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Did the SDW on Sat from Eastbourne end, had a few navigation issues early on leading to a bit of a nightmare; despite bailing at QECP still managed to clock 100 miles & 13 & 1/4 hours, which should tell you how badly I went off track!
Really enjoyed it though & want to give it another go but first I want to do a few ‘shorter’ trips to dial in the route.
Living close to QECP the ideal choice is leaving from there & then getting a train back from Bournemouth for a decent chunk of it. Anyone able to advise the best point to leave the SDW/route to Brighton station?
Wow, you _did_ get lost.
Having got quite lost a few times myself, I bought a Garmin and stuck it on the front of the bike. Well worth it.
(But watch out for the crappy Garmin software which gets confused if you have too many points on the route).
Sorry, I can't help with getting back to Brighton. I would have thought by the time you've gone that far you might as well go the whole way!
Devils dyke or ditchling beacon it you want to use the road..anywhere in between if you want to go off road.
You're spoilt for choice really and I'm struggling to pick one over the other.
Oh and what's this talk of Bournemouth? No wonder you got lost 😀
FFS. Brighton obviously! What a muppet.
Basically I missed the split of the walking & cycling routes right at the start (4am start, dark etc...). Was a little confused by the ‘walkers only’ signs but no signs for SDW on bridleways. Forged ahead on walkers path (Garmin was having real issues, had whole SDW as one course so maybe that was it. Turned it off as what I could see on signs made no sense in relation to what it told me to do! ) Got all the way to Alfriston, picked up a SDW bridleway sign. Thought “brilliant!” and followed it. Yeah, turns out I went the wrong way & headed back East. Pretty much made it to Eastbourne before I started to wonder about having sun in my eyes.
Turned round feeling quite sick & started again. Turns out the sign I saw was broken; the West bound side was missing!
Lessons learned-either Trust Garmin or don’t use it at all, don’t second guess it.
It’s easy to convince yourself you’re heading the right way, despite what the trail/environment tells you.
OS maps are better than OSM for some things, like the little annotation telling you that line is the SDW.
I need to get better at navigation even if I’m fit enough for the ride; perhaps too much trail Centre riding/racing has spoiled me!
Lol that sounds tough..there are a few places on the route where a missed sign would mean a long detour.
as cyclistm say, turning south at Devils Dyke or Ditchling Beacon gives you the easy road routes to get into Brighton, although if you keep going you can head towards Lewes which is a quick train journey into Brighton and even turn into Brighton from Kingston Ridge
or if you want to get back home on the South Coast line turning right at the river Adur and riding the Downslink to Shoreham-by-Sea station would be another option
Whereever you are, just head south. If you're on stones with waves lapping at your toes...stop...
THen turn left or right. Brighton will be in one of those directions.. 😉
DrP
Easy to do - during my first attempt at a SDW double and with my GPS battery back-up failed on the way back from Eastbourne I completely missed where the track 'splits' near Rodwell - I'd ridden it multiple times from the west, but not from the east and found myself near Plumpton thinking I should be somewhere else! As said, Devil's Dyke or Ditchling Beacon as both roads take you directly into Brighton, otherwise Lewes or Southease are also suitable.