B Ride - 18th December 2013 - Hammersmith Bridge

Fourteen of us left Leatherhead heading to Raynes Park, up Cottenham Park road, crossing Wimbledon Common and skirting Richmond Park to Barnes. We then followed the cycle signs to Hammersmith Bridge to reach the Blue Anchor pub.

Along the way we had some discombobulation - firstly, a newcomer Jeffrey, punctured in Epsom. Neil and David kindly agreed to assist him whilst the rest of the group pressed on. After three new inner `tubes Jeffrey decided to head for the nearest cycle shop which unfortunately is closed on Wednesdays. We never saw Jeffrey again.

Meanwhile, my back-marker, Francoise, punctured in Motspur Park. The chain became tangled. Thank goodness the mechanically-minded Stephanie and James managed to unravel the chain. In the meantime Dave and Neil caught up with us and we swiftly headed to the pub where a nice table had been led out on the first floor for 20 people with views of Hammersmith Bridge and the Thames.

The Blue Anchor pub was licensed in 1722 (which for the historians amongst you is approximately half a century before the French Revolution) and is one of the oldest Public Houses in London. Thankfully the food was not from that period; in fact it was better than average pub food and we were all served promptly and at the same time.

After lunch we crossed the bridge and turned left onto the tow path heading towards Putney. We turned right to return to Richmond Park via Barnes. At this stage Bernard left us to catch a train. We went round Richmond Park against a strong head wind and turned left exiting through Kingston Gate. We then made our way up to Combe Lane and through New Malden, to Claremont Avenue, where 5 of us had a Christmas Tea in our home - a total mileage of 42 miles.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Cycling New Year,
Frank

B Ride 18 December 2013

This nice chap ...

 ... took us to a nice pub (the Blue Anchor) with a good view (from the first floor) of the river at Hammersmith. There was a serious boat race:

 A panoramic view:

A pleasant lunch:

... and we didn't have to pay in old money!

B Group - 18th December

Maps for Frank's route showing the morning ride in red and the afternoon ride in turquoise:

B Group 11th December

Claygate to King's Tun

 Fogbound in the departure lounge at Claygate

 Xmas lunch at the Kings Tun. All things come.....

B Ride Wednesday 11 December 2013

A belated report owing to an internet connection problem. The Virgin man has now been and set me up with a new router.

On our way from North Cheam Lynda took us to ? House where there had been a serious fire a few days ago. We admired the damage and then carried on. The paths in the park were icy in places and poor old Liz took a tumble. She got back on her bike but during lunch it started to really hurt. So she hobbled off to A & E in considerable pain. After 5 hours she was X-rayed, nothing broken and equipped with crutches. She reckons she'll be out of action for some time.

It was the day of the Christmas lunch so there were a host of B riders. So many I didn't attempt a roll call as I usually do. We set off from Claygate retracing our steps due north along Red Lane. A short hiatus when we got to a no-entry sign to cross the M25, which I proposed to ignore but wiser heads prevailed. So we crossed via a sub-way. The fog was quite thick at this stage, there was one place to cross quite a fast road where one hesitated because it was not obvious whether one could see far enough.

Along some side streets and the on a main-ish road to Hampton Court Bridge and on to the tow-path along the north side of the river. We passed the ice-rink in Hampton Court garden. Even in the fog it was nice to cycle along the river, the path is pretty good and, of course, no traffic and few walkers. Over Kingston Bridge and on the the Weatherspoon pub, the Kings Tun (not very funny and incorrect punctuation!)

I had deliberately chosen a direct route so that there was plenty of time for lunch. There was! We got there at about 12.15 and finished about 3.30. The service was so slow several people gave up before their desert.

B group Christmas lunch 11/12/13

B Group - 11th December (Christmas Lunch)

Bernard led us out of the fog and into Kingston for Christmas Lunch:

Someone left a map on the pavement outside the DC in Claygate. There is an envelope containing a card tucked into it. Please claim it from me. I can bring it to elevenses on the 18th.

B Ride - 4th December 2014

Inside the Bull's Head (West Clandon) - "This is one very warm and cozy pub, brightly decorated for the festive season" in Tim's own words.

