In spite of the weather 8 of us met at Bromley South and set off to East Croydon. We picked up 2 more riders at the Bethlem hospital, but when there were no more awaiting us at East Croydon.

Heading south through Croydon town centre we found the old cars heading down the old Brighton Road and we joined the route. Before we got to Redhill the heavens opened and we got a good soaking. At Redhill we enjoyed the traditional bacon sandwich stop and here we were joined by 4 more riders who we had missed at Croydon; they had made their way down independently.

From Redhill we continued down through Crawley. We stopped for lunch at the Victory Inn at Staplefield we couldn’t get into the pub as all bookings with taken but they had setup a burger stall outside where we enjoyed tea, coffee, soup and hot dogs. After lunch we pressed on eventually arrived at Brighton about 4 o’clock we were soaking wet and cold.

We found quiet cafe on marine parade where we were able to warm up and dry out. We were joined by one riders family members who had travelled down by car.

Once dried out we set off for the station to catch the train home but even on this stretch we got another drenching so we actually travelled back to London soaking wet. In spite of this it was an wonderful day’s cycling and there were some great riders on the ride.