The day got off to a
great start when Liz walked into the RBL bearing several containers full of
home-made cake to celebrate her special birthday with us. Happy birthday Liz!We took off across Bookham Common and passed the Vineries and turned up into The Street. We’d been warned (by Mike Withers I think) of a road closure some way down Beech Avenue/Critten Lane. We pondered our options at the junction with High Barn Lane but decided to chance it with Beech Avenue and were just able to ride along a narrow corridor between the plastic barriers and the kerb. We whizzed over White Down and after the A25 we climbed up towards Abinger Common to pass the Abinger Hatch and join Leith Hill Road. On the way down from the top Steph turned off to head home via Coldharbour. A little further on the rest of us took off down the very quiet and scenic Mole Street until Cathill Lane which brought us out on to the A29 and our pub, The Cricketers Arms.
Dave Ward called it a
day and pedalled off to clock up some more miles elsewhere. We had preordered,
and our lunches were delivered fairly quickly. It is a most friendly place and
the publicans welcomed us very warmly. They are well used to walkers and
cyclists. The Ringwood Brewery 'Razorback' beer is very tasty.
Heading North we immediately turned right into Friday
Street and took a very scenic off-road route down to the bottom end of Vann Lake. The
track becomes steep and rather rough on the approach to the bridge. We
dismounted to cross and walked up the other side until riding our bikes became viable again. Nobody could recall ever having gone that way before.
The lovely rural lane, Vann Lake Road, emerged on to Weare Street to put us back into familiar territory through Capel and Newdigate. At Parkgate we turned left into Mill Lane which is very bumpy but not unrideable. Further along it joins Ewood Lane and we realised that Terry, Dave C, and Brian Bent had not caught up with us. Tony Hooker kindly assumed the role of leader and took the main group through Brockham and up to the café in Leatherhead. Meanwhile I legged it back to Parkgate to see if the missing group was there but they weren’t. On the way to Leatherhead I eventually caught sight of them after Denbies and caught up with them just in time to show them where the café, 'Charlie and Ginger' was.
This new café has been open for just three weeks and with
its bike shed in front should prove to be a very good watering hole for us in
the future with its most excellent coffee, jugs of water with lime, mint, or cucumber, and
a decent assortment of muffins, flapjacks, and cake, proper refreshment for cyclists.
It transpired that Brian’s chain had somehow mangled his front derailleur back around Newdigate but he was able to sort it out by leaving the chain on the middle ring to give him a usable range of gears.
It was lovely that Gill Holder was able to join us for the
first time since she rode with us back in 2017, when she was training for the
Prudential 100 ride. Very good also that Brian is with us again, in very good form after
damaging himself on that fateful day back in the Winter.
Many thanks to Terry for back-marking on this fairly challenging ride, and to several people who marked corners to ensure that the Surrey Hills didn’t become littered with lost cyclists. Many people had valid excuses for not riding today but thank you to the 14 who did come out despite an unpromising weather forecast. It was only on the way home after Tea that we got a bit wet with what looked a bit like wet snow.
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