Report for B Group - 27th October

Sherpa Dave writes:

A nice return to Elleray Hall in Teddington, for elevenses.  We were welcomed by a group of Singers, seemingly doing their regular singing which made our visit all the more pleasant and set us in good fettle for our ride out to Harrow.

Our group consisted of eight riders =
Ann B, Christina,  Anne W, Clive, Grant, John A, Ken, and myself Dave C.

We made it to The Castle pub in Harrow, at about 1pm. Hopefully all were happy with their lunch, as I was.   

It was good to ride the route up around where Lord Byron spent some time admiring the view.
A few hiccups occurred with the navigation, but nothing too drastic.

The afternoon route back took us over a relatively new bridge spanning the Grand Union Canal near The Black Horse in Greenford. 75% of the group must have lost confidence with their leader's navigation skills. I believed that they wanted to head towards Perivale?

I led off thinking the group would follow, but only Christina did. We waited for a small while in vain, then we ambled ahead along the towpath (with Christina taking over the job of backmarker).

The 25% of the group continued onwards through Osterley Park, and on towards Coffee and Cake in Bushy Park.

Many thanks to Clive for back-marking.

~ Dave C.  (aka 'Fixie')

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Sherpa Tim writes:

It was wonderful to be back in the Elleray Hall, still the cheerful place we all remember from before the plague.

As planned by Tony Hooker seventeen seasoned B Group explorers departed base camp, after tea, coffee and cake, for the terra incognita of the great northern suburbia, led by Sherpa Dave C and Sherpa Tim C. Before departure I had to warn the team that I had only just found out that Tony needed me to lead and therefore to expect the odd navigational blunder.

In his promotional material Tony Hooker had let us know in his half joking manner that the ascent of ‘Mt Harrow’ would be quite a challenge. Sadly, Tony who had originally planned the ride for this time last year, was unable to join the ride, so in our second group it fell to Tony Hopkins, who was probably the only one who ever had a clue where we were, to keep the jokes about the hilliness of Harrow alive with his occasional reminders that the next hill would be even worse than the one we were riding at the time. Thus encouraged we rode up from the foothills of Ealing and Perivale and passed the old school before cresting the twin peaks of Harrow-on-the-Hill.

Most of us managed to ride up to the end of Roxborough Park on the way to Lord Byron’s lookout point by St Mary’s Church but admitted defeat when it came to the footpath to the summit.

What might have been a clear and pristine view in Byron’s day was for us obscured by the rampant shrubbery and an Autumn haze over the landscape. But we were happy to have made it and even more happy that it was downhill all the way to lunch at The Castle. It was a homely pub with a relaxed atmosphere, and with good food if my pea and mint soup was anything to go by.

After the meandering labyrinth of the morning ride and its mountains, the afternoon ride had quite a different character, commencing with a slalom down the south facing slopes to arrive in Greenford where we joined the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal. Despite my cunning alteration to the route at the point of access to the canal path it was in the end Dave’s group who found the new foot bridge across the canal to join the path and me who failed to find it, reverting to Tony’s original plan thanks to advice from Tim G.

Despite facing into the sun it was most enjoyable to cruise along the paved canal path, unlike other sections of the GU closer to home which are very substandard. We left the canal in Southall and realised that we were missing half the group. Liz had evidently had to stop and deal with a bottle cage that was at risk of falling off.

Waiting for the others (photo by Steph)

Here they come

But we were soon riding through the more familiar territory of Osterley Park, the Mogden Sewage Treatment Works, past the Rugby stadium and down the home straight to The Pheasantry in Bushy Park for late afternoon refreshments where we were joined by Dave.

Thanks to Ray Youlden for back-marking and to Tony Hopkins for assistance in places where I couldn’t decipher the route. Thanks to the team, Pam, Tony, Liz, Steph, Ray Y, Ray W, Paul and Tim G for hanging in and maintaining such good spirits throughout the day despite the rigours of the expedition.

~ Tim