Well it’s December so short days are guaranteed, but the
weather is a lottery. Wednesday’s forecast for the past week had been for rain
and wind, so I had built that into my plan; in the event we had wind, well more
of a breeze from the southwest, but no rain on the ride, and amazingly mild.
The plan was a short (31 mile) round trip from Cobham to
Shamley Green. Familiar roads to Ockham, then Ripley Road and the climb up
Shere Road to descend Combe Lane to Shere. Then Little London and Farley Heath Road,
where we managed safely to negotiate the mud-covered road left by the Xmas tree
fellers.
16 of us had left Cobham, and 2 elected to push on to the
delights of Cranleigh. Lunch was at the Bricklayer’s Arms, crowded with early
Xmas partyers, unlike on my recce; service was friendly but we had 45 minutes
wait for our lunch, though when it arrived was excellent.
Return was via Blackheath, Chilworth and Albury, before the
climb up Combe Lane, the highlight of the day; maximum gradient about 15 to 25%
depending on how you took the last corner. The second highlight was the long
descent to Cobham with the wind behind, arriving at Sainsbury’s for tea at a
hopefully well timed 3:30.
Many thanks to Geoff for back-marking and Mark for
photography, and to everyone for good company.
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