Castle Quest ITT, Sussex

[dlovett]

Just testing the water here.

Last year I was very inspired by the Portuguese Castle Quest Ride (http://www.thecastlesquest.bike/en/home?lang=e), but for various reasons I could not go.

Fast forward a year and I've been playing with the idea of a similar ride in the UK. Obviously there are lots of Castles in the UK, (An amazing number in Cumbria) but as we don't have many long distance ITT type rides down south, and as I live here, I have started the Sussex Castle Quest.

The idea is to visit every major Castle in Sussex which will be the checkpoints, get selfie with it, and then move on to the next one.

The route will be as off road as possible (all legal), but as a lot of the castles are in towns, there will be some road and also good resupply opportunities.

Currently its looking at being a multi day event due to the distance involved (so far it's 348km 4526m)

A group start is planned in the summer of 2020.

[Charliecres]

Interested!

[lune ranger]

Make the group start NOT on a bank holiday and i’d be very interested.

[In Reverse]

Make the group start NOT on a bank holiday and i’d be very interested.

This really. I'd potentially be up for a journey south but not on a BH weekend,

[dlovett]

No it won't be on a bank holiday defo.

Test riding starts in a couple of days. I have ridden pretty much all of the route, just not in one go and I want to check access at a couple of points.

There will also be the little brother version in Hampshire.

[sean_iow]

You'll need to make it a lot longer than 300km for it to be a multi-day event, or some idiot (probably me) will just ride through and do it in one go

You could include Hampshire as well? I'd suggest adding in the Isle of Wight but I can only think of Carisbrooke Castle and Yarmouth Castle over here so not really worth the ferry fare

Definitely interested in this, it would be nice to have an event that's not a days drive away. If you want to extend it into Hampshire I'd be happy to test ride that bit, I'm looking for inspiration for 2 or 3 days riding over the August bank holiday.

[dlovett]

You'll need to make it a lot longer than 300km for it to be a multi-day event, or some idiot (probably me) will just ride through and do it in one go

You could include Hampshire as well? I'd suggest adding in the Isle of Wight but I can only think of Carisbrooke Castle and Yarmouth Castle over here so not really worth the ferry fare

Definitely interested in this, it would be nice to have an event that's not a days drive away. If you want to extend it into Hampshire I'd be happy to test ride that bit, I'm looking for inspiration for 2 or 3 days riding over the August bank holiday.

I was keeping it to mainland but might add an option detour to the IOW in via Southampton, out via Southsea as there are four castles on the IOW and S/hmapton when you leave mainland and Southsea as you return. Otherwise it's Southampton to Southsea via Porchester. When you include Hampsire and Sussex it's more like 600-700kms. Just Sussex alone is 350kms, 4500m.

Next time you are coming over this side of the pond, let me know and you can come and test ride some of it with me.

[BobCatMax]

i'd be very interested in the route as I'm in Angmering and I suspect very close to two of said castles (Bramber and Arundel)

looking forward to hearing more

[Retiredtester]

Definitely interested.

[dlovett]

i'd be very interested in the route as I'm in Angmering and I suspect very close to two of said castles (Bramber and Arundel)

looking forward to hearing more

My folks live in EP and I did for three years so we are practically neighbours!

[Scud]

I'd be interested in this too, will look out for social media going up

[BobCatMax]

ha, brilliant!

I'm on the instagrams, but not on the twitters yet...I couldn't find the account on there.

[whitestone]

Not on SM but interested as I've done SFA "darn sarf" In fact my sum total of riding in the south east amounts to one lap of Swinley Red and riding from the station to the ferry terminal in Dover

Edit: I take it these are the stately piles in question - http://www.sussexcastles.com/castles/

[dlovett]

Edit: I take it these are the stately piles in question - http://www.sussexcastles.com/castles/

That site has some of the castles in Sussex but there are some others not there that are in the route.

Some Sussex facts:
Sussex is 120km long and is between 35km and 40km wide. It is has a coast line of 220km. Sussex is slightly larger than the county of Cornwall or 50 per cent larger than Luxembourg. It has a population of approximately
1.6 million, about the same as the US state of Idaho and about three times the population of Cornwall. It has two cities, Chichester in the west of the county and Brighton in the east.

At 280m Blackdown is the highest point in Sussex, or county top. Ditchling Beacon (248m) is the highest point in East Sussex. Sussex's second highest point and the highest point in Sussex on the South Downs is Crown Tegleaze at 255m tall. Sussex contains seven Marilyns, that is peaks that have 150m or more of relative height.: Blackdown, Ditchling Beacon, Crowborough Beacon (242m), Chanctonbury Hill (240m), Firle Beacon (217m), Wilmington Hill (214m) and Cliffe Hill (164m).

Sussex has three main geographic sub-regions, each orientated approximately east to west. In the south-west of the county lies the fertile and densely populated coastal plain. North of this lie the rolling chalk hills of the South Downs, beyond which lies the well-wooded Sussex Weald. On this ride you will see all of these areas and travel across most of the county.

Weather wise, the coastal resorts of Sussex, statistically are the sunniest places in the United Kingdom. The coast has consistently more sunshine than the inland areas: sea breezes, blowing off the sea, tend to clear any cloud from the coast. Most of Sussex lies in Hardiness zone 8; the exception is the coastal plain west of Brighton which lies in the milder zone 9.

Rainfall is below average with the heaviest precipitation on the South Downs with 950mm of rainfall per year. The close proximity of Sussex to the Continent of Europe, results in cold spells in winter and hot, humid weather in summer.

[dlovett]

ha, brilliant!

I'm on the instagrams, but not on the twitters yet...I couldn't find the account on there.

As nothing gets done these days without some social media exposure.
On Twitter it's https://twitter.com/IttQuest
On Facebook it's https://www.facebook.com/CastleQuestITT/
On Instagram it's https://www.instagram.com/castlequestitt

Castlequest.jpg

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[BigRingGrinder]

I'm always keen to ride in new areas so I'm definitely interested depending on final dates etc.

[belugabob]

Perfect timing - just come back from a touring trip, and looking for the next adventure.
And I live in Sussex, so no trains required

[BobCatMax]

thanks for the twitter link.

[wriggles]

Looks great Duncan. Watching with a lot of interest!

[Mbnut]

I often find myself wondering where to go with my bags on.

I'll look forward to this happening, probably not as a whole but a couple of over nighters.

Great job.

[TheBrownDog]

This sounds great. If you need some beer mats printed as a momento, I know a grrrrl

[dlovett]

Just in case you don't use FB, inst or twitter.

castlequestitt
One of the many signs you will see during the Castle Quest ITT.

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[dlovett]

Today I visited two of the Castles and confirmed the first 45km of route. Despite the recent rain, most of the terrain was fine. It's amazing how good it was, especially as it was all legal. Despite riding in the area for a few years, I found some sections that I had never been to before and some amazing single track sections that will definitely get revisits regularly.

[dlovett]

Depending upon which site you believe it's now 4,537m or 4,897m or 5462m of vertical. They also all disagree on how long it is, 397.98km or 402.08km or 403.11km.

The first 45km is nailed down and I've ridden it. Its amazing how you can find legal single track that you never knew was there.

The rest is done and is on legal routes as well. I just have to test ride it now as soon as it stops raining for a few hours.

[BobCatMax]

Are we allowed a sneak preview yet?