B Group - 31st December

A map and photo collage illustrating Terry's ride from the Ashtead Park Garden Centre to lunch at The Cricketers in Epsom:

The route and the lunch were very good and contrary to the early morning expectations we had a most splendid day out.

~ Tim

B Group - 26th November

We all assembled at The Bradbury Centre, Kingston upon Thames. The weather was overcast and drizzly; so it was rather surprising that 15 B-riders turned up. We set out for Colnbrook going via Bushy Park, Hampton, Hanworth, Feltham Hill, Ashford, Staines, Wraysbury, and Horton.  Pam, who was backing up the group, sustained a puncture (that is to say Pam’s bike did) in Bushy Park. So, Tim was immediately promoted to backer-up of the group. We duly arrived at Colnbrook at 5 minutes after 1pm. Lunch had been booked at 1pm at the Ostrich Inn. Later, Pam and two riders who stayed with her also arrived at the Ostrich.

The meals at the Ostrich were good. The Wayfarers had not been there before as far as is known, but there is no reason why we shouldn’t go back to the Ostrich in the future.

After lunch we set off towards Poyle, Stanwell Moor, Stanwell, Ashford, Charlton and Sunbury where a few of us stopped for tea at the Squires Garden Centre. The group after lunch was reduced to eleven bike riders which was a very manageable number.  However, I am very grateful to both Pam and Tim who did the backup duties. Having this kind of support from both of them was essential.

~ Peter Carpenter

The happy crew at The Ostrich in Colnbrook

Peter's ride from Kingston to The Ostrich

P.S. We'd like to wish Norman a Happy Birthday and thank him for his very kind gesture of buying tea and coffee for everyone at the Bradbury Centre.

B Group - 19th November

Peter Tiller's ride from Weybridge to Knaphill for lunch and then to the Crockford Bridge Garden Centre in Addlestone for Tea. The dotted crimson line shows the shortened route taken by Robin's puncture party, the small committee which gathered to assist him with extracting a shard of glass and changing the tube in his rear wheel. The turquoise line shows the afternoon ride along the Basingstoke Canal.

B Group - 5th November

Twenty one of us emerged from the RBL in Cobham to find that it was still fairly cool but with no immediate prospect of rain. Off to a good start we took a very direct route down to West Horsley by turning right into The Drift after Effingham Junction. The serious climbing began soon after we crossed the A246 into Shere Road and we were up at over 630 feet by the time we joined Green Dene and turned right into Combe Lane. We whizzed down Combe Bottom, though with some caution because Vic had seen a huge puddle at the bottom end of the lane just the other day.

In Shere we turned up Middle Street and Sandy Lane. After crossing the railway we took a left into Hook Lane and after Jesses Lane with its fine patina of green moss on the surface warning us to descend with caution we arrived in Peaslake. The second big hill of the day started as soon as we turned into Radnor Road. This was quite a long haul and we were relieved when it eventually levelled out near the car park at an altitude of over 750 feet. Although there were still a few undulations to be endured once we had turned in to Three Mile Road, the worst was over and although I had feared being dreadfully late for lunch we weren’t. The 15.4 miles had taken us all of 2 hours.

After 1576 feet of climbing, if my software is to be believed, we had all earned a good lunch. Emma and the landlord Geoff served us all very cheerfully and good food was delivered from the kitchen for the 19 of us at tables which had been reserved near the fire. It was all very cosy, in a pub with a nice atmosphere.

The obligatory team photos were taken after lunch before Irene, Pam, Gill and Liz took off for the remote parts of Surrey and Middlesex where they live.  We were sad to see them go but the rest of us had more work to do with some 776 feet of climbing over the next few miles mainly through Pasture Wood Road. Unfortunately I had advertised the afternoon ride as being less than 10 miles to Leatherhead. That was because I had originally intended to have lunch at the Stephan Langton but I changed my mind after the recce with David. We trundled through more of the beautiful and bosky lanes around Abinger Common and Friday Street until we reached the A25. 700 metres of the A25 was enough so we turned into Balchins Lane and took our now popular route on the cycle paths through to Milton Court then via down-town Dorking to Annies, 12.3 miles from lunch. Peter Tiller punctured on the path just South of Leatherhead but came in for his cuppa before attending to it.

The one person running Annies was cleaning up as we arrived but she was kind enough to make tea and hot chocolate for the six or seven of us who turned up.

