France by bike, day 4

I was a little worried when I planned the route from Portsmouth back to London - at 78 miles it is a little less than my route to Harwich last year, but I suspect rather a lot more hilly.  At least I make an early start, thanks to the hour gained during the crossing I'm on the road before 7am, and progress is good for the first 15 miles or so.  Then the hills start... first of all the South Downs, which seem to take a good 20 miles to cross, all of it up and, well, down.  And of course it is chucking it down again, which today doesn't seem to help much, as I push the increasingly heavy-seeming bike up one hill after another.  It is past 2pm by the time I stop for lunch at the Sun in Dunsfold - a decent ploughmans.

Steep ascent of the North Downs

I'm around half way at least, and can take some comfort in being in my fourth county of the day (if we can count East and West Sussex as two).  More good news, when I emerge from the pub the rain has, more or less, stopped.  It is even fairly flat in this bit of Surrey, and I'm thinking well, South Downs done, flat for a bit, then the North Downs, and I'll be practically in London.  Not quite it turns out, six miles or so along I get to the Surrey Hills... at 250m they are in fact the high point of the route, and would be tough to walk up with just a light pack, let alone a heavy bike.

But OK, I can do that... and then the death-defying roll down the other side.  Then of course it is straight onto the North Downs, which for a change is an even steeper push, this time up a chalky farm track.  At least the sun has come out, although as I slog uphill it is a mixed blessing.  Finally I reach the top, and find it is still off road on the other side, more gravel than chalk initially and not too steep.  Not sure what I was thinking when I planned this bit though, as before long the track I'm on turns to a mixture of huge chunks of rock and deep mud, mostly downhill, often steep, though occasionally flat and even with a bit of uphill.  This continues for some five miles and to say my bike isn't suitable is something of an understatement... Sometimes I try to ride along on packed mud, my heavy rear wheel constantly sliding away, trying to compensate with motocross style reverse steering.  Other times I bounce jarringly along with a death grip on the bars, trying to steer between the larger boulders in my path.  Now and again I pedal furiously, fighting the wheelspin, deliberately aiming for puddles as they tend to have some gravel at the bottom that I can get traction on, and sometimes I just give up and push.

Crossing the North Downs Way

Somehow I get to the end of it, muddy and dishevelled and with all manner of odd noises coming from the bike, to find myself on the outskirts of Leatherhead.  With a cry of 'fishface!' I trundle through it on the sweet, sweet tarmac, before long passing beneath the M25, why, I am practically in London!  And it isn't even 6pm... so, onwards.  I can't say there is much exciting left to tell of, the suburbs roll by beneath my wheels, Epsom, Sutton, Croydon, South Norwood.  I stop for a shandy somewhere, Ewell I think... eventually as dusk is falling, I reach home, at around 8.30.  It is a little less than 14 hours since I set off from Portsmouth, what can I say, it has been an adventure alright.  Probably a good thing I couldn't persuade any friends or family to come along.

One of the better bits of the muddy track of doom

Photos to go with this post can be found here.