B Group - 9th October

Hersham seemed to be an unpromising place from which to lead a ride since to get anywhere interesting would involve passing nearby to one of our other elevenses venues. I chose Cobham and, as much as I would have liked to go down Burhill Road, South Lodge Road, over the bridge across the Mole and through Norwood Farm to get there, I have always imagined being greeted by lots of grumpy golfers, farmers and possibly some rogue descendent of Dick Turpin, not to mention a locked gate or two, I decided to go by a more conventional route, through Esher. After the roundabout I turned absent-mindedly into Molesey Road, confusing everbody, but managed a u-turn to get back on to the Esher Road (A244). We pulled into Riverside Road in order to get a proper tally of our number and concluded that we were a group of 33!

A partial recce of the Hersham end of the ride, on Monday, had informed me that major road works were happening along West End Lane with diversion signs at either end. Not wishing to impede this long overdue project, from which we will all benefit, we rode back into Esher and turned right into the Portsmouth Road.

We regrouped at Fairmile Common and turned left into Fairmile Lane, then right at Leigh Hill to cruise serenely down to the A245. At the end of Tilt Road we turned past the cemetery into River Lane, crossed the bridge then around through Downside to head through Bookham Common. Earlier Brian and Terry had agreed to take responsibility for a split group with Brian back marking for the advance party and Terry leading the second group. Through much of the day this worked very well indeed and I am grateful to them. However, in Bookham Common, Peter Carpenter, as official back-marker, and a small group, as I understand it, lost sight of the peloton ahead when it turned right, as prescribed, at Manor Cottage. So I am extremely grateful to him for managing to deliver the rest of the group to our lunch destination after missing that turn.

We made our way down to Effingham, passed the Vineries (nice cake) and turned up Beech Avenue. Nice as this would have been, the lead group, but not the second group apparently,  veered up the very scenic, but somewhat hilly, High Barn Road. On reaching Ranmore Common Road, having discovered during a recce that Drove Road is absolutely unridable, we turned right then left into White Down Road as far as the A25, the fast descent a fitting reward for the hardship endured thus far. A few hundred metres along Raikes Lane we turned left into Abinger Lane and, overcome with the prospect of lunch, zoomed up the final hill as if it would be the last of the day. Ha Ha !

I counted 30 of us at lunch, out on the lawn at the Abinger Hatch; yesterday I advised the folk who run the pub that it was highly improbable that there would be more than 25. Although just one person was taking our drink and food orders she was doing it very efficiently and it soon became clear that there was a lot of activity happening out in the kitchen because the first orders were delivered pretty quickly. Unfortunately Steph, Eddie and one or two others had rather a long wait for their meals. But all things considered I think the staff did very well indeed, remaining brisk and cheerful throughout the long service. The new owners of this pub are Andy and Sarah and I have to say that we found it to be a very welcoming place with good fresh food.

After lunch a smaller number started out towards Leith Hill but soon turned sharp left towards Friday Street. This part of the route, through to the A25 was a delight. After the Mill Pond at Friday Street we looped around near Broadmoor into Sheephouse Lane and, apart from at least one more hill, cruised down to Wotton. After a mile of the A25 we turned left into Balchins Lane and were soon on the Sustrans route 22. We turned onto a newly formed cycle path, discovered recently by Terry. This led us to Milton Court Lane and a cycle path to Station Road in Dorking. We rode up the path by the A24 and by Juniper Hall in Mickleham we turned up Headley Lane and Lodgebottom. We were delighted to discover that Tumber Street and Slough Lane have recently been paved. What joy! But it was downhill for most of the way after that, to the relief of most people. Brian galloped ahead to tell the folk at Bike Beans that our arrival was imminent and there were some 17 of us at Tea. They had extended their normal opening time for our benefit and had baked several extremely good cakes. After drinking our various hot steaming beverages and eating a lot of cake we all went our separate ways.

It was good to have several people on the ride who are either very new or who we hardly ever see. These include Toni, Mags, Jane, Neil, John and Chris (another Chris, not Chris Dent). Sadly, after breaking a bone in her hand last week, Liz Bernard wasn’t able to join us. We hope that her hand will mend quickly and that she’ll be back soon.

Many thanks to Peter for being back marker, a rather challenging role today, to Terry and Brian for everything they did to manage the split in the group and to everyone who marked corners and otherwise helped to keep the show on the road. Thanks to Bernard for his photos, especially the panorama which confirms the lunchtime count (if you include the photographer). It was a great day out in the gorgeous lanes of Surrey. Thank you everyone for contributing to the fun.

Hersham to Abinger Common: 16.7 miles
Abinger Common to Ashtead:  14.1 miles

Morning and evening sections (OS 1:50,000)

Ranmore Common - Abinger Common - Dorking (OS 1:25,000)

- Tim