As expected, fine weather and a Walton start brought out a good number of riders. Firstly thank you to all who emailed me by Sunday evening which allowed me to plan four groups for the 19 booked. Also to Hans, Dave B, Dave V and Simon who had all come on one of my recce trips and were thus confident of the off-road section.
Note to the Bs: someone has their eye on this for you!
Hans' report:
Group 1 were assembled and ready to roll by 10.10 so an early start meant climbing Staple Lane before the midday heat. A good pace throughout the morning meant that we arrived at Blackheath cricket ground at 12 and enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the shade. We took a small but rewarding detour to see the village church, as recommended by Ged.
The
drag up Half-Penny lane achieved in the afternoon we arrived at the
Medicine Garden cafe at 1.45pm. Despite a fruitless search there was no
calypso but plenty of Jamaican Ginger beer on offer. Well done to all
for maintaining the pace and to Dave for back marking.
A well planned and interesting route, my thanks to Brian, Dave and Simon for organising the event.
Dave V's report
Our group followed Hans' lead by leaving 10 minutes early and apart from one (leader, not Garmin) navigational error all went well. Staple Lane was a bit of a challenge in the heat, and we stopped in Shere to top up on water. The offroad bit went well, and I only fell off once in the deep sand; the photographic clues to navigational way-points helped to interpret the arrow on the Garmin screen, and I think we all agreed this was our first trip down Green Lane.
Ged had researched the fascinating history of St Martin's Church Blackheath, so a group visit provided cultural depth to the ride, as well as welcome respite from the heat in the cool interior.
It was good to meet briefly your and Simon's groups at lunch. Had I known there were adders about I might not have ventured so deeply into the undergrowth in search of comfort. Something else to add to the risk assessment, perhaps.
On the return Garmin suggested an adventurous off-road variation on the ascent of Halfpenny Lane, which I found easy to resist; on-road was hard enough.
Thereafter it was downhill, almost literally, all the way to tea @ The Medicine Garden, where it was good to meet up again, giving the ride a proper Wayfarer character.
As we are approaching Dieppe Weekend it's appropriate to compare today to last year's ride to Veules les Roses. The main similarity is temperature; I recorded
40° in the sun, which is where we were riding for most of today. The main disappointment was not rehydrating on pints of Leffe in the Cafe des Tribuneaux.
A couple of photos of our group,attached, courtesy of Janice & Simon. And finally thanks to Mike Reynell for back marking, and to everyone for their company.
Simon's report
Dave ‘Fixie’
Cullen radioed the control tower at short notice to request a flyby
of one of the B groups. “I’m sorry, Dave, the pattern is full”
said Admiral Ward. So Dave (Fixie) dropped into formation with one
of the A groups, and the scene was set for Brian’s Day Out In The
Country.
I was leading a
group of five, including new (to the As) rider Gina. Welcome, Gina!
Flat for the first ten miles or so, to Ripley, where a toilet stop
was offered but not needed. Then the fun started. We toiled up
Staple Lane in full sun, and were thankful of the shade at the top.
Shere, Little London and Farley Green led us to Brian’s rather nice
off-road track, which had varied over the past several days from
perfectly rideable to deep mud to deep sand. Today it was pretty
rideable, a hint of sand and a few patches of mud to avoid. It was
here that The Incident happened. Back in Addlestone, my shoe had
connected with the front mudguard, and ping! The mudguard stay had
pinged free from my front mudguard. Still rideable, so we carried
on. At the track, I dismounted and felt a bit of a scratch on my
knee, from the mudguard stay, as it turned out. There was blood
running down my leg! Enough for a cuddle from Mummy, but that
wasn’t on offer: Dave offered to stitch it up (with what I don’t
like to think); Steve offered a plaster from his first aid kit (top
marks that man), but in the end a pre-sanitized and licked finger
seemed to do the job, and we continued to lunch at Blackheath Cricket
Ground.
The previous group
hadn’t been there long, we were secretly pleased to discover. But
they had been to visit the lovely Blackheath Church, a 1920s Arts &
Crafts masterpiece, whereas we had prioritised food over culture. A
cricket pitch is a big place, so we sat diagonally opposite.
Benches, trees and shade were all provided, and also a most welcome
water tap – which was used by nearly all to fill their bottles.
Keith joined us for lunch, having cycled mostly off-road from Sutton
way(!)
Our church visit was
a bit overshadowed by a local almost running over Gina’s bike, and
then the exciting discovery of a baby Adder basking at the foot of
the church wall. Until we came, and then it scarpered fairly
quickly, at one time heading straight towards Gina, but we were all
too fascinated to be worried, also a bit too fascinated to remember
about good social distancing.
Back on the road and
Halfpenny Lane greeted us at a very hot part of the day. We made it
to the top by thinking about Dave Fixie. Merrow Park & Ride
toilets came & went (well, nobody went) and we were on the home
straight: West Clandon, a bit more of Hungry Hill Lane, and those
little undulations along past Ockham and Martyr’s Green, which felt
like mountains to me, although the four eager & strong riders
behind me didn’t seem to notice. It must have been the heat.
Cobham Medicine Garden was a very welcome stop, with cold drinks and
a bit of shade, again socially distanced from the groups before and
after, who found other bits of shade. Another couple of pints of
water on the way home, and I was still thirsty when I got home.
Brian's report
All of the above doesn't leave me much to add. Alan Imeson joined us at Walton and Dave Cullen was being bumped off the B ride so we became a group of 6. Once sure that he had enough sustenance for this longer and less well supplied trip we set off at 1120. A decision was made early on that there were to no heroics in the heat but Dave's feats on his fixie up Staple Lane and Halfpenny Lane left us in awe. I think Dave's legs knew all about it by Cobham!
Sadly someone had locked the church by the time we tried to visit after lunch.
A most enjoyable ride in good company. Many thanks to David for back marking.
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