We made a relatively late (8:20) start for what I conservatively estimated to be a 10-12 mile ride on a nice sunny Sunday. It turned out to be a little longer than predicted, and a lot harder than I expected too, due to overgrown paths. The sun disappeared behind clouds a lot earlier than forecast too, which made for less appealing photos.

We started out across Ifield Brook Meadows, surfacing at the Plough and taking Rectory Lane, Ifield Green and the Charlwood Road to the little gap in the hedge just after Ifield Court which takes across onto the Charlwood footpath, through the landing lights.

After a break by the lights we then followed the path to Charlwood, crossed the village Green and headed down Chapel Road, past the Providence Chapel and onto the Sussex/Surrey border path on Pudding Lane. We took a slight detour after Horley Road, heading back south alongside the River Mole using the relatively unknown footpath that takes the user right up to the runway.

After a break here we returned to the border path and headed towards the Longbridge roundabout area, where unfortunately the path was completely impassable due to a lack of maintenance and we had to push our bikes up a hill and through a fence into the Travelodge car park in order to use the bridge across the river.

After a pleasant pedal through the woods and a loss of bearings/footpath near the north terminal we found our way to the south terminal and joined the cycle path alongside the railway to City Place and The Beehive.

Having gone over the hill that Rowley's Farm stands on during a ride two weeks ago (and struggled with freshly cut straw in our gear mechanisms and a very high stile) we decided to use the cycle paths along Gatwick Road, Fleming Way and County Oak to get back to Cherry Lane and the Langley Walk/Langley Lane route back into Ifield, stopping for a quick pint at the Plough before heading home.