In Shere we turned up Middle Street and Sandy Lane. After
crossing the railway we took a left into Hook Lane and after Jesses Lane with
its fine patina of green moss on the surface warning us to descend with caution
we arrived in Peaslake. The second big hill of the day started as soon as we
turned into Radnor Road. This was quite a long haul and we were relieved when
it eventually levelled out near the car park at an altitude of over 750 feet.
Although there were still a few undulations to be endured once we had turned in
to Three Mile Road, the worst was over and although I had feared being
dreadfully late for lunch we weren’t. The 15.4 miles had taken us all of 2
hours.
After 1576 feet of climbing, if my software is to be
believed, we had all earned a good lunch. Emma and the landlord Geoff served us
all very cheerfully and good food was delivered from the kitchen for the 19 of
us at tables which had been reserved near the fire. It was all very cosy, in a
pub with a nice atmosphere.
The obligatory team photos were taken after lunch before
Irene, Pam, Gill and Liz took off for the remote parts of Surrey and Middlesex
where they live. We were sad to see them
go but the rest of us had more work to do with some 776 feet of climbing over the next few miles mainly through Pasture Wood Road. Unfortunately I had advertised the
afternoon ride as being less than 10 miles to Leatherhead. That was because
I had originally intended to have lunch at the Stephan Langton but I changed my
mind after the recce with David. We trundled through more of the beautiful and bosky
lanes around Abinger Common and Friday Street until we reached the A25. 700
metres of the A25 was enough so we turned into Balchins Lane and took our now popular
route on the cycle paths through to Milton Court then via down-town Dorking to
Annies, 12.3 miles from lunch. Peter Tiller punctured on the path just South of
Leatherhead but came in for his cuppa before attending to it.
The one person running Annies was cleaning up as we arrived
but she was kind enough to make tea and hot chocolate for the six or seven of
us who turned up.
The success of the day was due to many things. Everyone
persevered with what was a pretty challenging ride; climbing like that isn’t
everyone’s cup of tea. Corner marking worked very well thanks especially to
Peter T, Andy and Tony H and I was grateful for this because missed turns would
have been really bad news The rain held
off until after lunch but when it did come it was serious enough for us all to
stop and waterproof ourselves. Thanks to David for being a very efficient back-marker.
Sadly his CatEye bounced off his handlebar mount somewhere in Radnor Road and
he wasn’t able to find it.
It was good to see our new riders David and Jennie out with
us again, full of enthusiasm. Thank you to everyone for hanging in and
contributing to the special atmosphere of the day.
~ Tim
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