B Group - 7th February

After enjoying our tea and pastries which Ged had provided for us to celebrate his significant birthday eleven of us took off from the RBL into the sunshine, straight down to East Horsley where we crossed the A246 and turned up into Chalk Lane, respite at last from the traffic and bumpy roads. We turned right into Green Dene and proceeded to the top where we plummeted down Combe Bottom and crossed into Shere for a toilet stop which nobody seemed to need.

Up Sandy Lane and left after the bridge we meandered through the various Hoe Lanes, encountering a surprising amount of traffic. Instead of carrying on down the hill to the Horsham Road we turned right at the top of Hoe Lane into the small lanes which skirt around Sutton Place, a brief but most enjoyable excursion. At the bottom we headed south through Holmbury St Mary and on to the Parrot Inn at Forest Green, arriving at just before one o'clock.

There was a little bit of confusion about a couple of orders but we ate well, soup and assorted sandwiches, and quite a lot of chips. I tried to warn everyone about the perils of eating too many chips before a big climb and managed to give away many of mine. However the advice fell mostly on deaf ears and, to prove me wrong, Christina, who probably ate more chips than most of us, romped up Leith Hill Lane after lunch, beating the rest of us to the top. That is a pretty tough climb for B Group; one or two walked up part of it but I was very pleased that nobody actually conked out completely. After losing Brian and Steph briefly we regrouped at Coldharbour, opposite The Plough, before our descent to Dorking.

Before we reached the one-way system in Dorking we turned right into Hampstead Road, through to the Horsham Road, left then right into St Pauls Road and through Cotmandene to emerge  onto the High Street. This was the second entirely unnecessary excursion of the day, a tour through some scenic parts of Dorking most of us didn’t know existed.

We reached Leatherhead by 4 o’clock, observed the lack of activity in Annies and went around the back for tea and coffee at Costa Coffee. By this stage we were down to four, Brian, Sue, Terry and myself.

For this time of year this was a very ambitious and very enjoyable ride but the downside was that for a group of us riding from Leatherhead to home would have been a lot of miles and not a great experience in the dark. However several of those who didn’t come with us joined a small gang of Uxbridge Loiterers for a happy day pedalling in and around Windsor Great Park with lunch in Wetherspoons.

Thanks to everyone who came out for this hard but fabulous day in the hills, and especially to John Austin for riding as back marker. We owe something to the fine weather too which greatly contributed to the esprit de corps and enjoyment of our splendid countryside.

~ Tim

28.7 miles
Over 2000 feet of climbing