Prior to our recce for the ride, I remembered a
pub which Tim Court took us to last September on his ride from Fairoaks
Aerodrome. It was a unique pub which has a stream running through the garden. I
decided that it would fit our ride from Cobham nicely, hence I booked the
tables a few weeks before the ride.For our 1st recce, Bob Pannell, Fixit Davey and
I managed to get there, via Farley Green and Shamley Green by mistake, for a
late lunch. On our way back, we got caught on the late afternoon heavy traffic
on some dreaded parts of Hoe Lane, thundering A25 and up White Down (very
foolhardy I know but up the A25 was oppressive too). After a couple of
sleepless nights, I poured over Surrey cycling map and decided to give all the ‘back
roads’ a try on the 2nd recce. I know 17 undulating miles after lunch is 4
miles longer the pre-lunch ride, but at least it is scenic and quiet. Sub
leaders Bob Pannell, Fixit Davey and Tim Gibbons did their 2nd or maybe 3rd
recces by themselves. Thanks for all the sub leaders including Tim Court (‘the
extra sub leader’ for many B leaders) for leading your groups successfully and
for your hard work.
I was delighted that Carolyn Beer, who has not cycled
with the B group since the ease of lockdown, signed up first and gradually the
riders kept signing up over the May Bank Holiday, and we had 25 riders.
We rode through Cobham Downside, Plough Lane,
Ockham, Long Reach towards West Horsley, then up Shere Road, the extended farm
house with a clock tower at the Fullers Farm road appeared to be nearly
complete with a mainly wooden structure and large windows. We then rode down
Combe Lane, crossed the A25 to the beautiful Shere Village where a few riders
rode through the ford in delight. We were soon seated in the sunshine at The
Drummond by the stream.
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Studying the afternoon map
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After lunch, we rode through Burrows Lea, Peaslake, up Radnor
Road to Holmbury Hill, down to Pasturewood Road at Holmbury St Mary followed by
Leith Hill Road to Coldharbour, then mainly downhill all the way to Dorking.
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The A Team, Mark, John and Ken
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Terry Lowe drove through Shere Road from West
Horsley last November after his operation then; we rode through the same road
and the whole ride without much difficulty today (on 5th May), and he said "It is
progress". Clive Janes rode through the Surrey Hills on his Brompton bike
with good speed and relative ease too.
Thanks again to all the sub leaders and riders
for taking up the challenges and succeeding in all their endeavours.
~ Christina
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We being the 10.50am departure riders, the third group
out. A Quartet group, composed of Carolyn, Steph, Tony Hooker, & Dave C.
Pleased to have Carolyn back out cycling with the B’s. Also good to be riding
(once again) with a happy group. Good to have three assistant navigators in the
group. Although they failed me, since we crossed the wrong Ford. It couldn’t
have been my fault, since I only recced the route twice. 😀
Then not quite sure which route to take, we spilt into two groups, (hoping that
one of the groups would make it to the lunch venue) Christina’s group caught us
up, some miles after our lunch recuperation. The route proceeded up Leith Hill.
The dark rain clouds looked ominous, but concern about rain wasn’t warranted,
since it didn’t rain, but snowed! Christina did mention about perhaps seeing
some animals around. But I wasn’t expecting Polar Bears? 🐻❄️🤔
~ Dave ("One Man and his Cog") Cullen
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The team practices the Hokey Cokey before tackling the next hill
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Our fourth (11:05) group, (Inder, Anne, Sue, Colin and
myself) departed on time, headed through Ockham and West Horsley to ease into
the first serious climb up Shere Road to join Combe Lane and drop down Combe Bottom
to Shere. We remembered to deviate down Rectory Lane to avoid the heaving metropolis
of Shere Village but we were all too chicken to ride through the ford. After
romping up Sandy Lane we decided to make a slight change to Christina’s
prescribed route and go down through Little London, passing the William IV on
the way down Brook Lane. We nearly came unstuck when we found that New Road, north
towards Albury, was closed but managed to ride through the barriers and squeeze
past a lorry parked in the lane to arrive at The Drummond in good time for
lunch though we found that our small Tiki Tour had enabled Christina and her
team to steal a lead on us.
This wasn’t our first time at The Drummond and again we ate well, with
the watery sounds of the Tilling Bourne flowing past our tables at the bottom
of the garden.
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Team 4
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After lunch we doubled back for the first climb, retracing
our tracks up New Road and trying not to think about all the hills that would
follow as we cruised down to Peaslake. I had remembered from previous
experience that Radnor Road is quite a challenge and that it takes some time to
reach Holmbury Hill. Though I had offered to stop at the Heartwork Coffee Bar for
refreshments the troops decided that we should press on with the undulations of
Pasture Wood Lane, where we sheltered from the brief burst of hail or snow, and the final biggie of the day, Leith Hill Road. But we enjoyed
our rewards with the descent from Coldharbour to Dorking, one the greatest pleasures
of the Surrey Hills, at least when heading in that direction.
At Christ Church near Coldharbour Inder took us to see the grave of Caja Hemar and her husband Marian Hemar.
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Anne posing as Caja, the Columbia Pictures statue
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Inder and Colin at Christ Church
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It was a long day and we skipped afternoon tea but all arrived home safely. Thanks to Christina for planning and leading one of the most challenging B Group rides I can remember. Door to door, RwGPS gave me a score of 3780 feet of climbing while Strava came up with a more modest 3489ft. Another reason for preferring RwGPS!
~ Tim
