For this month I wanted to do something a little bit different as we had been doing variations of fairly similar routes for the last few Quest rides. It was time to head west for some open downland action.
the route
The weather was pretty much perfect for this time of year with sunny skies, a bit of a breeze, but nothing too bad. It was surprising that given the volume of rain last week the trails were actually in an OK state. Muddy yes, but not as horrible as I thought they might be, so get out there – there’s still time before winter really hits hard!
We went up the Warren road bridleway past the golf course before turning left and dropping over the side into the Findon valley singletrack. The leaves have fallen and it was all a bit slippy, my favourite time of year for riding in fact. We took a short trip along the road before heading up Church lane, a rare ‘treat’ for Quest riders. It’s such a lovely climb 
riders
After a refuelling stop at the top and a regroup we headed down towards Tolmare farm, before hanging a left onto the Monarch’s way. Again the mud in the dip was bad, but reasonably navigable. We all stopped to see if anyone would come a cropper and take an early bath, but everyone kept it rubber side down and muddy shoes were the only casualties!
At the road we turned right at the camp site and headed up the loooong climb up onto the south downs way. People were re-assured to hear it was the last real climb (tee hee, they still fall for it ) and we turned right onto the south downs way after a quick breather. A quick blast down to the A24 at North farm and we were climbing again up through the horse fields to the back of Findon village.
After a quick chat at Quest we headed down to Parklife to finish the day of properly with some well earned cake.
cake
Hummerlicious
