To avoid the terminally horrible A281 we took a series of cycle paths which comprise Dagley Lane (aka NCN22) to Shalford. A quiet meander through Chinthurst Lane and Tannery Lane brought us back to the A281 which led to Foxburrow Hill Road and Munstead Heath.
Near Milford Hospital in Tuesley we picked up a beautiful new cycle path which took us around to the level crossing by Milford Station. The path is so new that it hasn’t yet appeared on OpenCycleMap.org’s website.
After Mare Hill Common we all turned off from the Lea Coach Road to ride the bobbley but rather lovely track through The Shrubbery, by Thursley Lake, to French Lane, apart from Dave Ward who probably feared a confrontation with the Knights who say ‘Ni’, and so opted to continue on paved roads and ride along the A3, the lesser of the two evils for him no doubt.After Thursley we skirted around to the South of the MOD ‘Managed Access’ territory then had a fast run up through Rushmoor to the Barley Mow on Tilford Green.
We sat outside in the Garden just above the banks of the River Wey (South Branch). We had pre-ordered and although it took a wee while to deliver our food it was good stuff when it arrived. The staff looked after us well and we allowed ourselves to become blissed out in the sunshine a little longer than we usually do, especially as nobody had seen the sun on a Wednesday since July.
Sadly Terry discovered a flat tyre just as we were leaving the pub so retired to replace his tube while the rest of us carried on with the afternoon ride. We stopped for photos on the old 13th century West Bridge just around the corner from the pub.
We headed North until we reached Seale Lane on the Pilgrims’ Way where we turned East through Seale and Puttenham, then took a very scenic route along a rather grotty bit of route 22 to emerge near the Watts Gallery. In Compton we veered off the main road to find a quiet path through the trees on Compton Common, after which it was plain sailing into Farncombe for our Tea stop at Natters Café, a nice place where excellent coffee and tea was served by cheerful staff.
After Tea, rather than ruin our enjoyable day with an unpleasant ride along the A3100, we took the scenic route, leaving Farncombe on Furze Road, then Stakescorner Lane past Loseley Park, and down Sandy Lane to ride an unavoidable stretch of the A3100 which we soon left for a sharp climb up Mount Pleasant then a footpath and Guildford Park Road which brought us to the back entrance of the station.
Many thanks to Terry for back marking and several who marked corners, without whom the group may have become quite widely dispersed throughout these unfamiliar parts of Surrey.
17.8 miles to Lunch, 11.4 to Tea, 3.8 to Guildford Station, over 1700 feet elevation gain
~ Tim
1 comment:
A lovely ride with lots of interesting off road. One pleasure on the ride in was the amount of Toadflax on the verges of the highest stretches of the A246. It is a tiny lemon coloured snapdragon type plant.
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