In praise of the 24 hour Tesco petrol station!
A few weeks ago I decided to cycle to a party in Eastbourne. 180 miles, 3 days, on Sustrans routes where possible, should be a cinch . . . Day 1 with Dobby, the trusted companion, days 2 and 3 venturing alone into the harsh interior of South East England.
Day 1: Bristol to Newbury
Set out at 11.30 (later than intended), glorious day, cycle track to Bath, A4, Box Hill, late lunch in Chippenham, all going well. Found Sustrans route on disused railway to Calne. Scratched leg on protruding mudguard stay, moved safety cap from bottom stay to top stay to prevent reoccurrence. Left Calne by 5.30, slightly worried by the fact that not yet half way to Newbury, and got puncture on long slow hill. Fixed puncture, pushed bike up rest of long slow hill, carried on A4 past Avebury (no time to commune with the stones), longing gaze at Silbury Hill, brief wink at Kennet Longbarrow, reached Marlborough just in time to buy salads and other healthy fare in Waitrose. Yum yum. Set off 9-ish, tired-ish, only 20-ish miles to go, beautiful sunny evening, few cars, shadows lengthening. Hungerford by 10, pretty dark, Newbury at 10.58, just in time to nip in to the pub for well-earned pint on squashy sofa. At this point, realisation dawning that idea of lugging tent and related paraphernalia to fulfil nostalgic dream of camping at Greenham may have been somewhat idealistic and start to fantasise about comfy beds in B&Bs. Undaunted, however, we set off just before midnight, up the hill to the Common. Rather dark. Found the gate onto the grass, bike fell over, scratched leg on protruding mudguard stay without safety cap. Ho hum. So near to finding a spot to lay our weary bones, and yet so far. 'Ahhh', said Dobby, 'looks like a casualty job'. Fortunately, OS map showed hospital nearby. Strap leg with silk scarf and set off, with much 'expected the unexpected' rhetoric. Come to (aforementioned) 24 hour Tesco petrol station and stop to check directions to hospital. Tesco staff laugh, hospital closes at night, nearest hospital Basingstoke, 15 miles away. Dobby somewhat amazed that a town the size of Newbury has a 24 hour Tesco but not a 24 hour casualty, but I am aware that most of Cornwall has to travel to Plymouth with any night-time emergencies that can't be solved by shopping. We tell our story to the somewhat incredulous Tesco staff, they call their first-aider who does his stuff (it needs stitching, it won't wait until morning, and you can't cycle to the hospital), and calls ambulance. Ambulance crew includes keen mountain biker but they're unable to take our bikes so we leave them in the safe hands of the Tesco staff. Hospital staff laugh ('why cycle to Eastbourne when you could drive?) but sew up leg very carefully and advise that OK to carry on with ride unless leg starts to hurt a lot. We pay a taxi driver more than the cost of a comfy night in a B&B to take us back to Tesco, tell our story to the still-incredulous staff, collect our bikes and arrive at Greenham as the sun is rising. We collapse, en plein air, into sleeping bags, and doze.
Day 2: Newbury - Dorking
Second gloriously sunny day starts well with breakfast in the nature reserve that Greenham has become (who'd have thought it?) and we cycle triumphantly across the common. Leg sore but easier to cycle than to walk. Unfortunately the flint paths give us a puncture fairly quickly and we then get totally lost due to a lack of congruence between the flint paths and the map. Dobby's train to Bristol (the 1300 from Basingstoke) becomes clearly unrealistic and after a couple of hours we find ourselves just outside Newbury. Dobby pragmatically changes plan and catches train from Newbury, I venture on into Surrey and beyond. After several A roads, a bastard hill into Farnham and part of the Surrey Cycleway I arrive in Dorking tired but feeling great!
Day 3: Dorking - Eastbourne
A and B roads to East Grinstead. Fine. Then Sustrans Route 21 to Eastbourne. Except that lack of signing at crucial junctions, lack of bridge over A26, some very bad surfaces and a very hilly route over the South Downs encouraged me back on to A roads to Heathfield, where I picked up the Cuckoo trail - another disused railway and also part of Route 21 - and cruised into Eastbourne. Yeah! 181 miles, 3 days, 15 stitches, 27 degrees, it was a cinch . . .
Sarah Tilley
