Today, 12 May, Unlockdown D-1 was the last chance of a Lockdown
ride.
Heading south from home it was clear that Lockdown had
already ended. Traffic was several times what I had been accustomed to. Cycling
families with children in tow had vanished. Joggers were scarce. Urban cycling
skills had to be remembered fast – just as well the official slogan is now “Stay
Alert”. “Save the NHS” was replaced by an
equally urgent “save your own life”.
The route I had chosen was an abbreviated version of the
South of Banstead ride Mark had published last Sunday. The sun was shining, but
not too hot, and once I had got off road after Banstead everything became
peaceful. There were lots of walkers around Banstead Wood, everyone very
friendly in the way I have got used to the past 8 weeks. Heading down to
Chipstead Lane from Eyhurst Park it felt quite remote with idyllic scenes looking
out towards Mugswell.
I decided to have a closer look at Sandy Lane, the once
locked possible cycle route from Kingswood to Chipstead Lane. It’s open now,
and someone has cut much of the vegetation back, but the surface is pretty rough,
and there’s still a fallen tree, so I think it’s not for road bikes for the
present at least.
 |
| Sandy Lane |
My final off-road was from Mogador to Walton Heath. Normally
one would be running the gauntlet of flying golf balls but today there was
nobody out. I assume the players were enjoying a final round of virtual golf.
A lovely route, thanks Mark; to be enjoyed like now in the
dry.
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| More Trapped Pigs |
3 comments:
It looks like a nice ride Dave. I have also learned something about pigs, including the fact that there are three different types, one of which is gel pigs (formerly known as sows maybe?) https://www.enggcyclopedia.com/2011/07/pipe-pigs/
Glad you enjoyed it, Dave. There are plenty of good trackways on the North and South Downs - cycling as it was, long ago.
But you're quite right - it's a summer pastime.
I hadn't realised that pig traps were so common! I was familiar with the principles from the oil pipelines out of Fawley but I think they only had traps 40+ miles apart.
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