Report for B Group - 27th March

Effingham: Queen Stage - Cranleigh: Three Horseshoes - Dorking - Leatherhead

Christina writes:

Our 1st departure 10.50 am group included Carolyn, Tim Gibbons, Fixie Dave, Tony Hooker,  Chris Hyde and myself, Christina.

At the outset, Fixie Dave wanted the ride to be all on the road. Judging by the heavy rain the night before, and with the blessing of route designer Tim C, we were pleased to stick to the "alternative" route, especially when the heavens poured forth from 11.30am onwards up until our arrival at the "Three Horseshoes" Pub at 12.40pm, 10 minutes earlier than scheduled.

Team Christina (Tim G partially eclipsed)

At the high point in Raikes Lane

I had forewarned our group about the undulating nature of the ride before and after the lunch. Everyone just got on with the ride. Hopefully the ride prepared them for more challenging rides in the near future, be it the Easter Tour in Eastbourne, Skiing, the Hilly 50 or the cycling holiday in Majorca.

Thanks to Tim C for the excellent route, my group for your cheerful dispositions and Tim G for back marking.

~ Christina

Christina studying the terrain during the recce

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Stephen writes:

The second group - Stephen, Terry, Robert, Francis, Ian and Keith - set forth from the Queen Stage in good weather, and hoping that the forecast of heavy rain ahead was wrong.  Green Dene successfully conquered, all was going well.  But as we approached Albury, the forecast proved all too accurate, and the rain came down.  A democratic vote was taken to stick to roads rather than the tracks up and over Blackheath.   By the time we reached the turn at Chilworth rain and cold were taking their toll and two of the group - having already ridden many miles even before the start - decided enough was enough and headed for home.  The remaining intrepid group of 4 carried on and made it successfully to the welcome shelter, warmth and food of the Three Horseshoes at Cranleigh.

At The Three Horseshoes

Encouragingly, the rain then abated and the afternoon ride to Dorking even included some sunshine - very welcome, especially as the post-lunch hills took their toll.  Having sweated up to Sutton Abinger we enjoyed the long sweep downhill to the Guildford Road, eschewing the additional climb at Raikes Lane.  Then the familiar - particularly to Terry - route into Dorking, ending at the quirky Old Clunker café.

At The Old Clunker

Thanks to Tim for a good route;  to all the members of the group for their fellowship and good humour; and to the weather gods for saving us from more rain in the afternoon.

~ Stephen

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Tim writes:

With a forecast for cool rainy weather I had some anxiety that a few might decide to stay at home. But we arrived at The Queen Stage after a bit of a battle with a full-frontal southerly wind to find that several of us were there already. And everyone else turned up too. The staff had been warned that a lycra-clad horde would be invading their establishment and they catered for our A and B teams very well. And the croissants were warm.

After the ride up Green Dene and down towards Shere we were expecting some serious rain. So, in conversations with Christina and Stephen, our two subleaders, it was agreed that each would take a decision about whether or not to take their teams up unto Blackheath. For some pig-headed reason I wanted to do this part of the ride, as planned. So in Albury we turned left into Blackheath Lane which, despite the seriously grotty weather, proved to be a delight to ride, having been freshly tarmacked. And with its being no more than three metres wide and not actually going anywhere, it was entirely devoid of traffic.

The team didn't appreciate the route ...

 

... as much as I'd imagined they would!

 

"Are we there yet?"

However the fun came to an end and we had to haul our bikes up about 100 metres in a steep and very mucky gully, eventually arriving up on the heath and looking for our track. We found it and had a rough but easy-to-navigate path, eventually arriving at the much photographed 'This Way'/'That Way'/'Somewhere Else' sign post. At this point we turned south for a lovely ride, despite the heavy rain, through to Shamley Green. We kept off the main roads wherever possible but in view of our continuing failure to appreciate the weather we decided to skip the scenic detour through Smithwood Common, and arrived at The Three Horseshoes only 5 minutes after our preordained time.

We’d pre-ordered lunch so didn’t have to wait at all for it to be delivered, thanks especially to the chef, Stuart. We were very reluctant to leave this warm and friendly pub. It was cold outside so we put all our layers back on and headed off towards Ewhurst, rejoicing in the effort the sun was now making to shine its happy rays upon us.

All geared up for departure after lunch

We negotiated some serious undulations until Holmbury St Mary then cruised down to Sutton Abinger. We’d discussed the pros and cons of riding along Raikes Lane in order to avoid a mile of the busy A25 and once we arrived at the top of the ramp beyond The Volunteer and recovered our breath we felt pleased with our choice of this more direct route.

Tim, Paul, Anne and Steph

Tim, Paul, Anne and Mick

In the late afternoon, although The Old Clunker was the appointed Tea stop, Dorking seemed like a long way from home so we carried on to Leatherhead where, on Paul’s recommendation, we stopped for tea at Lucio’s Coffee and Deli to enjoy friendly service and tasty refreshments. But, riding up the Mole Gap, Paul had the misfortune to find a bee buzzing about inside his glasses and in the panic to get rid of it he took a nasty fall. We hope that he is not feeling too bruised or suffering any other injury after this.

Thanks to Steph, Paul, Mick and Anne for their good company and for enduring the rigours of the morning route and its foul weather with true British gritty fortitude. Thank you to Christina and Stephen for leading your teams on this challenging day and Mick for helping to lead our team when the rain played havoc with my phone.

~ Tim

Blackheath route detail on OS Explorer