Wednesday 7 Nov B ride

Cobham – Mayford - Woodham

Decisions, decisions ………

I had spent some time planning a route for the Bs including the long bridleway at Jury Farm (paved), 2 hills (Staple Lane and Guildford Lane) and some suburban roads in Guildford to get to the Mayford Arms near Woking from our start at Cobham.

However I reckoned without the power of my conscience. In the middle of Tuesday night I woke up and was forced to dismiss Guildford Lane with its ramp at the top as just too much. So I substituted a detour via Chilworth in my mind and went back to sleep. This revised route met with hesitant approval at coffee.

We set out from Cobham. There were a lot of us. At Effingham I counted 26 starters, made the call to the pub and set off for Horsely so we could take the path along the railway to Lollesworth Lane and West Horsely.

Time was passing by. An executive decision had already been made to cut out the detour via Jury Farm and a swift consultation then eliminated the climb up Staple Lane. We made our way to Guildford down the A246 via Blakes Lane.

Then it was side roads through Tormead, Merrow and Burpham to Clay Lane and Jacobs Well. We arrived at the pub via Sutton Green and Pyle Hill at about 1pm – just as well we hadn’t tried to do it all! As it was we had done 17 miles.

After lunch with the leader suffering from a slow puncture we covered a further 7 miles via the canal and wonderful autumn colours to the garden centre at Woodham where 8 survivors took tea.

Many thanks to Tim (for the map), Bernard (for the photos) and Terry (tec), congratulations to David and Patrick on their first rides with us and all the Bs for their company.

P.S. I now have ride for the As with no conscience!