B Group - 22nd August

I wasn’t expecting a crowd but twelve came on our ride from Caterham. We were sorry to learn that the establishment might have to close down which would mean that we would lose this greatly valued Elevenses venue and the occasional opportunities to explore East Surrey and beyond which it affords us.

We would miss this place if it was no longer in our programme

We started out with an excursion up to Whyteleafe Station partly to enjoy the leafy Salmons Lane and partly to avoid riding through the Wapses Lodge (Ann Summers) Roundabout. My recce proved that Succombs Hill had too much traffic for such a nasty little climb so today we crossed the A22 after the level crossing and rode through the AS roundabout into Woldingham Lane into the greatly loved Marden Park route which took us past the Woldingham School and Convent. Just beyond the roundabout we noticed that we were missing Terry and Ian who as it turned out had got caught at the Salmons Lane level crossing and had to wait for two trains to pass.
 
South of the school Mike marked the sharp corner which turns left up Gangers Hill. Ian had a fall on the bend but got to his feet and walked up the really steep bit. We regrouped in the car park to regard the hazy vista to the south before a fast descent of Chalkpit Lane where unfortunately David Cullen and Ian overshot the hairpin bend and came off their bikes which left them quite shaken though fortunately not too seriously injured. We hope they will not be feeling too bruised later on.
 
Rather than take a more direct route to lunch we crossed the A25 to loop around through Tandridge and Broadham Green to reach our pub, The Diamond in Holland, which does appear on many maps to be a real place. By this time Ian wasn’t going too well but made it to lunch which revived him before he went back to nearby Hurst Green Station to catch a train home. The Diamond is a good local pub, small, unpretentious and friendly with nicely prepared fresh food and we’d happily go there again.

We headed south initially, turning west into Crowhurst Lane after the railway line and thus we narrowly avoided running off the southern edge of the Greater London A-Z map. Thence to Bletchingly, via the lovely Tilbusterhill Plantation route, and Merstham where I missed a turn into Warwick Lane thanks to forgetting to load my revised route into the phone I use for navigating. We joined the A23 and rode north for one of the last serious hills of the day, Harps Lane which comes out in Markedge Lane above Fanny’s Farm.
 

Mike having a laugh about the issues with his shoe

In Chipstead when a moronic driver towing a large caravan overtook us too closely before turning into How Lane I was too distracted to notice that we should also have turned into the lane. However, back on course, we were soon heading up the very pleasant Rectory Lane. At the Woodman PH which recently, for a brief period, was known as the “oo ma” Mike had to deal with a slow puncture. He just made it to Pistachios for Tea but had to phone his logistics department to beg for a lift home.
 
Despite the incidents our ride was a good one. Although not the full ‘John Austin’ it was a challenging ride all the same which left us feeling satisfied with our efforts. Massive thanks to Terry who had a request to be Back Marker sprung on him at Elevenses. And big thanks to Mike, Tony and all who marked corners, and to everyone who came out to enjoy the splendid scenery in this hilly part of Surrey.
 
~ Tim