Cycled along part of the Downs Link today. It was a grey day but not raining and relatively warm (12 or so degrees C). Mind you, it was quite windy (and it was a head wind, of course) along the coast.
I took the train to Brighton. From the rail station, I went down to the coast through the centre of town and then along the National Cycle Network route 2 through Hove and Portslade by Sea to Shoreham-by-Sea. There, I headed inland on NCN route 223, the **Downs Link**, to Christ's Hospital just outside Horsham where I took the train back home.
The Downs Link follows the river Adur for quite some while. The river is very wide at Shoreham-by-Sea as you can see in one of the photos attached. The whole route is quite lovely, with great views of the South Downs for the first part. It is almost entirely off-road and mostly suitable for gravel bikes (caveat: I was on a mountain bike) but probably not road bikes. Given the amount of rain we've had recently, it was unsurprisingly wet with lots of puddles but, luckily, very little actual muddy slippery bits.
The ride was 42 km. I took just over 3 hours with lots of stops for photos, charging phone which died halfway, talking to people (and their dogs), etc. Total time actually cycling was 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Highly recommended if you're in the area!
#BikeTooter #Cycling #UKCycling #WestSussex #Brighton #ShorehamBySea #ChristsHospital #Horsham #NationalCycleNetwork #NCN2 #NCN223 #DownsLink #SouthDowns