The success of the day was due to many things. Everyone persevered with what was a pretty challenging ride; climbing like that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Corner marking worked very well thanks especially to Peter T, Andy and Tony H and I was grateful for this because missed turns would have been really bad news  The rain held off until after lunch but when it did come it was serious enough for us all to stop and waterproof ourselves. Thanks to David for being a very efficient back-marker. Sadly his CatEye bounced off his handlebar mount somewhere in Radnor Road and he wasn’t able to find it.

It was good to see our new riders David and Jennie out with us again, full of enthusiasm. Thank you to everyone for hanging in and contributing to the special atmosphere of the day.

~ Tim

B Group ride this Wednesday - short and sweet ...

... not so much a description of the stature and temperament of the leader but rather the modest number of miles and the pleasantly hilly nature of the terrain; two appetite-building biggies to take us to lunch. The afternoon ride will be less than 10 miles and should pitch us into Annies long before it gets dark.

Please ensure that your tyres are good and especially that your brake-blocks are not worn out; there will be some quite steep descents and there may be slippery leaves and other autumnal debris on the smaller lanes.

I would like the ride to start at 11:00. Please be ready to go.

~ Tim

B Group - 29th October

TEDDINGTON - VIRGINIA WATER - SUNBURY/HALLIFORD

Well, well, well, on a day that rain was forecast for the morning and the afternoon we had 26 B group riders of which four had not been out with us before!   Kay introduced her rowing pal Jackie, Robin introduced Marta and then there was Mr and Mrs David and Jennie. Great having you out with the club, good company and I/we look forward to seeing each of you out with us again! :-)

The ride started well through the park to Hampton and onwards to Chertsey.   Chertsey bridge works were causing havoc yesterday but, of all the luck, the lights and working vehicles had just been cleared as we arrived!  Next landmark was Chertsey station...here the group was split when a train passed through .....Vic continued with a small group into Stonehill Road, Accommodation Road, Longcross Road and Kitsmead Lane to The Wheatsheaf at Virginia Water.   We used 'corner markers' so that the majority could keep moving and it worked very well until...OH DEAR!!!!...I missed the right turn into Kitsmead Road as reccied with Gill, (must have been dreaming) - my sincere apologies to all :) :)    

I heard (at lunch) that Terry had been keeping a gap between the rear and front of the group so when they got to Kitsmead Lane - there was no marker!   Gill continued as reccied - which left the group behind me waiting for them at the junction of Longcross Road and Chobham Lane - all in vain - and I waited, until I gave up -  at the junction into Wellington Avenue!  Phone calls were made, without replies!    Nevertheless, we all came together in the pub and nobody bit my head off - thanks!!    By the way - food and service were good!

One small group, Terry and son in law Paul (Hi) with Brian left first.  Next to leave was a small group led by Irene.  Then another hiccup !!   Unfortunately John B found he had a flat as the last group were ready to leave..no problem..we hung on and that was the last of to-days hiccups - thankfully!!!!

After a direct route back to Sunbury, seven of us stopped for tea at Squires, swapping stories whilst eating cake and drinking tea etc.    It had stopped raining by the time we left and I was home at 5.15.   with under 50 miles on the clock!

It would have been a lovely route if the sun had been shining - but there you go - we cannot order sun shine! 

My thanks to Terry for splitting the group to a more acceptable size, to Gill for back marking, to Irene for assisting me through the park and leading a returning group in the hopes of getting home before dark?!  

Great to have your company.  Dare I say it..I enjoyed today - hope others did :):) :)    Pam :) :)

Map showing Pam's route to Virginia Water

John Bellamy's Puncture Party at the Wheatsheaf; looking forward to riding home in the rain

Jenny and Ed

Pam and David

B Group - 22nd October

The good weather brought out a good number of cyclists to Addlestone today and it was a group of 20 which set out, plus a couple more who wouldn't be staying for lunch.  The lunch stop was at the Vansittart Arms in Windsor, conveniently situated on Route 4.  Our route was via Lyne, Thorpe Green, across to Stroude Lane, past the beautiful building of Great Fosters and into Egham - thankfully not being held up at the level crossing.  The first climb of the day was to halfway up Middle Hill before turning left on to Parsonage Road and Victoria Street into Englefield Green, where again we did a couple more left turns into Blay's Lane for a loop along Wick Lane, skirting the Virginia Water boundary up to the main entrance into Savill Garden.  Entering the Great Windsor Park here, we caught glimpses of some lovely autumn colours, before passing into the park proper and crossing it to reach Rangers' Gate.  From here the cycle path on the other side of the A332 took us into Windsor by the back-door where we were able to follow the Route 4 signs to our destination.