Many thanks Tim, for another most interesting ride, with lovely views on roads we had not taken before and for a well researched commentary on the blog. It made it worth coming back from the warmth of Spain to follow you on the cold Surrey lanes. We do appreciate the preparation you put into your rides.
F & F

B Group - 4th December

After thanking Maureen and Wendy-Jane for their hard work serving morning tea to us all during this year, and the presentation of awards to John Bassett and Ed Sharpe we set off at 11:15 down Plough Lane and Ockham Lane on our well worn route to Ripley. We crossed the High Street and followed Newark Lane before turning left into Papercourt Lane. In Send we turned right and rode up to Old Woking then along the High Street before veering off into Vicarage Road and Westfield Road. In Moor Lane we immediately turned right into New Lane then, rather than being seen to be duplicating Pete Barnard's recent route (in reverse), we took a left into Robin Hood Lane at the end of which we turned right into Sutton Green Road and left again towards Wareham's Farm then right into the small lane known as Foxes Path. We passed through a gate and so that we could savour the beautiful countryside we rode slowly along the lane up to the Catholic church of St Edward the Confessor. King Ed, son of Ethelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, starred in the lively history leading up to the Norman invasion. Françoise enjoyed, that is to say 'blushed', to be reminded of this cataclysm in our history. Although we may only believe it as a result of the forceful barrage of political spin from the Normans of the time, it appears that Edward probably chose William as his successor, long before his own death early in 1066.

This photo is on the website: http://www.saintedwardtheconfessor.org.uk/

At the church it might have been tempting to turn East towards Sutton Place, the Grade 1 listed Tudor manor house, former residence of J Paul Getty, which is now owned by a Russian billionaire, Alisher Usmanov, one of Russia's richest men, but significantly, a Putin era oligarch rather than a Yeltsin era one. He is also a major shareholder in Arsenal FC which may endear him to a minority. However I hadn't called ahead to ask him if we might visit, and with other arrangements for lunch, we did a quick pirouette around the car park in front of the church and turned West down towards Blanchards Hill.

At Jacob's Well we turned down Clay Lane to cross the A3 and then turned right into Burpham Lane followed by New Inn Lane. Near Merrow Common, in Park Lane, we dismounted and trundled across the road to get into Old Merrow Street which brought us out onto the A25.The large ornate gates into Clandon Park seem to be permanently shut so we rode another half mile along to the Henchley Gate and rode along the small lane, on the Earl of Onslow's land I believe, until we reached a small gate for pedestrians which enabled us to continue along to Clandon Park House. Once out on The Street in West Clandon we turned left for the last 100 metres or so to the Bulls Head.

This is one very warm and cozy pub, brightly decorated for the festive season, where we ate some very decent and freshly prepared pub grub. They had set aside a nice area for our 20 or so riders and served us as quickly as they could. After 16.7 miles we were all quite peckish and greatly enjoyed our lunch. Vic had taken a quite different route from the rest of us and when we arrived he was in the final stages of polishing off his lunch. Such cunning has probably evolved from years of riding with the A Group!

We managed to tear ourselves away just before the pub's closing time of 2:30. After galloping the two and a quarter miles along the A246 we turned North into The Street in West Horsley. For a change we took the quiet road called Long Reach up to Ockham and retraced our route back to Cobham where nine of us stopped for refresment at Café Aromas in Hollyhedge Road after just 9.1 miles since lunch.

It was a pleasure to welcome two new riders into our group, Bill Thurston and Andy Bowskill. I hope they haven't been deterred by what was a fairly big mileage for this time of year.

Many thanks to David for being back marker, to Terry, Pam and Peter for being ready, with some maps I had prepared earlier, to lead any strays back onto the correct path. Thanks too to Neil and everyone who marked corners; there were a good few opportunities for people to miss the turns today.

- Tim

 

The pink trail is the morning route and the turquoise one is the afternoon ride

B Group - tomorrow's ride (4th December)

The ride tomorrow morning will be 17 miles so I would like to depart as soon after 11:00 as is reasonable. There will be no proper hills at all but we are aiming to get to the pub by 1 o'clock. This is to minimize the amount of riding we have to do in the dark after Tea. The afternoon ride will be just 9 miles back to Cobham but all the same it would be nice to make good time.

We are going to a nice pub but please don't ask for the Soup of the Day because it is not on the menu.

We'll be on a couple of relatively busy roads, including a stretch on the A246 so please ride carefully and be sensible if we are obliged to stop near intersections or roundabouts. Keep an eye out for the person or group behind you and, anywhere it might seem necessary, please mark the corners so that people who have been dropped at traffic lights etc will know where we are going. I would like to avoid losing anyone because this has been a feature of my rides (and certain others) on more than one occasion.

