jpg)
This seaside town offers many attractions and diversions, including:
a beach-launched fishing fleet to supply the chips shops
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/fleet.jpg)
funicular railways
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/funicular.jpg)
intellectual pursuits
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/chess.jpg)
art
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/bikeshop.jpg)
castle ruins
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/castle.jpg)
pier ruins
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/pier.jpg)
a red light district
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/beaver.jpg)
convivial public houses
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/drunk.jpg)
well used cycle paths
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/cyclepath.jpg)
a working space shuttle
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/shuttle.jpg)
'The poor man's Brighton' has hosted over the years:
Pre-Raphaelite bro Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/rossetti.jpg)
John Logie Baird, the inventor of television
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/baird.jpg)
looking a little like Norman Mailer
Whole Earth Foods co-founder Craig Sams
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/sams.jpg)
prolific author Catherine Cookson
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/cookson.jpg)
the occasional pirate (https://prettygoodbritain.com/wp/?p=95)
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/pirate1.jpg)
a busker who sings like Dylan
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/dylan.jpg) (https://www.notanothercyclingforum.net/acf/pics/dylan2.jpg)
groupies (https://prettygoodbritain.com/wp/?p=7931)
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/faulkner.jpg)
herbivores
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/greenman.jpg) (https://www.notanothercyclingforum.net/acf/index.php?topic=50275.0)
This is an unsupported ride. This does not mean that if you run into problems you will be left by the side of the road to die. (Probably.) It means that there is no sag wagon and no small army of helpers to soothe your fevered brow. It's just me and whoever else comes along, providing good vibes.
I would recommend that you bring a working bicycle, a spare tube if only for ballast, whatever tools comfort you and which you actually know how to use, and a mobile phone to curse at when there is no signal.
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/antenna.jpg)
General advice for cyclists is to eat before you get hungry — preferably several days before — and drink often so that you can mark your territory as the ride progresses.
If you want to bail out, the Hastings railway line, usually cyclist friendly, runs within swearing distance for a good portion of the journey.
(https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/bailout.jpg)
Anyone who completes this ride will be eligible for an e-certificate (https://www.prettygoodbritain.com/HHpics/certificate.gif) to be treasured for generations to come.