Report for B Group - 13th December

In order of departure ...

Report from John, leader of the Cairngorms

B Ride along the route of London Coal Duty Posts [LCDP]

We must thank Tim for his research and planning in that the route he provided for us this week gave the LCDP geeks amongst us a brilliant opportunity to view 13 posts.

This post could be seen to our left as we rode across the north edge of Ashtead Common.

There are approximately 220 posts located around London at an average distance of 15 miles out from central London. Today we were able to see 13 within about 10 miles of cycling, a real bonus for LCDP nerds as they are on average about two miles apart!

These listed monuments were put in place in the 1860s to show coal merchants where they were crossing the boundary into London and therefore had to pay tax to the Corporation of London. The money was used to finance the building of Thames bridges, the new Thames embankments and to purchase land for use of local people eg Ashtead Common and Farthing Downs.

Thank you to my group for not dropping back from their sub leader when they had heard more than enough about LCDPs.

J.A.

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Report from Steph, leader of the Grampians

After my wet reccy the previous day it was very enjoyable to ride through the woodland in drier conditions and the puddles didn't seem as bad as the day before when I got off the bike quite a lot!
My lovely group were enthusiastic and we set off at a brisk pace whizzing through the puddles and enjoying the relatively wide paths which gave room to avoid the deeper ones.  We were in danger of catching the first group so slowed down to photo some particularly splendid mud edged lagoons.

The cut towards West Park Hospital gave us a gentler incline towards Horton Lane.  We deviated a little once up Chalk Lane opting for the tarmac around the grandstand and on towards our lunch destination - The Woolpack at Banstead.  Good food served without delay.   ________________________________________

Report from Tim C, leader of the Trossachs

With the Day Centre in Claygate not being available for us this time B Group met for Elevenses at ‘Parade and Albany’ which proved to be a most suitable venue, for its range of home baked cake and savoury comestibles, good coffee and tea and homely ambience. They would be pleased to welcome us again. They are open Monday – Friday from 7:30 to 16:30 and on Saturday from 8:30 to 16:00

Our three teams, The Cairngorms, The Grampians and The Trossachs all set out in good time for the 12.5 mile, two (actually 2¼) hour ride to Banstead. It’s a few decades since I last visited and cycled in Scotland, and back then we didn’t venture North of Pitlochry or Oban or ride into the mountains. So the names which might evoke all sorts of challenges for hikers and mountain bikers have always sounded to me more like names for species of fearsome creatures in children’s books, such as those in Maurice Sendak’s ‘Where the Wild Things Are'.

So, with no intended disrespect to anyone I have hijacked the names for our three teams. We saw a few cattle and horses but didn’t encounter any stranger creatures, despite a suitable habitat for them along much of our route. 

After just one mile from the café we left the tarmac and ventured into the woods of Arbrook Common. Beyond that was the delightful Birchwood Lane to take us across farmland, under the A3,  and to skirt the ‘Birch’ and ‘Limekiln’ Woods. After so much recent rain we had expected the Rythe to be a raging torrent but it was barely flowing at all. Until a few years ago the stretch of Birchwood Lane under the railway bridge was often impassable in the rainy seasons. Some engineering project seems to have been undertaken since then and today we pedalled through a cluster of shallow and benign puddles.

(The Horse sculpture is behind Arwyn)

Nic Fiddian-Green's sculpture

New Road seems to have been totally neglected for years despite being a popular link for walkers, cyclists and horse riders making their ways between Claygate and The Prince’s Coverts. The path was very squiffy in places and where large mucky puddles spanned the ‘road’ many of us dismounted and wheeled our bikes through to Fairoak Lane.

We rode uphill through The Prince’s Coverts, crossed the A243 (Kingston Road) and rode a mile and a half along the bridleway (29) on the edge of the commons to emerge at the Epsom Common Car Park. Here we crossed Rushett Lane and meandered around the residential area where the hospitals used to be.

From Epsom we turned into Chalk Lane and had to squeeze past a tractor on the lane where some major construction was happening. From The Rubbing House we took the rough road which passes in front of the grandstands. We made a short detour to view the commemorative plaque to Emily Davison who died in 1913 for the cause of women’s suffrage. From Tottenham Corner we followed NCN route 22 all the way into Banstead and parked up at The Woolpack for lunch.

Apart from Ray waiting quite a while for his sandwich to turn up our experience at The Woolpack was good. The staff were pleased to welcome us and we ate well.

I thought I was taking a risk, springing this route on B Group in the middle of the Winter rainy season. Apart from a bit of rain on the way to Elevenses it held off until we had all arrived at lunch but it does seem that we have a perverse capacity to find ourselves enjoying such a rough and muddy ride on a chilly day under an ominous sky.

Thanks very much to John and Steph for sub-leading, guiding their teams through the mud and delivering everyone to the pub intact. Thanks to everyone on the ride for maintaining such high spirits in the face of adversity.

~ Tim C
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