Bikepacking – I had never done it before, but decided that I
really wanted to. I had already known about the South Downs Way for some time,
and had decided that this would be the ideal route for my first bikepacking
trip.
Not wanting to do the trip alone, but not knowing anyone who
I thought would want to do this trip, I advertised on Explorers Connect for
team mates. This turned out to be a brilliant idea, as I ended up with a really
great group to do this with. We had a mixture of experience between us, and
crucially one of the guys, Chris, was pretty experienced at bikepacking and it
was brilliant to have him with us. The others were Moritz, who I had already
met up with a few times for planning the trip, and a friend of Chris’s, Harry,
who was also an experienced rider.
On the first morning I met up with Moritz in London to catch
the train to Winchester, where we met Chris and Harry for the first time. Introductions
complete, we set off down the hill from the station to find the start of the
trail.
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| 99 problems... |
The start of the trail was a little tricky to locate at
first, but once we were on our way it was beautiful – although pretty hot!! The
sun beamed down on us, and we all developed fantasies of finding a lovely
country pub and sitting in the beer garden for ice cold drinks… mmmm… We found the perfect pub, complete with beer
garden, and closed! The next pubs were also closed, but when we found a lovely looking
place with a cool stream at the bottom of the beer garden, we decided to wait
until it opened. The sun-warmed water we carried with us just couldn’t hold a
candle to the thought of a nice pint of something cold…
While we waited we did a bit of admin, sorting out bike niggles
and cooling our feet in the stream. The pub opened, we got our drinks, and
refreshed we headed off once again into the English countryside. As evening
drew in and the sun sank lower, it cast a beautiful golden glow over the fields
of golden wheat, rewarding climbs with glorious views over rolling countryside.
We continued following the single tracks, not making quite
the progress I would have liked - unfortunately my fitness was not where I wanted
it as I had been injured and unable to do any kind of training for a few weeks
before the trip, and I was not used to pedalling with so much weight on my
bike. We had also made a later-than-ideal start due to the restrictions on
taking bikes though London stations during rush hour. Therefore we didn’t make
it all the way to our planned first night’s stop, but instead wild-camped in a
handy field. We lay out ground sheets and sleeping bags, then prepared and ate
our camp food as the sun went down, and we even enjoyed a tot of whisky thanks
to Harry and his hip flask. Then, lying under the stars with curious sheep for
company and the glow of the lights of London visible above the horizon, we
settled for our first night’s sleep on the trail.
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| Home Sweet Home for night 1 |
In the morning I was surprised not to be aching more after
the unaccustomed effort the previous day, and after breakfasting and breaking
camp, plus a little bit of posing with our various bikepacking set ups, we hit
the trail again. More single track led onto some larger rolling hills and some
very fast descending into the Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QECP), at which
point coffee and cake was a lure too strong to resist. It’s a tough life on the
trail… ;)
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| Coffee and cake at Queen Elizabeth Country Park |
Here we discovered that we had inadvertently managed to
coincide our trip with the Oxfam and Gurkhas Trailwalker event. This walk goes from QECP to Brighton via a significant
section of the South Downs Way trail, and for the rest of the day we had to
share the trail with hundreds of walkers, constantly calling out to them so
they could move aside to let us pass – or in my case on the steep uphill
sections, trying not to feel too disheartened as the walkers passed me!
The ground now is very chalky, and the clouds are rolling
in. We divert a few kilometres off the trail to get lunch at a pub, and here
Chris’s first aid skills are called upon as not only did Moritz take a tumble
on the track down to the road, but an old lady arriving at the pub falls and injures
herself, requiring an ambulance to be called. At this point I am pretty
knackered, and with Moritz in pain (though not admitting it at all) and Chris busy
helping various people, lunch is much deserved and we take a decent break
before leaving again.
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| Moritz's poor knee |
This allows the clouds to further gather, and it starts to
rain. Chalk + water = very slick ground, and we have to work hard to keep
control of the bikes. The wheels slip around making it slow going, and there is
a real risk of falling at some points and picking up more injuries to the
group. We push on as there is nothing else to do, but the rain falls harder and
I for one can feel it leaching away my morale.
Descending again, carefully this time rather than enjoying
the cruise, we arrive in a field to a round of cheers as the Trailwalker
volunteers are welcoming in the Trailwalkers to a checkpoint. All the
volunteers are really friendly and they take pity on us in the rain, letting us
have some tea and cakes in their refreshment tent. Moritz is able to get some
more attention for his badly cut knee, and his wrist is now hurting him quite a
bit where he sprained it when he fell. We also make use of the giant route map
they have up to try and identify a suitable camping spot for the night. While
we’re there, I spot someone I know – I previously worked with one of the
Gurkhas there, and he’s the site commander for this checkpoint. He offers us
the chance to shelter at the site for the night, and we have a difficult
decision to make. The point of the journey was to be self-supported and taking
up help seems to defeat this objective, however our shelters are not really
adequate for the heaviness of the rain, the wet chalky ground is treacherous and
darkness is close.
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| Photo courtesy of Chris |
We settle on a compromise; identifying on the map a
potential spot for the night, we decide to ride out to it. If it’s suitable we will
camp there, and if not we will return to the checkpoint. We pedal off again
through the mud and on towards the trees we saw on the map, but when we get
there it realy isn’t a great camping site, and feeling soggy and chilled we all
decide to head back to the friendly Gurkha checkpoint. There, we have the
opportunity to dry off and get into clean clothes, and warm up with some very
welcome cups of tea.
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| Cooking dinner, Gurkha-style |
The Gurkhas are awesome and really know how to look after
themselves – they have a fire going and I join in for a bit as they prepare and
cook up a brilliant communal meal. We all eat and chat and express our thanks
to our unlikely hosts, and then us bikepackers head off to our shelter. It is
full of midgies, and there is an interesting interlude as Harry plays a weird
kind of Pied Piper, switching off all lighting within the tent and leading away
streams of midgies with the light of his head torch!
Settling into our sleeping bags for the night, I realise
that I feel really happy. I hadn’t been at all confident in my physical ability
to cycle like this for days, had not felt hugely confident in my ability to
organise it happening, hadn’t even been sure whether I would go through with it
all! But here we all were, after two days on the trail. I had actually managed
to overcome my insecurities and organised and took part in this trip. I may not have
cycled as well as the others, but I had got out and done something, and it felt so good.
We ended our journey here – we had another day at our
disposal, but Moritz needed to protect his injuries as he was to be a skipper
on a charter yacht shortly after this trip. Chris had bad saddle sore despite
his good equipment and experience, and my leg muscles were really starting to
rebel with soreness and stiffness. Harry was fine, though he is a machine – at one
point while cycling uphill on a road section, he had actually been strong
enough to give me a push when I was struggling! We are near to Amberley, so we
get breakfast overlooking the river and then jump on a train back to London
together.
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| Homeward bound |
The South Downs Way has not been completed this time, but
that’s all the more reason to go back again.
