Yeterday’s downpour had left the paths slightly slippery, and in some places near the start at Pycombe, horse riders had been out early and had churned up the path to make it un-ride-able. But nevertheless and great ride – not techinical – just grunt – and perseverance required on the return journey where the climb out of Lewes to Blackcap and then on to Ditchling Beacon just seemed to go on and on and on – my legs we aching after the 15 mp and every climb over about 10m was a challenge – it was a relief to reach the last high point before descending down into Pycombe – lack of photo’s today due the brain malfunfunction with camera. It feels as though I have a long way to go to get fit enought to even do a third of the South Downs way in a  day (35 miles and 1450m of ascent – compared to 21.8 miles and 640m of ascent today) and I still need a shed a stone to properly fit in the shorts I bought last summer.

.