It was a ride of swaps - involving Hans, Sue and Mark, as Janice explains below. It also involved me swapping leading with Steve after lunch, after my Garmin inexplicably reversed the route from Horsted Keynes back to Banstead.
Janice led the first group with these observations.
The recce was cancelled due to the extreme heat and declaration of a National Emergency but luckily the forecast for the day was a much cooler 25° with an ever changing possibility of showers and even thunderstorm. It was very pleasant starting at the top of Epsom Downs for the ride to Hookwood with Sue and Neil W and even more so once we’d descended Pebble Hill and were on country roads.
Tesco’s in Hookwood provided a good meeting point with ok coffee and pastries. As we were about to depart, Hans found that he had a puncture and so he dropped back to the later departing group to give him a chance to fix it. Mark swapped in and joined myself, Fiona, Sue, Neil W, Mike, Patrick and Dave B
 |
| Hans - and tube number 1. |
There were a few tricky navigation moments to join the Worth Way and whilst on it but with the help of Mark we managed to negotiate it. The Worth Way was lovely and shaded which was much appreciated after the overheating of the previous few days. There was beautiful scenery and just a couple of sharp hills before reaching Horsted Keynes where we had a very pleasant lunch under a parasol, including a chat with a couple of members of the other CUK group.
 |
| Janice's group - Sue leaving/Hans joining. |
With more hills to come, 5 according to garmin but I’m fairly sure I counted more that that, we set off with a re-shuffled group as Hans and Sue swapped places.
Straight from lunch and on lunch legs we hit the first climb, although garmin didn’t count that as a hill. The scenery was beautiful and the afternoon warm and humid, not a day for rushing. The hills came and went and came again, 5 in all and we all knew the final 2 up Markedge Lane and then to Banstead were awaiting us. But we survived and gratefully had ice creams/coffee/cakes at Pistachios.
A lovely day out on less used roads in great company. Thanks to my group and to Mike for back marking.
My group discovered that without a recce there were a few navigation hiccups but generally the ride flowed well. We paused for the traditional photo at Gatwick. Later, on Worth Way, we stopped to attend Hans's troublesome tyre, only to discover shortly the need for tube number 2.
 |
| A's on their final approach to Horsted Keynes. |
 |
| Tube number 2. |
 |
| The reliability second group. |
After Merstham we were not looking forward to the final two climbs - Markedge and up to Banstead, so most of the group chose Holly Lane rather than Park Road as the lesser of two evils. Five stayed for tea at Pistachios, enjoying ice creams - and even chocolate cake!
No comments:
Post a Comment