Ride Report for B Group - 28th February

Dear Wayfarers,

Thank you all for joining me on my ride to The Sportsman. The aim was to make it as traffic free as possible, but unfortunately it meant a little bit of mud, a few large puddles, a climb up to Epsom Downs via a little more mud and a few more puddles. Then it was down to Chipstead valley via Banstead where upon we had to cross the railway via the footbridge and up a steep track to Chipstead golf course whereupon we had to get out of the way to avoid high speed flying golf balls. Once we were out of the firing line it was a level ride all the way to The Sportsman, however the pedestrian crossing at Lower Kingswood which I considered to be the safest crossing point on the A217 was out of action 🙄.

Man of Mischief Pete

On arrival at The Sportsman we were greeted with a very long table for us all and a very nice lunch was provided, courtesy of Lisa the landlady.

After lunch it was on to Walton-on-the-Hill via a little bit more mud and a few more puddles and then homeward bound.

Tea stop in Walton

On a positive note, you all now know about PLUTO*. 😉.

Looking forward to taking you all out again soon.

Kind regards,

Pete

*Pipe Line Under The Ocean
It’s a pipeline that was laid in the 1940’s across the channel to supply our troops with fuel on the run up to the D Day invasion.

Tim C writes

With the Nor'Westers away doing their own thing we had just a modest turnout for Pete's ride so our second group was pleased to add Terry and Grant to our ranks. We were away from the Fairfield Centre in reasonable time and retraced our route back to the Ashtead Garden Centre before turning South up Headley Road. Contrary to our usual habit we veered left along Chalk Pit Road to meet and cross Langley Vale Road to pick up the path down to Langley Bottom. We'd just crossed and looked down the hill to see a team of riders on horses coming up towards us. We flattened our backs to the fence as the cavalry rode by before continuing into the Walton Downs. After numerous impressively large puddles, some mud and a steep climb up to the racecourse we rode around the curve of the course and through to Tattenham Corner.

Paul showed us a good route to avoid the worst of Church Lane and we followed a clever route into Banstead. We climbed to the top of Hazelwood Lane, unaware that Pete had taken his earlier group by a more 'interesting' route past Chipstead Station and up onto the golf course. We headed down to Lower Kingswood to find a fairly safe place to cross the A217 and in Mogador Road were surprised by Dawn emerging from the roadside vegetation, sometime after losing track of Pete's group.

The hospitality, food and service at The Sportsman was all good but we emerged well after 2pm into a much chillier day. We found our way across Walton Heath and its Golf Course, negotiating many huge puddles as we went, but without mishap. We were soon across the Epsom Downs and down Chalk Lane into Epsom. Some had already split from the group to ride home and the rest of us were feeling rather cold so opted to ride home without stopping for Tea.

Thanks to Colin for back-marking and to everyone for maintaining a cheerful sense of adventure on this classic Pete Beyer route.

Tim C