A Group 31 January - The Roads Less Travelled

This week’s A group ride mainly followed roads not very often used by the group….certainly not in the 3 years or so that I have been riding with them !!

14 riders left Weybridge in a damp state following a downpour that didn’t appear in any of the forecasts, we headed east and the rule of the day was to avoid main roads wherever possible…accordingly we rode through the Burwood estate, then Whiteley village and Convent Lane, skirted around the edge of Cobham and then a short cut through the Fairmile estate took us on the way through to Oxshott. Then we rode along Stokesheath Road through the Crown estate, and then along to and through the junction at Malden Rushett and onwards to Epsom. Avoiding the town centre by some back roads eventually brought us out on to Chalk Lane and the climb up to the racecourse. The skies had cleared and although the temperature was dropping quickly, we rode across the middle of the racecourse and a half-circuit around rewarded us with a view back across the downs and the main stands of the course. A swift ride south took us down through Tadworth and one final cut through The Warren in Kingswood brought us out right by our lunch venue the Kingswood Arms.

Photos from Mark

Orders were taken and food was served very quickly….at least to start with !! First meals appeared whilst the bulk of the group were still placing their orders, general consensus was food was excellent, and with our own reserved room, not much to take issue with.

We were on our way shortly after 2pm, the weather by now bright but very cold, and the route back took us through Tadworth, Nork village (great name, never heard of it before !!), past Banstead station and then along Queensmead Road and the cycle route to Nonsuch Park. From there, Cheam was swiftly passed through and then Gander Green Lane, Hamilton Road and the intriguingly named Pig Farm Lane (no pigs in sight unfortunately) in Worcester Park, on to Raynes Park and up onto Wimbledon Common. Riders dropped out at convenient points along the way for their homeward journeys, and 8 riders made it for tea at the Windmill cafe.

20 miles from Weybridge to lunch, 15 miles from lunch to tea. The usual thanks to Mike for back-marking and to all those who marked corners to help keep things moving along.

~ Dave B.