Wayfarers at Elleray Hall, 8th January.

These are the photos taken by Diane Hearn, the new Social Media Administrator at Elleray Hall, at elevenses on 8th January. Thanks to all for being so obliging. A photo and article will appear in their next Newsletter.

(I'd like to say Diane provided the caption for the first photo - but it wasn't!).

Wayfarers arriving early for Saturday's Fair.

Group B Ride to Weybridge, 8th January 2020

Today the weather was unusually kind and felt much more like Spring than mid January as 24 of us left Teddington town centre and made our way down to the lock and across the river. We then proceeded to Kingston Bridge and into Bushy Park, along Cobblers Walk . It was a magnificent day as we cycled through the park whilst watching the deer that crossed the path just in front of us. We were then back onto the road to Lower Sunbury then across Walton Bridge, where we managed to lose Tim, our back marker, and Grant. On the towpath we encountered a scene from 'The Birds' as we cycled through a large flock of swans, geese and seagulls, all with suicidal tendencies! Then onto lunch at the Old Crown at Weybridge, which was a delightful experience. The service was friendly, quick and efficient and we would certainly use it again.
After lunch we headed off to Hampton Court via the road rather than the towpath, which was considered too muddy for us to use. A rather short ride, but it allowed us to have a coffee and cake in Dish and hopefully allowed sufficient time for everyone to get home in time to avoid the approaching darkness.

Ray Youlden

B Group - 8th January (photo and map)

A very good turnout for our first ride of the year

~ Tim

A Group ride from Teddington, 8th January.

Firstly, today's scores from our back marker, Geoff Gregory:-
*  corner marking, 10/10,
*  leaving a gap, 7/10, (must do better!).

Seriously, if we're going to keep white-van-man happy we must be more diligent in leaving gaps on  busy roads - particularly with 20+ riders, for example after lunch from Staines to Shepperton. Just something to think about before the latest version of the Ride Guidelines are issued!

After the photo of the massed ranks of all groups at Elleray Hall - (Diane, the new administrator wishes to publicise the Wayfarers elevenses in a community newspaper), we got away on today's route to Eton:-

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/29772611

For the first Wayfarers ride after the Christmas two-week break we cracked-on to Shepperton, Chertsey,  Staines, Wraysbury, and Eton at a steady lick, arriving at the Waterman's before 1.00pm. We could make as much din as we liked - having the large room to ourselves, and were ready to leave for the (traditional) bridge photo before 2pm.

With rain forecast for mid-afternoon, we made for Old Windsor and up Crimp Hill - (for a change), and onto Egham, with only a handful stopping for tea at Squires - eight having peeled-off at Shepperton for Walton bridge.

For early January the Spring-like weather was a bonus, bringing a healthy turnout of 21 As, and a good-paced  35miles from elevenses to tea. Thanks to all for excellent corner marking, and to Geoff for keeping us all together.

Cheam and Morden post Christmas lunch

The Menu options for February 9th are as follows:
 
Fish Pie - White wine, leek and cheese sauce with cod chunks, with a grilled cheese potato top
 
Braised Steak - Beef cooked in a rich meaty sauce
 
Nut Roast - Served with vegetables and carrot and swede mash
 
Chicken in a Mushroom Sauce - Grilled chicken breast with a mushroom sauce.

______________________________

Pear & Apple Crumble - Served with custard
 
Pavlova - Raspberry and whipped cream on a meringue bed
 
Trifle - Home made trifle with cream, custard and a fruity topping.
______________________________
 
This menu is £12 for the 2 courses

I will collect menu choice and payment in the same way as I collect for our Xmas lunches....   i.e....write name and menu choice on front of envelope with your payment inside the envelope!!
 
I shall be out on Wednesdays, apart from this coming week and hope to be out each Sunday.

~ Pam

A Group ride from Teddington - 8th January.

We'll be heading to Eton riverside for lunch at the Waterman's Arms, http://watermans-eton.com, and afterwards at Squires, Upper Halliford for tea.

A small section on the Thames Path and one easy climb - modest mileage, a gentle introduction to the first ride of 2020 - and the shedding of those Christmas pounds.

Ride advice for B Group

First of all, a Happy New Year to you all.  This Wednesday we are riding to the Old Crown, Weybridge, which is quite a short route but it should allow us all to make it home before it gets really dark. On the way we will be visiting Kingston, Sunbury on Thames, Shepperton and Chertsey. The aim is to arrive at approximately 12.30 having covered 15 miles. After lunch we are following the Thames back to Hampton Court or Bushy Park depending on the time available.

Ray Youlden

Wayfarers Subscriptions now due

Happy New Year, and welcome to another year of great rides, great company and excellent cake stops with the Wayfarers.

