September 2019outandaboutlive.co.uk 51England TRAVEL
terminal’.Dofolk really cycle tocatch a
plane? Perhapstheyjust gofor a cupof tea.
Aswepedalled on, planes were taking
off right over ourheads andone BAjumbo
had usirrationally ducking. Withafternoon
temperaturesnudging 30°C,the weather
washavingits effect.
Beyond Crawley, the Worth andForest
Cycleways aretree-shadedtunnels that were
oncerailwaylines. Evenso, weneededtime
out. Chartwell, one-timehomeof Winston
Churchill, hadlongbeen onourwishlist
andit wasjust a few miles away. Perfect!
The house was lovely, stylish and
somehow not dated at all, butit wasthe
extentof the grounds andthe sweeping
viewover the Weald that most impressed
us. There wasthe lakeandswimming
pondintowhich Icould havejumped, the
long wall built byChurchill himself, the
studio crammed withhis paintings,Lady
Clementine’s rosegardenand, of course,
another NationalTrust cream tea.
The details of the route blurred after
that. However, I recall one hot afternoonwhenwepassedEridgestation, where
a handsomesteam train was waitingto
takepassengers onthe Spa Valleylineto
Tunbridge Wells.
Wewere using busesrather thantrains by
now,as wewere a little off the beatentrack.
Onone Sunday, findingnothing goingwhere
wewanted whenwewanted, weresorted to
a taxi. This wouldn’t worksowell withnon-
foldingbikes.
Onthat blisteringday of the taxi ride,
the villages onthis part of the trail were
delightful: Hartfield, one-timehomeof AA
Milne andwherewetookmorningcoffee
amidWinnie-the-Pooh memorabilia and
pretty Rotherfield and Mayfield seemed to
besportingmore bloomsthanthe Chelsea
Flower Show.
HaveI given the impressionthat this was
an easy ride? Rotherfield andMayfieldare
in the hilly country of the Weald, not good
forbikes withonly three gears.
There wasone glorious sectionbythe
nameof the CuckooTrail, runningfromthe
height of the Weald at Heathfieldtonearly+ABOVEEntering Mayfield, a
village of flowers;The
CuckooTrailwas oncea
railwayline
INSETWorth’s Saxon church
beside theWorth Way
near CrawleyLondon
›WallingtonRedhillChartwellGatwick
CrawleyEast Grinstead
EridgeCrowboroughPolegate
Newhaven Pevensey
Eastbourne
BirlingGap›››
AvenueVerte, London toParis
byBike, byRichardPeace.
PublishedbySustrans
sustrans.org.uk
BOOK
THE JOURNEY
In July, we drove from Llangollen to Redhill (216
miles), made several tripsto and from train stations
and bus stops and visited Chartwell and Birling Gap,
then returned fromPevensey to Llangollen.We spent
nine nights on sitesTHE COSTS
FuelAverage 29mpg.................................................................£145
Site fees.....................................................................................£200.05
Public transportTwo adults: trains with
railcards, buses and taxi......................................................£48.20
ParkingAdmission to Chartwell and Alfriston
Clergy House and parking at Birling Gapwere
free aswe are National Trust members......................£21.35
Total costs............................................................................£414.60713
miles