17/7 Cissbury Stretch MTB

We have two versions of the Cissbury stretch mtb route. One plots a route through the dark and Gloomy Angmering forest while the other avoids the forest completly by heading through the Angmering estate instead. Derek really likes the forest whereas I prefer the estate. Due to all the early summer rain, I thought it best to stick to the estate this year.

The ride begins at the beautiful little village of Bramber which is just outside Steyning. Very conveniently the free car park is right opposite the village pub.

To get from Bramber up to the South Downs Way involved a two mile climb on tarmac. With the gradient being so steep, this took us so long that Derek began to wonder if this was a road ride rather than an MTB ride. Eventually we reached the SDW and were soon riding past the atmospheric Chanctonbury Ring (second highest point on the Downs)

We stuck to the SDW for the next four miles before taking a very long southerly decent down to the little hamlet of Burpham. I expected to get bashed up a bit on this descent but my decision to reduce the pre load on my suspension post made a massive difference to rear end comfort and I was able to keep up with Derek and Malc on their full sussers.

By now, the sun had come out and it was warming up nicely. Sadly there is no tea shop in Burpham and the pub was not open for another hour, so we had no choice but to press on towards Angmering. I must admit to being someone who loves riding mtb on tarmac so I loved the 3 mile crossing of the estate whereas Derek found it rather boring.

To get from here to Findon there is only one dead straight bridleway across a 1.5 mile field. The path was clear  but also rather narrow. It felt strange to be riding through a field of yellow three foot high wheat that came up almost to the top of the riders wheels.

Malc and Derek with just one last climb left

By now we were gasping for some tea/coffee. Rather than pay a ridiculously high price in the official Findon tea room we made our own drinks at a local corner shop and sat down on the plastic chairs outside.

Fully refreshed we set off for the final leg of our journey , around the Cissbury iron age fort and back up the SDW. All day we had no navigation errors so I was a bit disappointed when we appeared to get lost around the fort. This was not a fault with the garmin but was due to a tree blocking the path . Without people using the path it had rapidly become overgrown and so almost unrecognisable from a year ago. Soon we broke out of the undergrowth and emerged into the very warm sunshine and the final leg back up to the downs.

There was steep and sustained climbing need to reach the SDW. I don’t know why but I am still feeling stronger than normal and loved this final effort to the top.

All that was left was a very long concrete path through a farm leading back down to Bramber. A few horses were spotted ascending the path so we had to scrub off a lot of speed. With the high ambient temperature our brakes were squealing like mad and I was really worried that we would spook the horses and they would throw off their riders. My brakes were so hot that derek said he could smell them burning!

Arriving back at Bramber I reflected that on a non technical mtb route like this, there is no need for full suspension, indeed a hard tail might actually give the rider an advantage?

Steve C