The publican had kindly reserved an area I had requested, big enough for the whole group, and with three at the bar taking orders, we were soon sitting down - apart from Terry and Pam who had been held up attending to a puncture sustained by Terry on the last lap.  (Well at least that was better than the three which we had had on the recce!)  The service was excellent and the food was good - a pub well worth revisiting.

The return route was straightforward - into Windsor, then via Datchet, Wraysbury, Staines, the towpath to Laleham, Shepperton and to my home in Lower Sunbury where 11 of us had tea.  Many thanks to Pam for being back-marker.

~ Gill

15.6 miles to Lunch

15.3 miles to Tea

B Group - 8th October

With a not very good forecast and damp roads, numbers at Dorking 11s for the annual freewheel competition were less than usual. We took the relatively traffic-free route of Pixham Lane, Punchbowl Lane, Blackbrook Road and Red Lane to the freshly resurfaced Root Hill, where the As were waiting. Terry set off first and went much further than yesterday but was still overtaken and beaten by non-wiggling Mark. Helene was the first lady away and set a good distance which was only just beaten by Pam. Meanwhile vigorously wiggling Grant had taken the lead and wasn’t beaten. We all then proceeded to Brockham where the awards (Ed’s unique wood carvings – thanks Ed) were presented to the winners and the runners-up received a tube – hope you didn’t need it on the way home. The Bs then adjourned to The Dolphin, Betchworth for lunch, which was good and served pretty quickly.

The weather was sunny/showery so plan B was used for the afternoon ie Wonham Lane (where the young deer ran on sight of us), Flanchford Road (carefully over the half bridge) to Leigh. Denbies was the 3s destination, via Clayhall Road, Bunce Common Road then head north through Brockham (beware of many potholes) and note the bonfire, across the golf course then back along Pixham Lane. Later we were joined by the As.

Despite the weather an enjoyable day, thanks to Tim for backmarking, Rob for pushing off (the competitors) and Brian for looking out at an almost blind bend.

Terry

Map for Terry's ride today, showing the start point for the Freewheel Competition

The competition was fun, the lunch was very enjoyable, and we didn't get too seriously wet during our meanderings around the lanes.

(8.63 miles in the morning and 9.73 miles after lunch)

B Group - 1st October

Cobham – Westhumble – Cobham

An unusual day

From the title and with a lunch time destination of The Stepping Stones at Westhumble one would think there was nothing odd about the day. Indeed one of the 18 who left Cobham expressed the view it wasn’t far enough – a view that was reinforced by going over Bookham Common, up Blagden Hill and down Chapel Lane and actually stopping at the pub to confirm numbers.

However it was onwards and upwards but not the zig-zag this time. I had a number of “firsts” to achieve. For roads so close to home I have never cycled up Headley Lane, never been to Walton on the Hill up Hurst Road or for that matter never descended the zig-zag!

Somewhere en route a car passed us in the opposite direction. I heard a familiar voice, those behind heard the voice and saw the wave and those even further behind saw Jeff. Was it really him on his way to Heathrow or was it someone else doing a very good impersonation? Did we imagine it? Time will tell!

After lunch the climb up to Ranmore Common was the main event but how to do it? Various opinions were expressed and eliminated. I had planned the more gradual ascent via Dorking and Ashcombe Road. Thereafter it was familiar territory running down to Sainsbury’s at Cobham via Crocknorth Road and Chalk Lane (Another first for Pam – not having done the lane in that direction before).

We lost numbers during the day with VAT Returns and recovery from injuries being cited. 8 made it to tea. And Tim ended up in Giro! in Esher.

We did a very modest 32 miles but nonetheless it was a good workout on a warm Autumn day.

Peter T

Peter's route from Cobham to Westhumble (19.4 miles) then back to Cobham for Tea (12.5 miles approx)

B Group - 24th September

Ed and 16 cyclists left the Greeno Centre and after the morning rain the weather improved for the rest of the day.
 
The lunch stop was at the Pineapple in Dorney. Unfortunately the service was slow, but the sandwiches were great.

We returned by the Jubilee River to Tea at the walled garden in Sunbury. By then we were down to 6 riders. A good day was had by all on the 35 miles flat route.

