Alfriston Cycle Camp - the Big Sausage Weekend

A great weekend’s cycling!  Ash, Malcolmsorryalan (Alan), Ivor and Tintin (David) headed off to Alfriston, near Eastbourne, with Nandesh, Lewis, Matthew, Aaron, Devash, Joel and Kieran.  We got to the Services outside Brighton and picked up Robin, before continuing to Alfriston, arriving around 9pm.  We quickly set up our rooms and spent a little while going over the route with the Scouts.  Whilst the Scouts we still excited - the leaders had a frustrating night due to a school party in the next room.

 Next morning we had breakfast then set off.  The route took us up onto the Downs before heading down to the sea, then along and back to the centre.  The route was about 15miles - but it was hard work, with many of the Scouts having to push their bikes up the hills (due to a combination of small wheels, not many gears, knowlegde on how to use the gears or just not being strong enough).  It should be noted that one or two of the leaders also had a few problems.  During the cycle we also had a few punctures!

 

When we got back we invested Devash.  Ash had brought the 8th Harrow flag with him, so stuck it into his pannier.  Unfortunately he forgot that he had put the flag in his bag, and tried to get off his bicycle, but his leg got caught and he fell over!

 

After investing Devash, we returned to the hostel to cook the tea, repair the punctures and recover from the day! The school party was a lot quieter this night….

Sunday we got up and had a shorter cycle - whilst the hills still caused a few problems, generally the energy levels were a little higher (but then yesterday was a very tiring day!).  On returning to the hostel, we loaded the bikes and started to head home… via the Long Man of Wilmington - a huge chalk figure.

The drive home was very pleasant, and the boys were quite quiet in the back of the bus!

Why the Big Sausage weekend? We had hot dogs for supper on Friday; sausages for breakfast Saturday; sausage and mash for dinner Sunday and sausages again on Sunday!!

My thanks to the Scouts for their company - and to Ivor, Alan and Ash for organising the weekend.