A Group, 9 February

The final day of a dry spell brought the Wayfarers out in force at Claygate, and a good two dozen riders set off for Woodmansterne for today’s ‘A’ ride.

Fortunately, the track which took us out of Claygate across the A3, which can be a quagmire as it is also a bridle way, was dry and presented no problems. Our route then took us through Oxshott and into Leatherhead via Oaklawn Road. We then followed a short but picturesque section of rural track alongside the River Mole, disturbing a few moorhens in the process, before emerging onto the cycle track which runs towards Dorking. We turned off shortly at Mickleham before tackling the Zig-Zag up to Box Hill, which cleared a few winter cobwebs out of the system.

We still had a fair way to go to lunch, so it was at a brisk pace that we passed the top of Pebble Hill and Walton-on the-Hill before crossing the A217 at Kingswood, and then rode through Chipstead before another climb took us to the Woodman at Woodmansterne. Our number had reduced somewhat by then, so the pub was able to deal with all of us. The food was not bad, and definitely cheap. One of the Woodman regulars, when told of our day’s itinerary, looked aghast, and commented ‘must be mental’ (maybe he had a point…..)

To compensate for our pre lunch climbing, everything after lunch was basically downhill, including a panoramic sweep past the Grandstand on Epsom Downs, before a final descent into Epsom, where half a dozen redoubtables clocked into Café 1 (where we explained to the waitress that our request for a ‘mug of coffee’ was not the same as a ‘mocha coffee’).

Rob