Regards,

Ed

Map of Ed's route recorded by Ray Wren

B Group - 17th September

17 B's set off from Fairoaks on a cloudy but mild Autumn day, past Chobham and Castle Green before taking the (new to most) Romany Road quite ridable off-road through Chobham Golf Course. Past Bisley, with the sound of rifle fire rattling in our ears, and down to Pirbright. Turning back towards home we took a brief detour round Brooklands Cemetery, noting the magnificent Italian Family Mausoleums but having to leave our search for the Military Cemetery until next time. Unfortunately the back gate we have used in the past now appears to be permanently locked (although there is a hole in the wall that could be used) and so we took the Basingstoke Canal for a short way before turning south past Worplesdon to our destination at Guildford Wetherspoons. Suitably refreshed it was the turn of the Wey Canal, now basking in beautiful Autumn sunshine, and some off-road parallel to the A3 to take tea at Ockham Bites and thence home.

Thanks to Terry for being the back marker.

= Pete

________________________________

Our somewhat indirect route to Guildford (17.3 miles) followed by a shorter ride up to Ockham Bites for Tea (9.5 miles):

Fairoaks Airport - Guilford - Ockham Bites

Pete took us for a guided tour around Brookwood Cemetery

B Group - 10th September

18 riders left the vineries at Effingham on a fine day. We made good time to Godalming despite my route via Catteshall which had to be curtailed due to a wrong turning and concern of the state of the cycle path.

Lunch was at the Jack Phillips in Godalming. The service and food was good. We met Peter after lunch as he had cycled at his own pace.

The tea stop was at the Medicine Gardens at Cobham.

Thanks to David our back marker and input from Pam.

54 miles, no major hills!

Regards Tony =

Maps for Tony's very enjoyable ride to Godalming including a close-up of the off-road bits on OS 1:25,000

B Group - 3rd September (maps)

The maps show the route to Cranleigh (18.8 miles) and the afternoon route to Denbies (19.1 miles) over which Frank and Françoise led us today. It was an excellent day out for all of us, all the more so for being more ambitious than usual; I have no recollection of ever riding to Cranleigh with the Wayfarers. If my stats can be believed the ride involved 2,423 feet of climbing.

B Group - 27th August (map)

This map shows the clockwise route from Weybridge to Castle Green (12.6 miles) then to Shepperton Lock after lunch (10.7 miles.

Thanks to David and Ray for collecting the GPS data.

Map for Terry's ride from Guildford

B group - 6th August

Cobham - Wood Street Village - Cobham

I guess we were all delighted that we did not have the morning rain that was forecast!  Sixteen riders joined me on the days ride to lunch at Wood Street Village and back to Cobham for tea at the Medicine Garden.   Tea may not be cheap but what a delightful place to be on a sunny afternoon!

We exited Cobham via Plough Lane, Guileshill Lane and Grove Heath Rd to Send.   To Old Woking, Sutton Green and Jacobs Well to the A320, where a quick right led us into Salt Box Road to skirt Worplesdon  for  lunch at the Royal Oak public house. The current landlord is at least the third one since I last visited the pub!  This young couple have been there for approximately nine months and doing a fine job with good service and good food!    There were tables laid up for us inside where some ate but most chose to eat in the garden. It was so relaxing I almost forgot to gather the troops for the tea run!

Admittedly, the  ride  to lunch did go along a couple of  'not so quiet'  roads but the return was quite different!   From the pub we turned into a wooded area, Broadstreet Common, along paths a little overgrown in places!  Through the gate into an estate that led us to the cycle way through Guildford University.   We left Guildford via Stoke Park,  the River Wey, onto the A3 cycle path to turn into Clandon Road, Tithe Barn Lane, Hungry Hill and so  to Cobham.

It was a good days cycle ride - I did 56 miles, I guess others were similar?    Only hiccup of the day were my punctures! As we left the pub I realised that I had a slow puncture but with help from John, I was able to get to tea before changing the tube. Again I received more help, this time from Ed and Terry...I am a very lucky and grateful person - thank you!   Would you believe it, the same thing happened again on my home from tea!!  All this on a brand new tyre!!  I found a tiny strand of wire the first time but nothing the second time!!

Thank you Tim, Bernard, Carolyn and Gill for back marking, photos and maps!  

Pam :) :)

 
Maps of Pam's route to Wood Street Village and a photo collage:

B Group - 30th July

As we set off from Dorking the weather was excellent for a ride out into the Surrey Hills. 18 of us rode south out of Dorking and set off on the challenging ride to Leith Hill, although some may have preferred to think in terms of riding to Coldharbour and therefore pushing the idea of the ascent to the back of their minds.

