A mystery tour

I looked through my old rides on the App, Garmin Connect, on my phone and decided which one I’d like to do again. All I needed to do was to press a button on my mobile to send the route to the Garmin and I’d be ready to go. Well the idea was good but as most people with a Garmin will know, for no apparent reason it will fail to live up to the promise of what it can do and what it has successfully done a hundred times before. 

After nearly an hour of googling the problem, reading advice on forums (yes lots of people have had the same problem after updating their device as I had done), pressing buttons to disable then re-enable functions I decided to forget it and just follow a route that was already loaded on it.

So I selected a route, but having pressed so many buttons at that point, didn’t take sufficient notice of which one I’d chosen and certainly hadn’t looked at the map. So a mystery tour it was. 

Early on, cycling past the RAC in Epsom I saw Brian travelling in the opposite direction so we stopped for a socially distanced chat. After we said goodbye the Garmin directed me up towards Headley Road and I had my first doubts about following a mystery route. Would I be able to cycle through Headley Road? Fortunately, the answer was yes as the closed section of road has moved along and cyclists can get through (indeed are encouraged) by using the parallel bridleway.

I was soon going down Pebble Hill and out into wonderfully almost traffic free lanes on a beautiful sunny Spring Day. I stopped in Leigh to watch the world go by, mainly solo cyclists, and to take a photo. 

Back on the bike and the Garmin took me through Lambs Green and Faygate and I was beginning to wonder if this was a longer and harder ride than I’d anticipated. Sure enough I was taken over the A264 and up the climb to Colgate. The roads became familiar, but not until I was actually cycling them. A left turn, bend in the road and steep drop at Hammerponds left me in no doubt I was on a hilly ride. 

Slaugham was looking glorious in the sunshine and I stopped on the grass in front of the church to eat the first half of my sandwich. Several people were about, all socially distanced, walking dogs, sitting in the sunshine or in their gardens. I noticed how much friendlier people seemed to be in this crisis as I had several hellos or friendly waves. 

Back on the bike and by now I was sure I was heading towards the gardens at Handcross where coffee and cake would have been the order of the day in different times. The route skirted round Handcross and took me past the Cowdray Arms and up Paddockhurst Rd. The Garmin, of its own volition, decided to tell me just before each climb started that I had a big climb ahead. By now I was wishing I could turn this function off!

Feeling like I was heading towards home at last I passed Worth School, gently uphill and into a headwind as always seems to be the case on that stretch. With views of the South Downs to my right I  arrived at Turners Hill and stopped on the green to eat the other half of my sandwich. There were a few cars, solo cyclists and one or two customers for the local shop. Having just seen the views of the South Downs, I could now see the North Downs ahead. 

Feeling the wind against me which was chilly despite the sunshine, I dropped down Turners Hill which has a new layout and traffic lights near the top due to a new housing estate. From there a left turn to Rowfant and then Copthorne, Smallfield, Outwood and heartily fed of climbing, Bletchingley.  By now I was counting the hills still to come before I arrived home. 

I stopped a couple of times to refuel with my snack bar and emergency pack of Haribo (thanks Wiggle). A final couple of drags up past the old Fanny’s Farm and Holly Lane towards Banstead and finally I felt as if the wind was behind me for the final few miles. Maybe it was just that it was mostly downhill.

61 miles and 3,688ft. Further and hillier than I’d hoped it was a lesson in making sure I know where I’m going next time! Hopefully I’ll have time to sort out my issues with the Garmin whilst in social isolation for the next few weeks.