Walton DC - The Plough, Horsell - West Horsley
An equestrian theme to today's ride for which we were joined by a new rider, Hans - welcome Hans! - and an old companion whom we haven't seen for a while - Mr. Sunshine. Although the day started damp, it was dry when a round dozen left Walton. Heading over Walton bridge to observe the construction progress, we continued through the maze that is Chertsey, and via a gratuitous circuit of St. Anne's Hill, across to Lyne. My sense of direction disagreed with my notes at this point so Graham kindly advised on the route to Trumps Green (the notes were right...). Horsell now lay directly to the South so we zig-zagged through rather waterlogged heathland to the Plough.
Mark was waiting for us, having taken a rather more direct route, sporting an unfeasibly large raffle prize in his unfeasibly small saddle-bag. Apologies Mark, for losing you before we even started. There was a warm welcome in the pub: good food was served promptly, and the sun came out!
The route for the afternoon was planned in the depths of winter rain, and with the sunshine we could have gone further, but as it was we struck out through Woking towards Ripley and then to Squires at West Horsley, where we arrived still in sunshine at about 2.30. Peter (Betts) was struck twice by bad luck when he punctured almost within sight of Squires, and then his (combination) lock jammed locked and had to be forced open after tea. I made it about 26 miles from elevenses to tea. Roll on the longer days!
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