Hans said it best: "An Interesting Ride". There was something for everyone to enjoy, or not: a steep climb up Crocknorth Road, varied off-road surfaces on NCN 22 from smooth mud to sand, gravel and half-bricks; plenty of nettles (and you should have seen the bit we avoided!); a bit of tarmac, and the towpaths of the Wey and Basingstoke canal.
David Ward's group was first away from Cobham. Fiona, Dave B, Brian, Steve D and Patrick were a great group to lead and made light work of the route! The unexpected road closure at Old Lane didn't flummox us at all and we sped on towards Crocknorth, where Fiona easily outclassed us all on the climb! The merits of the off-road section from to Gomshall were appreciated, especially the stunning views of the North Downs, but we were glad the final narrow and overgrown section, edged by stinging nettles, wasn't any longer! |
| Kings Head, Guildford |
The weather was really nice by the time we arrived at The Kings Head. There was no wait at the bar and our food orders arrived very quickly. Even Patrick rated the portions as generous and we had a very relaxing break on the shady upper terrace.
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| Guildford Castle |
All too soon it was time to drag ourselves away. Given the unexpected warmth of the afternoon, Simon's tree-lined return route was very appropriate. Fiona left us at Clay Lane, but the rest of the group continued to Crockford Bridge for tea. A pleasant stop but after half an hour or so it got too hot for me as there was no shade. We didn't see the other groups arrive, but I'm told they were hard on our heels. Patrick, Dave, Steve and I set off for homeward together, leaving Brian to take the opposite direction.
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| Basingstoke canal, Wey Navigation, M25 and mainline South West railway |
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| Wey Navigation |
A jolly nice day all round - many thanks to Simon for masterminding and to the rest of the group for their company.
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David Jackson's group was second off: An eclectic group of fast and slower riders gathered at Cobham for our scheduled start, those that knew of the ride up Crocknorth Road moaned, those that didn’t just cycled on blissfully unaware; they soon knew!
However, all of us were able to cycle all the way up and by contrast the climb up the easier side of Whitedown was something of a recovery. Simon had given us a section of off road just near the bottom of the hill, the strongest riders and those with mountain bike experience really enjoyed this section but we all managed to get along the tracks, somewhat overgrown in places and finally back onto macadam.
An undulating profile led us into Guildford and up to the pub arriving at the same time as the following group. The pub was welcoming, food plentiful and just what we needed.
Having being fed and watered we left the pub but somehow we lost Dave Ferrett, [this was my fault, I directed him the wrong way out of the pub - Simon] we did try to contact him but to no avail; fortunately, he didn’t have to ride alone, tagging onto Simon’s group and onto tea.
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| Guildford Castle |
After lunch a mixture of canal, road and canal again, a couple of slight mistakes from me following the route around Guildford, and we were at the Garden Centre in Addlestone, a much flatter ride. Here some went straight home whilst others stayed for a much-needed cup of tea.
A well thought out, scenic and interesting ride devised by Simon, congrats. Thanks to everyone in the group in making it such a great day out!
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My group, comprising Janice, e-Pete, Steve W and back-marker Mike R set off at 11: a steady climb up to the high point at the top of White Down before zooming down carefully to attempt NCN route 22 along the valley to Abinger Hammer. Only a mile or two, but you could have been miles from civilisation. When we stopped for a photo the silence was remarkable, so we remarked on it.
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| Get your kicks on Route 22? |
Our co-leaders' recce on Monday had ruled out the next part of NCN 22 from Abinger Hammer to Shere on account of ankle-deep mud, so we did a couple of miles along the A25 before climbing to Farley Heath and then across to Shamley Green & Shalford. Some of the descents were more treacherous than the off-road sections, with much debris from recent rain spread across the road in unexpected places.
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| Guildford Castle |
We ate well at the King's Head, Guildford before heading for home: friendlier off-road along the Wey navigation and Basingstoke canal, looking glorious in the sunshine.
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| Basingstoke Canal |
The canal didn't look too bad, either. Thank you to everyone who attempted the various challenges along this route, (especially to my co-leaders who had to do it twice!), to Mike R for his reassuring presence as back-marker and to Janice for the photos and her Relive video.
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| Tea and ice cream at Crockford Bridge Farm |
Finally, in keeping with the B group's theme this week of bees, here is the transparent bee hive at Crockford Bridge Farm.
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