Two flats and a new lunch venue in Kingston
We were pleased to welcome Anne's husband John, and Mags from Kingston cycling group at North Cheam this week, and Liz S kindly led 9 of us to coffee at Cobham. Alas halfway along the lane to Claygate Dawn was visited by the puncture fairy; Frank, John and Mags stayed to help while the rest of us continued to join our leader for the day, Peter T, at the British Legion.
The puncture crew arrived at about 20 past 11, so Peter's planned 11.15 departure was delayed; but we were all on our way together by 11.40 and set off for Kingston via Arbrook and Littleworth Commons.
We were lucky to find Copsem roundabout pretty quiet, so all traversed it safely to enter Arbrook; but the puncture fairy hadn't finished with us, with Madeleine's bike stricken this time. A pretty quick repair, while the rest of us were not impatient to be getting moving; the weather was pleasant, paths pretty dry underfoot and the woods beautiful. Plus there's always some good chat going on...Peter is a hands-on sort of leader; with his help we were all on our way again within 15 minutes. Crossing the green at Claygate we spotted Brian Bent, who joined us for the route to Kingston.
Our lunch destination was just round the corner from the Bradbury Centre. The Spring Grove was new to all of us, including John Bellamy and Cam, who met us there. Ample space to lock up our bikes in their lovely garden behind the pub and they had a table reserved for us all. A welcoming ambience and great service, the staff took our orders very swiftly and the food was also good. We had a most enjoyable lunch in this lovely pub and four of us couldn't bear to leave, we were enjoying the fire and the chat so much, so finally departed about 3.30, an hour after the rest of the group had made for home.
A lovely day out, many thanks Peter for an interesting and beautiful route, Frank for back marking and the puncture repair team. Good to see John B out on his bike again with the new knee.
~ Helen
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