Arundel v Loxwood
First game of the season and most of the work week devoted to producing a detailed plan.
For once heading eastwards for football with the 0611 off Swindon and the sun breaking through over Uffington White Horse.
New viaduct at Reading gives a good view of the festival site and the main stage taking shape.
Destination for the day was a jaunt round West Sussex so onto the Turbo in the Southern Bays at Reading.
Taken as far as Deepdene where a short stroll across town took me to Dorking main for the South East’s most back water of a line, down to Horsham.
A crap connection meant a 55 minute wait, but portion working is still alive and well on the southern and gave a chance to see the flurry of action. Southern is awash with these 377 units, as they were ordered to keep the Derby plant alive.
Another 377, one of 14 I had on the day. Destination was Amberley for the recently rebranded Amberley Chalk Pits Museum.
The museum is just a collection of any old shit that councils want rid of but feel bad about destroying it. Hence you get Swing Bridge Toll Booths…
….1950s bus depots…
…unexplained drill parts, and pretty much any redundant municipal building of the last 50 years.
All connected by vintage bus and narrow gauge railway.
Today was a special event with a mysterious ‘Electrical Re-union Weekend’
Which turned out to be a battery powered Nissan Micra and another Datsun, courtesy of the battery Vehicle Society.
Somewhat disappointed, I headed for the narrow gauge railway, only to find the museums most faithful re-creation was of modern day health and safety legislation with the railway being shut, a proliferation of signs saying what would happen if anyone ventured near the unattended stations, and an army of pensioner volunteers backing this up by breaking off there group chats about Daily Mail stories to shout at anyone who went anywhere near anything interesting. I withdrew to the railway exhibition where I was grateful to see the sight of 1980s railway magazines for 10p, a pounds worth being obtained for reading through the day.
I ambled back to the entrance, but on the hillside above, there was the unmistakeable outline of a Eastern Counties bodied Bristol VR so I headed up to see ex Southdown/Brighton & Hove Bus & Coach Company XAP638Sliveried example, decked out in some sort of Dark Star garb.
Even better, this brought me to the previously unknown about Paviors Museum of Roads and Roadmaking.
Here I learned about the evolution of the road and road signs. Acquainting myself with the 1968 Vienna Convention of Road Signs and Signals. To top it off, a 1982 Leyland Buffalo RMC Cement Mixer (info says it was a Bison but even my limited knowledge of commercial road vehicles would be sure it is a Buffalo).
Next move was a three way Electrostar leap via Ford and Littlehampton to get the triangle in, eventually ending up in Shoreham...
…and Worthing.
And so to the Guide Pubs. First off Shoreham, the ex Dark Star tap but now a freehouse, /the Duke of Wellington which was cleared with a Hurst – Watch Tower Porter (nice summer drink).
Then a relatively new addition to the guide, Piston Broke which is a bikers/petrol heads real ale pub on the high street. The house Broke Ale was had.
On to Worthing and a lot of new entries. An Oak Leaf – Pompey Royal was had in the Selden Arms, but this was dud so no photo. Requireds were the Swan, with the necessary Harvey’s Sussex Best…
….and finally a Dark Star with a Hyder Blonde at the seafront Wandering Goose.
Back to Worthing station, of note was the St David’s stars in the canopy supports have been removed, and the 40 year old ex-North London Lines 313s have found a home on the Coast Way route; 80 miles without a bog!
Next move was back to Ford…
….the leading supplier of European models in the UK.
For the shelf of shame at home, purchased was a CSD liveried 669, and a DB 232. The 669 will go with the coaching stock purchased last week in Holland, and enable a faithful re-creation of a late 1990s Albanian railways service, as I used to go out there quite a bit then for football and trains. 232 will paired with some DB IC stock for the Amsterdam – Szczecin that they used to drag from Angermunde.
On to Arundel for the next part of the day
West Sussex is beset with bearded twats on fixed wheel bikes, and to further add to the Football Hipster vibe, the obligatory obscure-ultras-sticker-on-lamp post was observed. Not sure what it’s about, but I’m sure Sampdoria will be pleased they have conquered the Arun Valley.
And on to the main event, the entrance being confused with a number of possibilities for the afternoon.
Arundel 1 v Loxwood 2, Macron Store Southern Combination Premier League.
Arundel were founded in 1889, playing in the West Sussex League until joining the Sussex County League in the 1950s, which became the Southern Combination over the summer.
Loxwood is right on the Surrey border, between Horsham and Guildford. The club were founded in 1920, playing locally until the 1990s, when they quickly progressed through the West Sussex league to the Sussex County, where they have risen up the divisions.
Beautiful sunshine and a beautiful setting.
I tried very hard to refrain from the ubiquitous Arundel photo, but here it is I’m afraid, the castle overlooking the neat main stand.
The other enclosure had seen a desperate attempt to get to the minimum seating requirement.
Futher to the pre-season in game, this time the warm up balls were classic Adidas Tango…
…and yet again, a moat round part of the ground!
Hopes were high that there would be some decent ale in the clubhouse, but the stick was off and instead it was Thatchers Gold.
After half-time, it was good to see someone in a worse state than I often am, as they staggered down the far touchline and collapsed behind the goal.
Further inspection revealed them to be still breathing so I left them to it.
Not sure when the football/petanque crossover came to be, but Arundel is yet another ground with a petanque pitch
Game finished 1 – 2 to Loxwood. They were probably the better team, scoring midway through the first half. Arundel equalised right on half time direct from a corner, with the keeper still arguing it was a throw on, then Loxwood scored the winner early in the second half.
Next stop was for cheese at the deli in town.
Cheese was Traditional Dairy; Olde Sussex, Sussex Scrumpy and Burwash Rose. Goodwood; Levin Down and Molecomb Blue. All of these were particularly uninspiring. However, the Alsop and Walker – Mayfield Swiss was an absolute belter.
The Arundel Brewery also have a shop in the town. Usual procession of foodies tasting everything and then buying the cheapest, weakest bottle.
8 bottles were had for the journey home, each paired with a suitable magazine bought earlier.
A short hop on the train up to Billingshurst, for a taxi move to Five Oaks for this event.
British Lawn Mower Racing - 12 Hour Race
With half a day of overnight lawn mower racing, it’s the British Le Mans. (programme issued)
There are four groups, as listed below. Group 1 are no longer permitted to compete with 2-4.
A good example of the mix of mowers in qualifying.
The number of entrants has increased massively, the pit lane gazeebo fest now stretches all down the back straight.
Course consists of two long straights, then a series of sharp corners. A chicane has been added to the upper series due to the number of topples in previous years.
Advance merchandise was available. I satisfied myself with a walking stick badge.
A big issue is dust so lots of watering is required, but this also causes adhesion issues.
The race starts in true Le Mans style. The drivers lined up on the far side of the track.
On the chequered flag, a mad dash to the cars.
Attach the fuel line and off they go.
Up to 50mph along the straights…
…and tricky cornering.
After a few hours, I made my way home with the police taking an interest.
But the racing continuing into the night.
Made my way back via Redhill, a turbo along the North Downs to Reading, then made a plus 3 onto the last HST back to Swindon.
Looking it up today, the favourites, Northerners Kick Grass, won the event, with a team from Luxembourg second, and surprisingly, a group 3 team in third.
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