A Ride Christmas lunch at The Angel

Frances writes...

I arrived early at Giro in Esher in the damp morning mist, followed closely behind by Simon. Several more eager riders appeared all keen for the warmth and strong coffee ahead of our short ride to lunch.  Janice joined in the meet up before waving us goodbye on the High Street.

Dave V was first away and my group followed shortly afterwards with Jennie backmarking. We had a small group with (Peter B, Peter S, Patrick W and Simon) and made good progress despite the dampness in the air.  The good coffee helped and when we arrived at the muddy common, everyone was keen to cross it in anticipation of getting to lunch soon.  It was passable and other than a brief stop, we continued onwards with the help of Jennie keeping me from going off course twice!  As we headed towards Hinchley, Dave J met us and continued to The Angel getting there on time to greet fellow wayfarers.  

Thanks to everyone for making the ride and lunch very enjoyable.  Merry Christmas to you all.

Dave Vine writes....

Frances had provided our select group of 5 (Ged, Neil W, Sue C, Clive J and Dave F) with two leaders. I lost the traditional arm-wrestling competition for the post of back marker to Ged, so I had the honour of leading off into the drizzly Esher traffic.

Thankfully Frances had arranged the north-east wind, so we had a helpful boost going up the climb from the Yehudi Menuhin School, which took us all the way to Bookham, passing in Fetcham the former home of our much-missed friend Ray Dare.

The Mole was in full spate and there was surface water everywhere, so the bikes were sufficiently dirty that no-one objected to crossing Bookham Common, surprisingly puddle-free. And the trees provided excellent cover now that the wind was in our faces.

We arrived at The Angel with 5 minutes to spare, time for a historic photograph, before being greeted by the ghost of Christmas Present, who had arrived by a more leisurely route.

Thanks to Frances for organising the ride, Ged for back marking my group, and especially to Jennie for organising the most sociable lunch which followed.