B Group to Albury - 5th May

Prior to our recce for the ride, I remembered a pub which Tim Court took us to last September on his ride from Fairoaks Aerodrome. It was a unique pub which has a stream running through the garden. I decided that it would fit our ride from Cobham nicely, hence I booked the tables a few weeks before the ride.

For our 1st recce, Bob Pannell, Fixit Davey and I managed to get there, via Farley Green and Shamley Green by mistake, for a late lunch. On our way back, we got caught on the late afternoon heavy traffic on some dreaded parts of Hoe Lane, thundering A25 and up White Down (very foolhardy I know but up the A25 was oppressive too). After a couple of sleepless nights, I poured over Surrey cycling map and decided to give all the ‘back roads’ a try on the 2nd recce. I know 17 undulating miles after lunch is 4 miles longer the pre-lunch ride, but at least it is scenic and quiet. Sub leaders Bob Pannell, Fixit Davey and Tim Gibbons did their 2nd or maybe 3rd recces by themselves. Thanks for all the sub leaders including Tim Court (‘the extra sub leader’ for many B leaders) for leading your groups successfully and for your hard work.

I was delighted that Carolyn Beer, who has not cycled with the B group since the ease of lockdown, signed up first and gradually the riders kept signing up over the May Bank Holiday, and we had 25 riders.

We rode through Cobham Downside, Plough Lane, Ockham, Long Reach towards West Horsley, then up Shere Road, the extended farm house with a clock tower at the Fullers Farm road appeared to be nearly complete with a mainly wooden structure and large windows. We then rode down Combe Lane, crossed the A25 to the beautiful Shere Village where a few riders rode through the ford in delight. We were soon seated in the sunshine at The Drummond by the stream.

Studying the afternoon map

After lunch, we rode through Burrows Lea, Peaslake, up Radnor Road to Holmbury Hill, down to Pasturewood Road at Holmbury St Mary followed by Leith Hill Road to Coldharbour, then mainly downhill all the way to Dorking.

The A Team, Mark, John and Ken

 

Terry Lowe drove through Shere Road from West Horsley last November after his operation then; we rode through the same road and the whole ride without much difficulty today (on 5th May), and he said "It is progress". Clive Janes rode through the Surrey Hills on his Brompton bike with good speed and relative ease too.

Thanks again to all the sub leaders and riders for taking up the challenges and succeeding in all their endeavours.

~ Christina

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We being the 10.50am departure riders, the third group out. A Quartet group, composed of Carolyn, Steph, Tony Hooker, & Dave C. Pleased to have Carolyn back out cycling with the B’s. Also good to be riding (once again) with a happy group. Good to have three assistant navigators in the group. Although they failed me, since we crossed the wrong Ford. It couldn’t have been my fault, since I only recced the route twice. 😀 Then not quite sure which route to take, we spilt into two groups, (hoping that one of the groups would make it to the lunch venue) Christina’s group caught us up, some miles after our lunch recuperation. The route proceeded up Leith Hill. The dark rain clouds looked ominous, but concern about rain wasn’t warranted, since it didn’t rain, but snowed! Christina did mention about perhaps seeing some animals around. But I wasn’t expecting Polar Bears? 🐻‍❄️🤔

~ Dave ("One Man and his Cog") Cullen

The team practices the Hokey Cokey before tackling the next hill

 
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Our fourth (11:05) group, (Inder, Anne, Sue, Colin and myself) departed on time, headed through Ockham and West Horsley to ease into the first serious climb up Shere Road to join Combe Lane and drop down Combe Bottom to Shere. We remembered to deviate down Rectory Lane to avoid the heaving metropolis of Shere Village but we were all too chicken to ride through the ford. After romping up Sandy Lane we decided to make a slight change to Christina’s prescribed route and go down through Little London, passing the William IV on the way down Brook Lane. We nearly came unstuck when we found that New Road, north towards Albury, was closed but managed to ride through the barriers and squeeze past a lorry parked in the lane to arrive at The Drummond in good time for lunch though we found that our small Tiki Tour had enabled Christina and her team to steal a lead on us.

This wasn’t our first time at The Drummond and again we ate well, with the watery sounds of the Tilling Bourne flowing past our tables at the bottom of the garden.

Team 4

After lunch we doubled back for the first climb, retracing our tracks up New Road and trying not to think about all the hills that would follow as we cruised down to Peaslake. I had remembered from previous experience that Radnor Road is quite a challenge and that it takes some time to reach Holmbury Hill. Though I had offered to stop at the Heartwork Coffee Bar for refreshments the troops decided that we should press on with the undulations of Pasture Wood Lane, where we sheltered from the brief burst of hail or snow, and the final biggie of the day, Leith Hill Road. But we enjoyed our rewards with the descent from Coldharbour to Dorking, one the greatest pleasures of the Surrey Hills, at least when heading in that direction.

At Christ Church near Coldharbour Inder took us to see the grave of Caja Hemar and her husband Marian Hemar. 

Anne posing as Caja, the Columbia Pictures statue

Inder and Colin at Christ Church

It was a long day and we skipped afternoon tea but all arrived home safely. Thanks to Christina for planning and leading one of the most challenging B Group rides I can remember. Door to door, RwGPS gave me a score of 3780 feet of climbing while Strava came up with a more modest 3489ft. Another reason for preferring RwGPS!

~ Tim