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Day 10 - From Chichester to West Dean and back - Day's mileage 25.6

    The weather was turning so nice that I woke up early and took a ride north of town just for fun. I rode as far as the Goodwood race track entrances and then returned for breakfast. We met two English couples at breakfast, a middle aged pair and an older couple.  The older couple, in their 70's was VERY proper but very chatty. They were so impressed that we were touring the country by bike and were excited that we found the Sustrans trails useful. The lady's daughter was a cycling advocate and had told her about the Sustrans project. She told us she was going to make sure to tell her daughter that she had actually met people that were using the trails.

    We had decided to ride to West Dean to tour two attractions, the Downing and Wold House Museum and the West Dean Gardens. The two were supposed to be about ten miles to the north and according to our host, possibly had a bike trail connecting them with Chichester. We rode to the TIC and asked. The lady from the previous day said that a path extended the whole way and made use of an abandoned railroad roadway. 

    We rode through town towards the trail and passed the festival ticket booth. Jeanette had wanted to see the Harlem Gospel Choir who were singing at the cathedral that night. We stopped and I bought tickets for our anniversary.

    The cycle trail, signed as The Centurion Trail,  was easy to find and we were soon riding along, far from traffic and chasing cottontails in front of us. About half way to West Dean we lost the trail and ended up riding along the road but traffic was light so we didn't mind. We were almost at West Dean when we saw signs for the trail coming out of the fields. Obviously, we had taken a wrong turn on the way but knew how to get on the trail for the return.

    We went to the Downing and Wold Museum first. The museum features a number of houses disassembled and moved to the location from various towns in Britain. The earliest were built in the 1200's. The park like setting was filled with school kids on tour. They were running in and out of the buildings and chasing each other through the grass. Since my wife and I are both teachers, we talked to some of the teacher/chaperones. They looked more than a little frazzled. We decided that English kids were no better behaved than American kids.

    The West Dean gardens were just a short ways away. The gardens were extensive and surrounded Dean Castle, now being used as a college. We spent two hours looking at the plants and landscaping before riding back to Chichester. This time we took the trail we had missed. It quickly left the vicinity of the road and took us through the middle of the farms for about five miles before joining the trail we had previously ridden. The cottontails were out in force as we neared town and we chased as many as a dozen off the trail at one time.

    We were just about out of clean clothes so we gathered up our stuff and headed for a launderette. The washing machines cost four pounds each load! That's about seven dollars! We crammed all of our clothes into one washer. We were running out of time and I found a fast food place and bought dinner to take back to the house just as the clothes were finished.

    We rushed home, gobbled down our dinners and changed for the concert. We were so late we rode the bikes the five blocks and chained them to the ticket booth. We sat down with three minutes to spare. Unfortunately the sound system in the cathedral was not working and the concert was a bust. It was still light when the concert was over and we rode the few blocks enjoying the ride and the pretty sunset. Museums, gardens and touristing was starting to take it's toll on us. After ten days, we were feeling just a little burned out as we climbed in bed.

Day 11 - From Chichester to Porstmouth by train, around Portsmouth - Total cycling mileage 5.6

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