What's that coming over the hill....

Tuesday and Thursday of this week saw us make the most of the dry, warm and windless evenings with a couple of 3 hour rides. We rode at a slow pace enjoying the views and the calm warm evening. The weather was truly perfect and even the South Downs mud was drying out surprisingly quickly resulting in a very relaxed ride without the need to spend ages cleaning the bike afterwards. We included a healthy dose of singletrack leading to and around Offham quarries. The trail leading directly to the quarry edge was a little scary as a wheel 2 feet out of line would mean a fall over the edge into the inky blackness of a 50 foot vertical drop. My buddy was trying out his new helmet mounted HID light and it was very effective, he didn't fall off!

Riding at night with a set of lights is great fun but we would recommend sticking with trails you know and take a buddy with you just in case!

We left the carpark at Jack & Jill Windmills and headed east on the South Downs Way (SDW) turning off to continue directly east to the trig-point at Black Cap. From the Trig-point we headed for the beacon burner holder on Mt Harry passing it 10 metres on our right. This trail leads to a gate through a field and stay on the trail straight through the gorse bush patch, when you emerge from the gorse bushes turn sharp right through some trees to another gate. At this point take the trail on the left which points towards the corner of a fence protruding into the field and follow it around the edge of the fence. Where the trail meets the tree line turn immediate left to drop down over roots and fallen branches onto a singletrack bridleway and follow this east to a gate at the end. Go through the gate and turn right, pedal uphill for about 50 metres and turn left into the obvious singletrack, follow this all the way to the quarry edge. Take great care along here as this trail emerges perpendicular to and about 3 feet from the unfenced quarry edge. At the quarry edge turn right and go through the gates as you come to them, after the last gate you are at the top of a field, go diagonally across the field to emerge in Lewes on the Offham road. From here pedal up the bridleway that runs parallel to the tarmac road leading to the riding school at the Training Gallop. Keep on this trail to the riding school and turn right to head back towards Black Cap and an easy ride back to the carpark on the SDW.