B Group April 30th

I was the sub for Liz who must have predicted the rotten weather about a month ago. And what a day! Even before Cheam I'd had a puncture (back wheel of course) which I'd mended in the rain. It rained really hard all the way to Redhill and we were all pretty wet by the time we got there. (By the way I've never heard anyone say they enjoyed going to Redhill, so why do we go there?). Undeterred "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" viz Stephanie, Les, Terry, Cliff, Norman and yours truly set off northwards. Various events transpired. First the hills - several of them really quite steep, one was 25% as they say nowadays, 1 in 4 as we used to say. Then there was the wet bit. It was marked on the London Cycle map as a yellow road and the surface wasn't too bad, BUT the puddles were enormous. At one point it was a pond from side to to side.It was rather disconcerting not knowing whether there was a pot-hole or a brick below the surface. Next there was the navigation cock-up which added a couple of miles. So 19 miles after Redhill and 29,000 feet of ascent we got to lunch in Crystal Palace. The menu was pretty limited but the landlord was friendly and hospitable. We managed to lose Terry and Cliff almost immediately after lunch. So the remaining few went back towards Cheam. My day didn't improve on the way home, my chain came off and it completely buggered the derailleur so I had to walk the last 4 miles!
Regards Bernard