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| from the original by Brian Bent |
Wednesday was very cold but there was no prospect of rain and with Christmas Lunch bookings assuring us of a full house at The Angel we had three full groups of cheerful Wayfarers. Before we left Dave Vine made a short speech and presented Noreen and David, the volunteers at the RBL, with the customary small gift of chocolates. We are pleased that our regular attendance at the RBL was able to resume after the pandemic receded and grateful to have two cheerful people there every month to cater for us, this time including the seasonal mince pies.
The last of our three B groups left almost on time at 11:00ish and made good progress up through the woods of Oxshott Heath and after a brief but lovely meander through Heath Road joined the busy Fairoak Lane before venturing into the trees along New Road. On separate rides Christina and I had done our recces and on both days found New Road to be completely unrideable due to several enormous puddles straddling the path. So we had been concerned about whether it would be good enough to take our groups through on the day. But after so little rain in recent days the path was almost totally dry apart from a few squiffy bits and we arrived in Claygate without mishap.
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| New Road as it was on the recce |
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| New Road on Wednesday |
During our recces we had cycled along the path through Littleworth Common on a carpet of damp autumnal leaves but on Wednesday it seemed that a project had just commenced to resurface the path and the soil was quite soft in places, and totally devoid of all leafiness. I hope they won't lay down tarmac but whatever they do to it I hope they will consider doing something similar in New Road. I wonder when New Road was actually 'new'.
As the last group out it dawned on me that we wouldn't get to lunch on time if we did the whole course so after turning left at Hampton Court Bridge for a ride along the river and a tour of Molesey we took a short cut to reduce our distance by a couple of miles and arrived at The Angel around 12:30, as planned. But both Gill Holder and Christina, with the earlier teams, proved that they were made of sturdier stuff by riding the entire route, all getting there in good time for a natter and a drink before lunch was served.
Our experience of the occasion served to remind us why we go back there year after year. The staff cope so well with what most of us would regard as bedlam and they served a very decent Christmas lunch to us all. By now Pam must have lost count of how many times she has organised this event for us and we remain hugely grateful for her hard work in getting it all together and supervising proceedings. She did seem to have quite a number of elves this year and blow me down if Santa himself didn't turn up to spread good cheer all around.
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| (photo: Tony Hooker) |
While we were dining at The Angel the Easy Riders had cycled to The Jolly Coopers for their Christmas Lunch at Squiffy's restaurant. It was unfortunate for them but one of the delights for our ride was that Ed met us in Cobham and cycled with us to have dinner with B Group. Mind you, he was pretty quick to grab a drink and station himself in front of the fire as soon as we arrived.
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| The one and only Ed |
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| Ho Ho Home time |
A big thanks to Christina and Gill for subleading for an intricate route in quite 'varied' terrain and for transporting everyone to the pub in good time. Thanks to Mick in my group for back-marking and to everyone in the peloton for their cheerful perseverance and hearty appetites.
~ Tim
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