Author: smoggypaul

Check out the new details for the March Handicap here

Head south past the tennis courts and the church, down Blackgate Lane, across Neptown and the Rothery. Cross the main road at the top of Barrow Hill and continue along the Lidds, turning downhill before Hoedean Farm as far as the main road, then go up the field alongside the road – no path – until reaching the footpath opposite New Barn Lane.

Continue down this path across the golf course and Oreham Common, eventually reaching the bridleway at Lower Edburton Barn and Edburton Sands. Keep heading due south across the road and climb steeply up to Edburton Hill. At the top turn left along the SDW past Devil’s Dyke and bear left along the SE rim of the Dyke down to Poynings, cross the road and continue down until reaching the road again. Cross it and go past the Old Schoolhouse and bear north across the field until Rushfields roundabout.

Head NE across the fields as far as the Newtimber road, go down the road past the church and bear right at the end to join the cycle path parallel to the A23. Follow the cycle path north up the old disused main road, across the road and alongside the former A23. Turn left just before Breechlands along a tarmac driveway, then right and left past the golf course, up the hill and through Albourne Place Farm. Straight over the road, down the hill and turn right, then left to reach Blackstone. Cross the road and then along Furners Lane back to the village.

About 14.5 miles and 1,300 feet of ascent

Any questions or comments contact Hugh:

hugh@39westhaven.freeserve.co.uk

Get Saturday 22nd June in your diary now!

Come and celebrate the official 2nd day of Summer in Littleworth (Partridge Green).

More details will be posted soon – watch this space

We have been asked to ‘entertain’ the good people of Henfield and around at this years Village Fete in July. Many of us remember the fantastic HJ ‘team’ back in 2009, The Green Barrows! We need volunteers to come forward and be trained for ‘special duties’ on the day. Please contact Mark in the first instance at: mnskilton@aol.com

Or see Trevor

The Relay this year will be on Saturday 1st June. For those who don’t know it’s a 100 mile relay along the South Downs Way, challenging but hugely rewarding.
More information will be given after the Wednesday run on 27th February – even if you can’t imagine running this, please come along to hear more about it as we’ll be organising some training sessions on the Downs that may be of interest, and fun! ALL are welcome from 8.30pm
For more details contact Mark at: mnskilton@aol.com

HJ are supporting the Henfield 9 Mile run on Sunday 24th February, and we need volunteers to act as Marshals and other duties. Please contact me if you can help out. The race starts at 10am so the time commitment is likely to be between 9am and midday at the latest.

If you can help let me know at: mnskilton@aol.com

Thanks to everyone who turned up at the Valentines “fun” run this morning. Knew it would be muddy, there’s one stretch that always is, even in dry weather. Today was exceptional though, more like the ‘grim’ than ‘fun’……but fun it was, even though my bath was brown and gritty afterwards! Probably too much information. Those doing their first ‘race’…. They aren’t all as dirty as this….! At least it was drier at that time than it turned out to be this afternoon…small mercies. Still fun though.

So when Hugh, brilliantly organised, put up on this blog the route along with the OS map, did my heart sing with joy? Did I endure a night sleepless with excitement to awake in fevered expectation as I raced out of the door early? Er, no, all I could see were the words “17 miles”. I’m a half-marathon lad, balanced you know, my cup is both half-empty and half full, I am…..in equilibrium! I did not need my cup to overfloweth with miles in this way. Yet here I was, in the Leisure Centre reception at 8am with the gathering ‘massive’ and thinking, in a strange way, that maybe I WAS quite looking forward to it. I was also thinking about Valentines ‘fun’ run on Sunday, which I [and Mrs Spiers] were committed [should have been too!] to do. Would my short fat hairy legs make it? This week we were joined by Natasha, who with Sue introduced us mild, shy retiring males to wild revelations of a life to which we could only gasp in astonishment. I now know, for example, about the saucy world of v-jazzles and postulated the existence of p-jazzles. (Editors note: If you do not know what either of these terms is, you may consider that a blessing. I will explain no further here). Should anyone require their horses, um, long dangly thing ( we are talking male horses here!) washed on a weekly basis, I now know to whom to direct you. Next week we must surely turn to the theory of relativity, DNA, and the eternal question of life itself. Next week. Yes. Sights on the way included a brand spanking new vineyard, all planted up but waiting the necessary number of years [we think three?] before wine can actually be produced. Hugh planned the route to cover the best wildlife areas so we could commune with nature. Therefore as we trotted along the M23 we waved merrily at the traffic and admired the whisper-quiet modern engines as we simply whispered to each other in hushed tones, barely wanting to raise our voices for fear of disturbing the silence. As a relative newcomer I’d been attracted by the mention of a refreshment stop, but was getting a trifle concerned as there appeared to be no obvious place to tarry. Fear not, suddenly Mark darted into the hedge – I averted my eyes to allow him

privacy and hoped that nasty looking bramble wouldn’t interrupt his pleasure – and emerged clutching a box – what planning! What forethought! It was cold drinks and chocolate oatcakes, secreted away the night before. Brilliant – though sadly it was bl**dy freezing and damp so lingering wasn’t really on the cards.

On the return we gasped in amazement as Dereks eyes misted up at the site of his famous swimming incident….”Its only up to your knees, perfectly saf…………….splosh!”. Lucky to be surrounded by so many friends who were able to have a good laugh before wondering if he might need rescuing as his head broke surface. The most sensible people on the run? Probably has to be the three dogs – the pitying way they looked at us, and the way Max tries his hardest to corral Hugh and keep him on the straight and narrow just has to be seen. Nest week – Over to Hugh for the blog as I’ll be Brighton Half-ing!

As we’re Henfield based all of us should be able to express an opinion on further proposed housing developments in Henfield. Specifically the Barretts West End Lane development. As a sop they are proposing to put what they refer to as a ‘jogging trail’ around the development. Right next to the Downslink and all that lovely countryside! What do you think?