Seven of us left Leatherhead, all wondering if we could make all the hills originally planned in the fierce heat - but we decided that sense should prevail and just suffer up through Great Bookham and past Polesden Lacey. We were on our way down Bagden Hill and Chapel Lane to Ryka's cafe at the foot of Boxhill when Helen Tovey, who likes her beer, noticed that The Stepping Stones pub was open and was offering two varieties of beer. They even allowed us to sit in their garden and eat our packed lunches.
After lunch, rather than climb up to Headley as planned, we took the A24 back to Leatherhead. It was along there that we caught a sudden and cooling breeze - the cause turned out to be Ged Lawrenson zipping past and giving us a friendly wave. We carried on round the outskirts of Leatherhead and up to Ashtead Common and it was just as we were turning onto the common that we encountered a welcome and cooling rain shower. As the ground had been hardened by the sun, we found that our bikes were spattered with mud - who would have thought it with the prevailing weather of the past few days? We decided not to stop for tea and get back for welcome showers.
John
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