B Group - 3rd April

A Carry On up the Congo

We arrived in Cobham to find that Cliff was already there and that he had opened a tab at the bar so that we could all enjoy a hot beverage and a high octane chocolate brownie to celebrate his birthday. Thus fortified, a small but dedicated group of eleven set off. 

After yesterday's Springlike sunshine I had imagined that we might finally be able to turn out in our shorts for today's ride but I was cruelly deceived.

As Spike Milligan may have mused:

     During these cold North-Easterlies

     I don't care who it might please
     to see my knobbly knees;
     I'm keeping them well wrapped up,
     sheltered from the Arctic breeze

We took one of the standard rural routes out of Cobham, through Hatchford and Ockham Lane. Then Guileshill Lane, Grove Heath and Send. We skirted around Old Woking on the A247 which we left for Wych Hill Lane and St Johns. We finally escaped from the traffic onto St John’s Lye Festival Path. Near the end of this lane, by the foot bridge which crosses the Basingstoke canal to Hermitage Woods Crescent we turned into the path along the South side of the canal and slowed down to enjoy its atmosphere.

At Hermitage Road we crossed to the North bank of the canal until the A322 (Bagshot Road) from which we turned into Cemetery Pales and zoomed along to Pirbright Green with the most favourable wind we had all day.

Although posher than many of the pubs we visit we were made to feel very welcome at the White Hart and served very nice food by the cheerful and efficient staff. We should definitely go there again; the area where we were seated could accommodate up to 25 of us if we let them know we’re coming.

After lunch some may have been perplexed to find themselves continuing in a Westerly direction when we turned into Church Lane to visit the grave of Henry Morton Stanley, in the churchyard of St Michael and All Angels. Although regarded as Africa’s greatest explorer his reputation will always remain tarnished by his succumbing to the deceit and exploitation by Leopold II and through this naivety, despite his own more benign vision for Africa’s future and his affection for African people, he helped to pave the way for the greatest atrocities ever committed against Africans by Europeans.

In Stanley Hill we caught glimpses over the high walls of the vast house known as Furzehill Place where Sir Henry Morton Stanley lived during his old age with his wife who had bullied him into politics and thwarted his desire to return to Africa where he had always felt most at home. Furzhill Place is currently on the market for less than £7,000,000.

The map suggested that we had entered a small piece of Africa, with names like Manyuema, Ruwenzori Hill and Mazamboni Farm and even a blue squiggle to represent the Congo Stream. However the truth was that we just had to imagine the thundering cascades of the mighty river, the ancient peoples, the sweltering humidity, and all the creatures populating the luxuriant canopy above us. Even the great Stanley Pool, which we could glimpse through the undergrowth, seemed to be nothing more than a stagnant pond bearing no resemblance to the large swelling of the Congo River known originally as Lake Nkunda and now as Pool Malebo. At the end of the day it really felt as if we had never left Surrey.

Knowing from the map that it could be dangerous to head any further west we turned eastward onto the B3012, ducked under the railway line to take the small path across the canal, and followed Brunswick Road around before descending onto another very nice stretch of the Basingstoke Canal Path  and noted the very recent progress that had been made with the installation of new gates at one of the locks.

At the Bagshot road we left the canal and headed up through Knaphill and Littlewick and then Woodham and Addlestone to our Tea destination in Weybridge, a cozy little café called Boho where we settled in very comfortably for our afternoon refreshment. 

Thanks to David Cox for doing the recce with me on a rainy Monday and for being back marker today. Thanks to everyone for their good company and for staying the course.

And a big Happy Birthday to Cliff !