B Group November 28th

It was hard to winkle B Group riders out of their comfy chairs at Claygate this morning. However a group of fifteen of us eventually hit the road - Liz, Judy, Terry, Norman, Cliff, Johns G., S. and M., Robin, Gerry, Nev, Les, Philip, Roger and me, Gill, the leader. With West Clandon as our lunchtime destination, we headed due south, past the church on to Coverts Road, shown as a dead end but which for us cyclists led us on to the first bit of off-road called New Road. This is shown on the map as being a reasonable all-year-round route and proved to be fine even after the recent wet weather, with a fairly solid surface mostly covered with leaves as we cut across through woodland to the busy Fairoak Lane. Fortunately we didn't have to go too far along this road before we turned off on to Stokeheath Road. This had a gate across it but while negotiating this we were able to take in the view and note a llama amongst the sheep in the neighbouring field! We came out on to Copsem Lane just short of Sandy Lane which we followed before taking off on a path across Fairmile Common then a mixture of quiet roads and footpaths bringing us out into the centre of Cobham. We were now in well-known territory - Plough Lane, Ockham, Guileshill Road and Hungry Hill. Johns S. and M. played the hare in the 'tortoise and the hare' up the hills, waiting for us at strategic points! At East Clandon we came out on to the A246 and followed this to the lights at the junction for Newlands Corner where we turned right into West Clandon and reached the Bull's Head about 12.45p.m. This being a very small and popular pub, we were lucky to find a whole section free to accommodate us. Service and the quality of the meals were both excellent and we were back on the road just before 1.45p.m. The route home was straightforward - down into Ripley, across the airstrip, through Downside Cobham and across to Stoke D'Abernon on the off-road track where eight of us had afternoon tea at Seymour's Garden Centre. Dark skies threatened as we hurriedly headed for home at 3.15p.m. but only brought a little dampness on my way back to Sunbury. I hope the others were as lucky! (Gill Finlay)