I will be collecting the annual subscription of £1 starting this Wednesday at Teddington, and also taking money for the Annual Lunch, which will be held on Weds 4 March at the excellent Ristorante Sorrento, Tolworth.   We haven't yet had confirmation of the cost so I will be taking £15, and if the price has increased a bit I will ask for another £1 or whatever.  This is to cover food and service: drinks are charged on the day.

So I will be collecting:

• £1 for subscription
• £16 for subscription plus annual lunch

If you can bring the correct change, that would be a great help.   Hope to see you on Wednesday.

Data Protection notice:  If you have previously consented to your details appearing on the Contact List, by paying your subscription you are continuing to consent, unless you tell me otherwise.

Happy New Year from Tony Ashford

Just to wish you all a happy new year!
 
Had a good time in Dieppe BUT there was a real wind (one day up to 100KPH) on three out of the four days that I was there. Pic 1 gives an idea of what it was like-I don't know if the Transmanche ran that day, bit if it did, that would have been a crossing to remember. So I was either flying along at 45KPH, or struggling to maintain 15KPH going downhill! Maybe you would not be surprised if I told you that there was a lot of water around on the roads and in the rivers, but it surprised me as where we live we are suffering from a lack of rainfall. Pic 2 looking towards St Martin Église from the new part of the Avenue Verte, and pic 3, close to St Aubin le Cauf.
 
All the best
 
Tony

Tony has added in another message:

As an addition to the last mail, the new part of the AV runs between Dieppe railway station and Arques La Battaille.Its main advantage is that one can avoid much of the Dieppe town traffic and is great if one has anarchic kids on bikes. We used it on the Dieppe run last June.

          Regarding the changes at La Plage hotel, I was lucky enough to be there for Isabelle's last day, and to have a meal at the Newhaven with both Isabelle and Luc on my last night there. So all in all I was glad to have made the trip-I couldn't have planned it better. Well maybe without the wind................

Take care and happy cycling

Tony

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Normal start-times for Wayfarers resume from 8th January 2020.

A reminder - that normal departure times from elevenses, (11.00am), and North Cheam, (9.30am) resume as from 8th January, 2020. (Check the Rides List for any variations during the year).

Three earlier start times were held in December as a trial run.  Feedback from Ride Leaders has been very positive - perhaps helped by favourable weather on those December Wednesdays.

The Committee will shortly consider if the trial-run will be embedded in rides in December 2020, perhaps beginning with the last two weeks in November, and maybe including the first two weeks in January 2021.

If you have any comments on how you felt the experiment worked - to help inform how it next operates,  I'll be happy to hear your views.

Happy New Year!

Should the Pru ride continue to be held in Surrey?

Surrey council is consulting on the future of the Pru Ride London events:  https://www.surreysays.co.uk/deputy-ceo/survey-on-prudential-ridelondon-surrey

"Views are now being sought on the event to inform an SCC Cabinet decision on whether the event continues in Surrey from 2021 until 2025. If the Cabinet agrees not to host the event in Surrey, we are committed to run the event for the last time in 2021 in order to enable the event organisers enough time to find an alternative host."

Pete Mitchell's Memorial Bench

Jake has reminded me that Pete Mitchell's memorial bench has now been made and installed in Horton Country Park where he loved to ride. It's by Pond/Four Acre Wood on the main track.

I went there this afternoon from the normal Phoenix meeting place; it’s a good location and the track is well surfaced and not too muddy. See photo.

How far did you go in 2019?

Annual Mileages 2019

Dear All,

As I said last year and as I now repeat almost verbatim, (yawn), old hands will know that, at this time of year, we request members to submit their mileage record for the past 12 months: that is, from 1st Jan to 31 Dec 2019. We keep an annual running total on the MWW blog under the tab 'mileage'. Perhaps you have never noticed it. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MII1T_mRI2kgw34FQDojN-LiQwr48vRImUGYaQH0Fzs/edit#gid=0

It is of personal, though sometimes perhaps sobering interest, to see one's annual and cumulative mileage and it is of value to the Group to be able to report how many miles our members have ridden.

Please therefore take the trouble to remind yourself to take note of your annual mileage for 2019 before the witching hour of 23.59.59 on 31 December and then to send it to me by whatever communication method you feel most comfortable with. Apologies to W. Churchill for ending that sentence with a preposition, up with which he would not put. Pigeon post or snail mail welcome.

email: jeff.tollerman@lineone.net

Otherwise, a grubby piece of paper will suffice, if identifiable.

For the male and female member (those are at present still the only categories that we recognise), who clocks up the greatest annual mileage, your achievement will be recognised at our annual lunch. There will also be recognition for the member who has cycled more miles in 2019 than any other member, and for the greatest personal increase in mileage over the previous year.

