Report for B Group 2 - 28th September

Our second group was only about 5 minutes late getting away after our tea and coffee. We'd seen Gill's note on WhatsApp to say that she had underestimated the ride time for getting to Redhill and that she would meet Steph and her group at the pub. So we were delighted when she turned up at the church, quite breathless but ready to ride with us to lunch.

The nature reserve is a well-worn trail for us and always a pleasure to ride and the seriousness of the climb up to the A25 is always something of a surprise. But it was easy riding after that on decent roads leading towards Salfords. For all of us Steph's discovery of a brand new route from the junction of Cross Oak Lane and the A23 through to Meath Green was a revelation. Although it is not entirely finished it is an exemplary piece of a properly engineered cycle path. The road and cycle path are so new that they don't appear on the 2022 edition of the OS Landranger map.

After the leader had resolved a bit of discombobulation about the name and exact location of the pub we arrived at The Seven Stars soon after Steph's group. Lunch was good and braced us for the still cool temperature outside. We were soon heading through Brockham and up Box Hill with the leader opting to ride near the back of the peloton, purely out of a fatherly concern for the welfare of the team, of course. We stopped at the lookout point for some photos against the backdrop of very clear views over the landscape.

 

We had a fairly fast ride after Box Hill Village through Headley, Hurst Lane and down to the Garden Centre in Ashtead for well earned refreshment.

We'd all become very used to riding in small groups so it was interesting for each of us to be leading groups of more than ten, reminding us that the old customs of marking corners and diligent backmarking need to be kept alive. Thanks to Colin for back marking and thanks to Steph for coming up with an enjoyable route. Thanks to everyone who joined the ride.

~ Tim

As our group cranked its way up Box Hill Fixie Dave was waiting on the roadside for us with his phone and took several photos.