Well done to all the riders, especially those who had hesitated about the route or had never been to the top of Leith Hill before. We then made our way via Forest Green, Walliswood and Capel to lunch at the Six Bells in Newdigate. A shady table had been reserved for us in their splendid garden and we enjoyed our lunch before setting off to meander through various Surrey lanes towards Betchworth, Brockham, and back to Denbies for tea.

Thank you to one and all for their company on a very pleasant ride in wonderful weather

- John Austin

Morning: 19 miles, Afternoon: 12.2 miles

The wild woods on the way up to Coldharbour

Regrouping near the top of Leith Hill

The Six Bells, some of us escaped from this photo

In front of the oak timber-framed tower of St Peters, Newdigate

B Group - 23rd July

The map shows the morning ride to Old Windsor (16.1 miles) and the afternoon leg to the Walled garden (13.3 miles)

It was one of the few days in the year when rain coats, arm warmers, gillets and gloves, and all the other layers could be left at home, a proper Summer's day.

21 of us took off from Shepperton but Pete B left us mid-morning to go home and watch the Tour de France from the comfort of his armchair. We rode through Chertsey and Lyne to Virginia Water. We followed the southern shore to Blacknest then headed northwest towards the Polo Grounds where very large marquees were being erected for some forthcoming event. We were halfway across Smith's Lawn when I realised that I had been following the Vic White breakaway group rather than the blue line on my gps unit. An ad-hoc committee convened to argue the merits of carrying on in that direction versus turning back to follow the intended route. As leader I excercised my casting vote and we turned back in order to pass to the south of the Polo Grounds and then the Obelisk Pond. On the Rhododendron Ride we passed vast displays of multi-hued hydrangeas before breaking out through a car park into Wick lane. We zoomed down Crimp Hill and arrived for lunch just after 1 p.m.

We had a very pleasant lunch in the garden at the Fox and Castle. The very friendly and accomodating staff pandered to our every wish and once Bernard had taken the obligatory panoramic photo of the group we dawdled off down Burfield Road afterwards feeling very satisfied with life. I had another reason to be satisfied; Pam had volunteered to lead us to the Walled Garden via Thorpe and Laleham Reach. This was great until Robin punctured. I stopped with him and learned from Pam later that Tony Hooker was attending to his puncture a little way ahead of Robin and I. Ray Wren was dealing with his puncture somewhere further on. And by this stage Pam was outside the Shepperton Post Office dealing with her own puncture. So instead of a fleeting visit by the pesky and almost likeable Puncture Fairy who makes occasional mischief with the A Group, this was one of those rare but utterly malevolent fairys which can strike multiple times. Robin's was a double, front and back and on the front at least it had been caused by a very small thorn. There was broad agreement at Tea that the cause of all this mayhem was all the thorny shrubbery which had been pruned along the Laleham Reach path and left on the path for our benefit. Sadly, Ray was never seen again.

We all enjoyed our refreshment at the Walled Garden before fanning out in all directions to go home.

Leading this ride was a joint effort. Thank you Pam for the afternoon ride. And a really big thankyou to Gill who allowed me to recycle the route she had designed for her ride on the 23rd of April. It was a great route and only occasionally was it noticed that I hadn't done a recce of my own. Thanks also to John Austin for being a very efficient back-marker.

Tim

B Group- 16th July

After a decent morning tea at the Bradbury Centre in Kingston 24 of us headed out on the route which had been planned for us by Peter. Having fallen off a ladder while doing some work on a friend’s garage, and fracturing a bone in his leg, he took care to pass on all the detail for the morning ride to Stephanie, and the afternoon ride to me over a cup of tea. It transpired that Steph, who had undertaken to be back-marker, has had her teaching timetable rearranged so that she can no longer come out on Wednesdays so I ended up with the ingredients for the route and copied them into my gps unit so that I wouldn’t have to rely on my flaky memory.

We took the Cobblers Walk through Bushy Park and after Hampton and Hanworth we passed through Feltham Hill to Ashford. We zigzagged through Staines and after resolving a bit of confusion about the path through a sequence of roundabouts we picked up Liz’s friend Kay who rode for the rest of the day with us. After the smooth tree lined road around the Wraysbury gravel pits we arrived at our lunch venue.

The highlight of the day was The George at Wraysbury where the several members of staff looked after us very well indeed and served all sorts of dishes from their starter and sandwich menus. Despite our large number these were all delivered very quickly. When four of were left in the baking sun at a table with no umbrella they found and assembled a new umbrella and base for us and our brains soon started working again.

