Credit for the route must go to others I have to
say. Namely Ray Y for the route to Puttenham, Dave V for the route from
Puttenham to tea and Andy C for showing me how to search for past routes on the
blog whereby I came across Ray and Dave’s route with a Fairoaks 11’s start.
Thank you Andy; this knowledge has revolutionised my route planning!
Our route headed south-west navigating the fiddly
roads and cycle paths around Woking but then on to quieter roads as we headed
nearer to lunch.
The challenges in the route came just before and
just after lunch when we had to cross the Hog’s Back; Wanborough Hill before lunch
and Puttenham Hill after. Climbed
magnificently by our group, we arrived at The Good Intent with a healthy
appetite. The pub were absolutely on it and had us served in no time. So much
so that without feeling rushed we were back on our bikes and heading for Cobham
just after 1pm. Our route did follow a fair few busy roads until we hit the
Clay Lane and then the A3 cycle paths. The latter being a bit of a novelty for
a couple of riders who had never experienced the charm of cycling just a few
metres from a busy motorway before!
Tea in the sunshine at Gail’s rounded off a lovely
day. Many thanks to my subleaders Gill and Bernard and to all group members for
their excellent company.
Gill's report:
A great elevenses venue at Fairoaks was the start of a very pleasant, varied route through less often cycled roads and in increasingly summery weather. It was one of those days when little by little we shed as much of our clothing as we decently could!
My group of Dave C, Julie, Ian, Anne and our back marker Paula, were second to set off along the wooded roads, cycle paths and canal towpaths between Chobham and our lunch pub at Puttenham. The service at The Good Intent was impressive. We took the hills before and after lunch in our stride and kept up a steady pace throughout so that we were the planned 10 mins behind the first group for both lunch and tea at Cobham.
The afternoon took us on slightly busier roads but the available cycle paths were very useful and cutting down along the A3 is always fun!
Thanks Sue for the route and my group for your jolly company on a lovely day out and especially to Paula for her exemplary back marking.
Bernard's report:
It was a calm late summer’s day in early September when Rocinante1, Sabina and I joined our group of riders… riders seasoned in all types of weather over hundreds if not thousands of accumulated miles over all types of terrain… gathered where pilots gather, at Fairoaks Airport. Our morning destination was the Hog’s Back, geographically a ridge on the North Downs but as we would find out a living, heaving giant of a beast.
Our mission; to cross it, not once but twice. Literally, we were to ride straight into its side just below the huge slither of concrete, the A3, which keeps it moored in place as it simmers with rage. We would strike it first going up Wanborough Hill and cut through to the other side down Puttenham Hill.
And so with earnest intent we took off.
On our journey we saw the great Colossus2 that is Woking’s towers skyline…an enormous goliath straddling the flat lands in a mad crazy haze. The architects must have seen the giant creature painted by Goya and no doubt transfixed, transported its ghost to the otherwise gentle slopes of Surrey.
My sketch of the towers Goya’s masterpiece
With legs forged of human bone and hearts pulsating with cycling dreams we reached the perimeter of the Hog’s den and felt its energy as we mounted Wanborough Hill. As we pedalled the Hog snapped its jaws in anger and its husks tore into our thighs…we were making our mark on its hide and it was making its mark in our memory.
Paul’s photo of us at the bottom of Wanborough Hill
On the other side we rode into the grounds of The Good Intent public house. We feasted like hungry gladiators in a place which remembered Cromwell… a man who claimed to be of good intent with all his slaughtering but who left stains of blood in the souls of his people and they dug him up when he was already dead and buried, hanged and beheaded him3. We filled our bellies and reminisced. Fed with good nourishment we mounted our bikes and back we headed striking again into the Hog’s flank, up from Puttehnam Hill and with inevitable and immediate revenge the Hog tore at our limbs leaving deep scars which would heal but never fade.
My sketch of our ride up the Hog’s Back
Putting distance between ourselves and that vengeful Hog felt good. The sun was out, the roads were flat and the countryside was green and gentle. A perfect soft breeze was making this the perfect ride. We stopped at Normandy to mark the perfect summer’s afternoon with a photo.
And for a good few miles more all was well… until unbeknown to me, at first, it was not. I later found out that it was at Jacobs Well that the Hog had cursed my navigation tools. For a time I thought we were on track, heading steadily and safely to Cobham but I then realized that the guide arrow on my Garmin although pointing straight ahead was actually frozen. I turned to look at my Ride With GPS app and I realised that although it was alive and well the red route was not showing…instead in small letters at the top it said “tap to redirect back to route”… so tap I did… but it responded with “cannot do so because internet connection has been lost” or something similar. This was not a moment to spread panic and fear among the troops… it was time for a cool head even though my head was filling up quickly with anxiety especially when I saw to my horror that we were approaching Woking… well off the official route. I dared not look back at my following riders… they would have noticed the twitching stress on my face in an instant. I was leading my riders straight into that Colossus and risking us all the fate of Saturn’s son as painted by Goya4,
Another Goya masterpiece
I quickly tapped in ‘Cobham’ to my Garmin. I thought all could be rescued but it replied with “Please make a U turn” just as we arrived at the entrance to Woking’s Swimming Pool! I would have to rely on intuition and a general sense of how to escape the awful fate of entering the centre of Woking. Luckily having undertaken a recci just a few days ago I had an idea of the towns we needed to head for on our way to Cobham. I did my best to ignore one or two nonplussed expressions on the faces of the other riders and to give the impression that all was going according to plan…and as we rode through the park and then some genteel back streets of Woking my confidence slowly started to return… I started to feel more positive. We were not lost just a snip off course and it would be nice to explore a little. Great things can come from mistakes… I am always reminded of this by Fleming’s mistake leading to the discovery of penicillin by mistake and I was determined to get my riders back safely.
All I had to do was look out and head in the direction of the towns I remembered from the official route and so I did…Pyrford, Ripley, Ockham and then after one or two queries and puzzled comments from the riders we headed for Stoke D’Arbenon as our final destination. To my eternal gratitude all the riders were as calm as calm can be… they were so gracious when I confessed to my error and were in good spirits. We enjoyed our coffee and tea and cake and looked forward to our next ride… just like that. How amazing. Thank you fellow riders!
The official route is in red… my accidental detour, or Goya’s loop if you prefer, is shown in black
Our superb riders were, Paul, Grant, Diane, Tim G, Arwyn and Sabina. For those of you who realized I was in a little difficulty thank you for not embarrassing me and letting me put matters right and to everyone thank you for your superb company. Thank you to Tim for back marking and to Sue for putting the route together. When I did the recci with Sabina we did do the official course and it was also a lovely ride. Also of course…I’m only joking about Woking…when cycling through the recreation park with the swimming pool it was very pleasant.
Notes
1. Rocinante is the name of Don Quijote’s horse a novel of the same name by Cervantes. The idea of naming my bike thus came from Steinbeck’s book, ‘Travels with Charley: InSearch of America”.
2. A painting by Goya in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
3. According to the Fitzwilliam museum’s web page Cambridge University.
4. Prado Museum
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