Please note that entries will only be eligible for a prize from members who are regular riders with at least one section of the club.

I look forward to receiving your mileage, however modest. It is most unlikely to be less than mine. Make the most of every opportunity to tuck in those extra few miles. You may be closer to that target than you realised.

Seasons greetings to all,

Jeff

News from the Hotel de la Plage, Dieppe

Many Sou'Westers stay at the Hotel de la Plage during the Dieppe Raid cycling weekend in June.

I was sorry to read this news from the manager Isabelle, via the Dieppe Raid Facebook page:

The following message was sent to me by Andy Bebbington ...

"Isabelle and Luc are departing Hotel de la Plage in the new year, having sold it to new owners who run the Reims hotel in Paris." 

The website states the following ... 

"This moment has come for us after 17 years ...
Rich in joys, emotions and fabulous encounters, to pass the relay ...
The new bosses are there and already hold the Reims Hotel in Paris.
The whole team stays in place: Sandrine and Larissa at the reception during the day, and Julien at night; Stephanie, Elodie, Seddika and Josiane at the room service.
Transmission and transition being unavoidable for all of us, we will have the pleasure of staying at your service until the new year.
See you soon and thank you!

Luc and Isabelle"

KPRC aquatic adventures

Two photos taken yesterday morning by Tony Hooker

Footbridge over the River Mole at Stoke d'Abernon

Reasons to wear a cycle helmet.

Have a safe cycling Christmas.

Christmas Greetings from Brian Bent

A Group ride - 18th December

We left Walton in sunshine, headed west and crossed the bridge before turning and going towards Hampton, through Bushy Park which was beautiful but also tricky with all the dog walkers.

We used some back streets to get to Teddington Lock where we walked across the footbridge in a leisurely manner, lots of ‘chatter’. We entered Richmond Park via the pedestrian gate at Ham, the vehicle gates would normally be open but today there were road works.

Choosing to go through the middle of the park and onto Roehampton Gate, using Priory Lane we managed to all get across the two level crossing points near the Vine Road Recreation Ground without being held up, a miracle. Then it was Barnes and across Hammersmith Bridge, now closed to traffic, and into the pub.

The William Morris has recently been refurbished, so as with all Weatherspoon’s, worth a visit.

After lunch, we took a scenic route along the river, sometimes towpath, towards Kew, where traffic was surprisingly light, along Brentford High Street and eventually into the third park, Syon.

Taking back roads through Twickenham, and then the Kingston Road, we crossed the river at Kingston before we opted to have afternoon tea in The Local Hero café. Riders had peeled off at various points after lunch, so there were seven of us at tea.

A huge thanks to those that held gates open for us and other park users, marked corners to keep the ride moving along, and enable a tricky ride to run smoothly, also to David J for back marking.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Looking forward to riding with you all in 2020!

Ride safe

Jennie

Happy Christmas

To all Wayfarers a Very Happy Christmas and New Year.

Let's hope next years rides are as successful as last years, I look forward to meeting you all again in 2020.
Let's hope we don't have to walk to much next year

Geoff

CTC Gazette 1904

I've been lucky enough to find a bound volume of the CTC Gazette for 1904.  There's a lot to enjoy over the Christmas period, but, skimming it this morning, I find that it depicts a world that is rapidly changing, compared with the CTC Gazettes of 1901, which I already have.

Firstly, there is some concern that the CTC discounts at hotels, part of the Winged Wheel arrangements, were becoming harder to obtain.  So, if you find a cast-iron Winged Wheel on a pub or hotel, it is a fair guess that it is earlier than 1904.  The system was clearly in decline by then.

Secondly, the debate about CTC 'Danger' and 'Caution' signs continued.  It was nearing its conclusion, as, by the middle of the year, specifications for the first road-signs, to be erected by local authorities, were published.  A number of members took the view that there was no need for the CTC signs any longer, as a safety bicycle with front and rear brakes could get down anything, and there was diminishing support for the erection of signs by the Club.

Here are the new road signs - they were erected under the Motor Car Act of 1903, which took effect in January 1904.  Some are still around, often combined with sign-posts.

There were still adventurous tours - Iceland, for example, and the Galibier, from the North, some eight years before the Tour de France first crossed it; and there were hints and tips on cycle-camping.

But the big news was the internal combustion engine.  There were many articles on motorised cycles, which one contributor felt were much superior on the long, straight roads of France.

And there was a report from the Paris Automobile Show of the year, apparently attended by great crowds.  The well-heeled cyclist was obviously interested in a motorised cycle, tricycle or perhaps a car.

A golden era of cycling was drawing to a close.

Mark