B Group - 27th November

Liz S. started out with about 25 of us, first heading North up Waldegrave Road and Cross Deep to Twickenham where we turned down Wharf Lane to enjoy the quiet route along the embankment past Orleans House and Marble Hill Park. After the Warren Footpath we crossed the road which leads up to Richmond Bridge and followed the river around through Isleworth and into Syon Park.

The main road through Brentford brought us out at Kew Bridge which we crossed before looping around and taking the river path for the rest of the ride to The Ship in Mortlake. The service was friendly and brisk despite the time it took to take all our orders and serve drinks to so many of us. Nice pub food, freshly prepared and a hearty vegetable soup-of-the-day set us up nicely for the ever so arduous 5.7 mile ride to Tea at the YMCA Hawker Centre. To get there we made our way up Sheen Lane and into Richmond Park. We took the Ham Gate exit and carried on into Lock Road to Teddington Lock where we turned left onto the river path for the last short stretch to the YMCA.

This was an unusually short ride but with the weather being so mild it was a thoroughly enjoyable and sociable day out.

This was the second time out with us for a new rider, Geoff Gregory so we are pleased to welcome him into the group. Last week Mick Furnival-Adams came out with us for the first time and today, learning that the A group were not going to be riding up any big hills, he went out with them, as did at least two other regular B Group riders. Perhaps there is a load balancing mechanism starting to kick in, with people who have been appalled at the large numbers turning out to ride with B Group promoting themselves into the A Group. The Elleray Hall was certainly jam-packed this morning.

Thank you Liz for a lovely day out and please consider leading us from time to time in the future.

B Group - 20th November

On leaving Weybridge D.C. at 11.30am what should have been a bakers dozen turned out to be only 12!! having lost one before I started didn’t seem too good.

 

Ray of the “B” group had somehow tucked himself away in the foyer talking to one of the volunteers and didn’t hear the rowdy lot leaving. I had fortunately told him where we were going so he made his own way & caught us up in Chobham.  We lunched at Castle Green,  The Grove  public house and except for one gentleman sipping a pint at the bar the rowdies were the FLAVOUR OF THE DAY.

 

The publican was very good and provided everything we asked for very efficiently except Tim had to settle for an omlette instead of a soup but seemed very happy about it.

We returned to Shepperton where 8 stayed for tea, coffee and cakes  It was very early when we arrived 2.30pm so hopefully everyone got home in the light.

 

I would like to thank Terry & Tim for doing a very good job as T.E.C.   And a very big welcome to a new member today  MICK  FURNIVAL-ADAMS hope to see you again.

 

Many thanks folks for turning out on such a miserable day but which ended nice and sunny,

 

Irene

Pam was to have led today's B Group ride but, on hearing about her wrist injury, Irene volunteered to lead in her place. Consequently Pam is feeling very bad that Irene copped the torrential rain that was originally scheduled for Pam. So Pam has asked me to record her profound thanks to Irene for leading today. In the event, Irene's spirit of endurance was rewarded with a lovely blue sky after lunch.

The other good news is, as Pam writes:
"By now you would have heard that according to the consultant whom I saw yesterday, my wrist is not broken, just badly sprained so now have a brace instead of plaster on it!  Have to give it a couple of weeks to heal before getting back on the bike."

In the maps the turquoise line shows the morning ride to Castle Green, near Chobham (8.9 miles) and the dotted pink line shows the afternoon route back to Shepperton (9.3 miles).

B Ride – follow up from Pam

Nice ride yesterday but, unfortunately for me, the last for a while!!!! YEP ...I did break a bone in my wrist so am well plastered - (nil by mouth) !!

My wrist was not too painful whilst at lunch but it did not like the bumps on the way home. It was really weird for it was noticeably swelling whilst having my pre-shower cuppa and definitely becoming more and more painful. Thought I may go to hospital to-day but decided to go last night. Took the bus there and had a lift home.

Have spoken to Irene and she will lead next Wednesday, bless her :) Didn't even have to ask :)

Peter is correct in saying that the adjusters are broken on my helmet........what a clever opening to Peter's report...what happened to me yesterday gave a distinct message... wear a helmet.

I hit that rail soooo hard that I doubt I would have survived without it!! All because I misjudged my route through the posts :(

Happy cycling,

Pam:)

B Group - 13th November (map)

Peter's clockwise route from the Hersham DC to The Cap in Hand (7.9 miles) thence to Tea at the new cyclists' café, "Giro" in Esher (5.4 miles). Thanks to David Cox for collecting this data.

