To be honest adversity seems a too stronger word to use as late yesterday afternoon was so beautiful. Out and about Wollstonbury Hill the sun shone, the views were fantastic, the light seeping through the leaves in the wood below was invigorating and the trails were fun and challenging. I even found some new paths that I hadn’t cylcled or walked before!

I had parked down in Pyecombe with the intention of tackling one of my bogey climbs around Woolstonbury Hill and head for Ditchling but… at the end of the my first descent (the bogey climb backwards so to speak) I turned round ready to face the demon and found my rear gear cable had given up.  10 mins later I had effected a repair giving me my 3 lowest gears and set off upwards.  In the end the gear cable failure was a blessing as I had to go slow (or whizz my legs round like a *****) and I just explored the paths on the scarp face of the hill – and they were fantastic.

The vertical profile was tougher than this suggests!

Looking out across the Weald – the effect of the recent sunny days is evident on what is normally very green

Do I really have to climb this????? it was steeper that it looks