B Group - 13th January

Nineteen B Group riders left the Greeno Centre on the dot of 11:10 and headed West to Chertsey Bridge to take the cyclists’s route through to Addlestone Moor. We took the A318 to New Haw before meandering through to the Fullbrook School where a large number of girls were letting of steam kicking footballs about. By the school entrance we found the footpath/cyclepath through to Woodham Lock for a stretch of the Basingstoke Canal.

With the prospect of longer rides along the canal in the afternoon we took the Old Woking Road down to Maybury and through a quiet suburb to Woking Park. At the A247, instead of the more obvious route along Westfield Avenue we picked up a delightful cycle path through Kingfield Green, alongside the Hoe Stream, which in a suitable dinghy we could possibly have rowed most of the way to the pub in Pirbright.
 
At Mayford I stopped to ask the driver of a Post Office van if the underpass at Worplesdon Station was too full of water to ride through. He didn’t know so we took a chance, knowing that to turn back would have been quite annoying. In Prey Heath Road there was a mere puddle to ride through, less than 6 inches deep, so we pressed on to Fox Corner and beyond, to the Royal Oak in Stanford Common.
 
Despite an initial response from the pub, when I first contacted them, to advise that they don’t make bookings for after 12:30 they did accept that we would arrive at one o’clock. So we found a long row of tables layed out and reserved for the eighteen of us. It proved to be as cheap as any pub we ever visit, with great food, very efficient service and a cosy ambience. This pub has clearly earned its great popularity with local people.
 
We rode North and along the Brookwood Cemetery Pales. Where the Brookwood Lye Road crosses the canal we ducked down under the road to ride along the canal to St Johns for a stretch of road before finding two large puddles leading us back onto the canal which we followed to the Monument Bridge near Maybury.
 
We tried to ride on the roadside cycle paths through Sheerwater to West Byfleet. Some were good; some were dreadful. Waiting at the Addlestone level crossing Dave and Jane suggested that we went to Morrisons in Weybridge for Tea. We found excellent sheltered cycle parking facilities in the car park and enjoyed a very cheap and decent afternoon tea. There was a massive discombobulation behind the till which made operating the Large Hadron Collider seem like a piece of cake but eventually we all got to sit down and enjoy our goodies.
 
Thanks to everybody who came on the ride, for your cheerful enjoyment of the day and thanks to John Austin who volunteered to be back marker on a ride where going astray was quite a strong possibility.

16.6 miles to the Royal Oak, 13.3 miles to Tea; lets say 30 miles for the day.

~ Tim

Our route to the Royal Oak in Pirbright

Tethering our steeds at the Royal Oak