B Ride: Hersham - Hook - Esher

As soon as I got home today I looked up the origin of the phrase “If you want to get ahead, get a hat”. Apparently it's in the Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame and was a slogan in 1934. Wind forward to 2013 and perhaps it should run something like “If you want to keep your head, wear a helmet”.

Today’s run with B’s was a modest affair starting after the AGM well after 1200. There were 24 of us, split into 2 groups, with Brian leading the second group (many thanks to him for offering). The route to lunch was some 9 not too difficult miles via the backs of Walton on Thames and West Molesey to East Molesey, Thames Ditton, Long Ditton and Hook.

However we did have cross the River Mole on the Summer Road footbridge. In the second group, and in the narrow confines of the bridge, Pam’s pannier caught the railings and she fell off sufficiently hard to hurt her wrist and hit her head against the railings, and in the process breaking her helmet (the fixings, I think). Very lucky and a bit shaken, she and the group made it to lunch arriving more or less at the same as the first group. Our excuse was the excessively long delay at the Summer Road level crossing.

Tim joined us at the Cap In Hand, making 25 in all. JDW were their usual efficient selves. It was about 2.30pm when we left.

Was the afternoon going to be long or short? The destination was the same – the new cyclist’s café in Esher – G!RO – which opened a few weeks ago. I opted for the short route through Claygate. 8 made the journey with 7 actually going in for tea and cakes. It’s not large but it is relaxed and comfortable and the prices are OK. G!RO are also the UK Partners for Argonaut Cycles and have 2 bikes on display. It’s the first time (and probably the last) that I have had the opportunity to touch a £10,000 bike!

For me the journey home was just round the corner. I covered about 26 miles, enjoying a lucky sunny day out with the B's.

Peter T

B Group, 6th November

Cobham - Woking - Cobham

Despite the heavy rain and dire forecast, 19 B's set off from Cobham. However the leader had a cunning plan and, within half an hour, the rain had stopped and we were left with overcast, but milder for the time of year, conditions for the rest of the day. Plough Lane, Old Lane and The Drift took us to West Horsley before dropping down Ripley Lane to pick up the concrete track between Jury and Sussex Farms. On to Burntcommon and the cycle path alongside the A3 towards Burpham. Unfortunately Alan punctured but was nobly assisted by Tim C whilst the rest continued through Jacobs Well and Woking Park to reach the Herbert Wells for lunch, where Tim and Alan rejoined. After the usual Wetherspoons prompt service we followed the canal to West Byfleet and then on road to Pyrford Lock and Wisley to rejoin the A3 path past Ockham Bites and so back to Cobham Sainsburys, where a few took tea before the return home as darkness fell. Many thanks to Terry for an excellent job as back marker.

Pete

B Ride Wednesday 6th November 2013

Our leader

Two things about the lunchtime pub in Woking, the ceiling clock:

And the connection with H G Wells. In 1895, Wells was an established writer and he married his second wife, Catherine Robbins, moving with her to the town of Woking in Surrey. This is the Thin Man.

B Group - 6th November (maps)

Pete's clockwise route from Cobham to Woking (16.9 miles) for lunch, then back to Cobham for Tea at Sainsburys (12.1 miles)

Detail of the route Pete and the peloton probably took into Woking. Alan had a puncture on the A3 which detained the two of us for 20 minutes, after which we followed the local cycle network (and the GPS) into town to join everyone at the pub.

B Ride Wednesday 30 October 2013

Either Stephanie is retained by Fuller's for their advertising or she doesn't like having her photo taken.

Lunch in Ripley at the:

Our leader:

Leaving the pub.

B Group - 30th October

29 started from Addlestone D.C. on a glorious sunny day, making for The Saddlers Arms in Ripley, via Liberty Lane, Ongar Hill to New Haw, West Byfleet, Pyrford Road to the Pub. “But on the way we lost some”: Ian’s chain broke on the hill at Row Town, John Bellamy and David Aylett kindly stayed to help (big thanks). On arriving at the Pub seven decided to try another one because of the size of the group (again thanks) I think the first three met up with them.

We then returned via Warren Lane and took a chance and went down Dodd's Lane to Brooklands (surface was o.k.), St Georges Avenue to Squires in Hersham.  12 enjoyed tea and cake and Steph even managed to buy 2 christmas presents 

Thanks to Pam & Terry for being back markers and for Tim leading the 2nd half of the Crocodile.

Irene

The morning route to Send Marsh

The afternoon route to Squires in Hersham

Detail of the route through Dodd's Lane and Murray's Lane through to Brooklands