After lunch we rode up to Sunnymeads and curved around the Mother of all reservoirs to Colnbrook and Poyle before tangling with the cycle path through the middle of M25/J14. After Stanwell Moor we followed the bit of cycle path down a short stretch of the A3044 with its very messy turn into Park Road. We skirted around the Staines reservoirs and headed through Ashford and beyond.

After Charlton, Peter’s plan was to go directly to Upper Halliford and thence to Squires for Tea. But knowing that we would not have done any great number of miles I decided that we should head for the Walled Garden in Sunbury after a brief detour.  For some time I have intended to point out the house in which J. G. Ballard lived with his family for much of his life. So we detoured down Nutty Lane amidst warnings that this surely wasn’t the way to the Walled Garden. But after the spiral ramps of the bridge over the M3 we arrived in Old Charlton Road and we stopped briefly at the great man’s house. He is probably best known for the novel and movie “Empire of the Sun”, works of fiction that were based on his extraordinary autobiography “Miracles of Life”. “The Kindness of Women” was his semi-autobiographical sequel to “Empire of the Sun”.

This is a photo of him outside the house we saw today. He died in 2009.

One I took in May during a recce

At the Walled Garden I was worried that it might take a while for all 17 of us to be served but Sandra and the staff pulled out the stops for us and we were all seated with our tea, coffee and cake before long, sweltering in the heat but enjoying the tranquillity of the garden.

Thanks to Tony Hooker who kindly accepted the job of back marker and to everyone who helped to prevent people from getting left behind at strange intersections. Thank you to everyone for their cheerful company and above all thanks to Peter for designing the ride and entrusting his plans to me.

Photos are at:  http://tinyurl.com/mrbk2tr

 

B Group - 9th July

Fifteen of us took off from Leatherhead at 11:15 and turned under the arch into Mill Lane to pass the nature reserve and head along Lower Road through Bookham and Effingham. Calvert Road and Dirtham Lane led to the A246 and thence into Green Dene which is always a joy to ride despite the coolness of the air in the shade of all those trees. From the top we descended Juniper Hill and Combe Bottom then across the A25 into Shere. We followed a fairly direct route along Sandy Lane, Hook Lane and Pursers Lane to Hoe. We followed the ups and downs of Hoe Lane, mostly down, to the Horsham Road for Sutton Abinger then rode up Water Lane and Sutton lane to the Abinger Hatch by Sutton Common. Irene came up to me with a smile and said that during a lifetime of cycling she had never come that way before which I found quite hard to believe.

The weather was kind enough to permit us to sit outside in the sun where we enjoyed our beverages and an assortment of soups and sandwiches and other things from a very decent menu. We were well looked after by the staff who were probably relieved that I didn’t turn up with the 33 people who came on my ride to this pub last year.

I would very much like to go to the Stephan Langton sometime but on this occasion I thought that the haul up to Leith Hill from Friday Street after lunch might finish some people off.  But from the Abinger Hatch this was a gentle climb and further supported my intention that this ride would involve a lot of climbing but over moderate gradients. Although my gps doesn’t yield all the statistics which can be produced by Garmin owners I see from my route plans that the morning ride involved 1241 feet of ascent and 863 feet of descent over 14 miles. The afternoon provided a further 1132 feet of ascent and 1435 feet of descent over 16.4 miles.

After lunch Pam, Gill and Irene left us so that they could collaborate over plans for a ride they are doing soon. This wasn’t prompted by any concern about riding up Leith Hill; Gill said that they went up White Down on their way home. Out of the frying pan and into the fire!

We wound our way to the top and around past Windy Gap and Coldharbour. On the way down towards Dorking nobody overshot the turn into Logmore Lane by any serious margin so we bumped and bobbled our way down this rural lane to Westcott where we crossed the A25 into Westcott Street and along Springfield Road to the cycle path through Milton Court Farm, one of Terry’s little discoveries. After Milton Court Lane Terry took us on another excursion, along Calvert Road which leads off from Ashcombe Road and then over a footbridge, across a corner of a vineyard and through a hole in the shrubbery to descend abruptly onto the A24 cycle path.

Jamie and his colleagues welcomed the six of us who arrived at Bike Beans and served large cups of tea and coffee with good cyclist’s portions of cake while we watched the last half hour of the gruelling ride across the cobbles in northern France.

After Tea four of us took a scenic route towards Chessington via the Ashtead and Epsom Commons then, after the old site of the West Park Hospital, through Horton Country Park.

Many thanks to Terry for riding as back-marker and to everyone for their very good company on a wonderful day out.

~ Tim

More Photos