Our ride on Wednesday will take us out to the Surrey hills looping through Esher and Leatherhead, finishing in Epsom Wetherspoons. Due to the short days at this time of year, we will finish at lunch time.
The route is 21 miles in total and shown below. |
With 16 of us signed up I pondered running with just two groups but opted for three to allow for any late entries. Our two enthusiastic sub-leaders were Alan and Julie.
The route was planned as a clone of a similar ride on 2nd September but this time we took the very challenging but scenic High Barn Road up to Ranmore Common Road then, after White Down, turned up Raikes Lane for Sutton Abinger and Holmbury St Mary. The Horsham Road brought us down to Forest Green and we joined the September route for the last few miles through Ockley to Capel. Fortunately, with our choice of different roads and an entirely different season there wasn’t much sense of déjà vu at all and we loved the Autumn colours.
Loving the hills and the colours:
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| Team Julie at Holmbury St Mary |
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| Bob, Sue and Mick |
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| Tim, Mags, Sabina and Bernard |
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| Julie, Dave, Steph |
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| Bernard, Sabina, Mags |
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| Mick |
Vanda and the folk running The Crown Inn made us feel very welcome and we ate well. We were pleased to see Terry waiting for us in the pub and after lunch he joined our little third group for his ride home to Dorking. Mags left us there too for her train home.
We had figured out at lunch that with The Village Café in Walton on the Hill and The Coffee House in Tadworth both closing at 4 pm there wasn’t much chance of us getting there in time. And it was very cold in the afternoon, so people were keen to get as close to home as possible before dark and many didn’t feel like Box Hill at the end of such a challenging day. In short, the afternoon route wasn’t correctly calibrated, and it would have been better for most of us to ride to Leatherhead for Tea even if we do end up going that way a little too frequently.
So we scattered a bit in the afternoon. Brenda left us after lunch to ride home via Leatherhead. In Julie’s team a couple went home via Leatherhead while the others went up Box Hill where Julie stopped for a cuppa while the others continued. Alan’s team split too before the climb up Box Hill. In my team Bernard and Sabina went through Leatherhead while I went solo up Box Hill to verify that the afternoon plan was indeed a bit over the top. Not everyone got home before dark and thanks to the chilly north-easterly breezes it had been a fairly cold day even if the hills had kept us warm during the morning.
Thanks to Alan for doing a recce on Monday and checking that there weren’t any road closures. Thanks to Alan and Julie for leading and thanks to everyone for being up for this challenging autumnal ride.
~ Tim
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| (Orange line showing 2nd September) |
Frances reports:
We were very fortunate to have a lovely cooler dry day to ride to the Bricklayers Arms in Shamley Green at this time of the year. The majority of our riders met at Cobham RBL across all three groups with Janice's group promptly departing at 10.30 to meet her on their way through Effingham - nothing like some dynamic planning to keep everyone on track.
Hot of her heels was my group, Andy C, Dave V, Brian and Dave W - all of which assisted throughout the day. We met Graham (welcome) at the pub and he made his return with us, whilst Dave W headed off earlier.
The route was very pretty and whilst we negotiated a couple of "pop up" road works since the previous weeks recce, we managed to overcome them all!
We arrived without a hitch to the pub just before 12.25 and it was great to be greeted with friendly prompt service. The group departed just after 1ish and this allowed us to negotiate Guildford by avoiding the afternoon school rush hour. We pushed on to Leatherhead arriving by 3pm so decided a much needed drink was a good idea, meeting Patrick and Guy in the new Esquires coffee shop - very nice too.
At this stage after a windy return I opted for the train back whilst the hardy group continued 👏 by bike.
Thanks everyone for helping the day run smoothly, using Spond 😁and being flexible.
As the first Wednesday in the month we should have all been meeting at Cobham; however, the closure of Fairoak Lane by Malden Rushett meant that myself and a few others started the ride from where the route passed through Effingham.
My group comprising Patrick, Guy, Hans, Dave B, Jacky B, Mike, Neil W and myself we’re all ready to leave on time despite our different starting points. The day was cool, staying around a feels like temperature of 8° all day. No complaints though as it was dry and the Autumn colours were at their peak.
I’m not sure what the record number of riders for a B group outing is but I think we must have been pretty close last Wednesday. Thirty of us set off in perfect riding conditions for an urban jaunt through Richmond Park, down to the river at Mortlake, over to Kew Bridge and onwards to The Fox at Hanwell for lunch.
Ali and her staff did us proud and suitably refreshed we
continued north along the canal returning to Teddington via Osterley and
Twickenham, to tea at Bushy Park.
A big thanks to my sub-leaders and by way of keeping this
report short and sweet, I just asked them for a ‘highlight of the day’ each.
From Brenda, who it should be said, had a nightmare recce on
Sunday, but did a brilliant job on the day:
My highlight was seeing Teddington lock bridge on the
horizon and realising I’m following the route at last , as opposed to my
bonkers inside out , upside down , round and round in circles backwards recce
the Sunday prior , oh plus it was a treat to only do the sewage works once that
day not 4 times 😂 👃
😝!
A great day out 🚲 🌞
From Julie:
One of our highlights was to see the Three Bridges after
coming off the grand union canal (where the road goes over the canal while also
going over the railway line). My group hadn’t seen this before!
Also we were fascinated seeing how a canal can travel up a
hill at Hanwell locks.
From Bernard:
"A very pleasant ride was had by all on this perfectly
measured route giving everyone plenty of time to get home in the afternoon
before darkness fell. The highlight was
the sunshine in late autumn bringing out the best of the colours at this time
of year. Our riders were Keith, Grant,
Chris, Sabina, Dawn, Mick, Tim and me.
Many thanks to Tim for back marking and Sue for planning the route.
"
And from me, my highlight was certainly to see so many of our members out enjoying the ride! And of course Ian pleased that he had been served lunch before other customers....
We will meet at the Royal British Legion for Elevenses then head out into the hills, taking High Barn Lane up to Ranmore Common Road.
Our destination for Lunch (18 miles) will be The Crown Inn in Capel which we visited and enjoyed on September 2nd but the route will be fairly different and somewhat less challenging this time.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/57468699
Please look through these menus and, when you reply to this invite, let me know what you'd like to eat.
'Our kitchen takes pride in serving proper home-cooked food.' Yum!
Note that they (and we) won't know what the Pie of the Day will be until Tuesday.
It’s that time of year again when we have to think about getting everyone home before dark. In our favour this Wednesday it was half term so quieter roads than usual, and a big bonus was the weather, dry and even sometimes sunny.
Working backwards from a planned 3.30 tea stop at Richmond Bridge, meant leaving Elleray Hall around 10.30, with an early lunch at the Ace around 12.00, where I hoped for speedy service to send us on our way promptly.
This plan defied all conventional wisdom, leaving the longest distance and most of the climbing to the afternoon, but on the day it worked. Apparently undeterred by this breach of custom, we had 15 riders, so two groups, and I was fortunate to have Neil C to lead a group (and to take me round on the recce).
My group (Graham K, Patrick, Neil W, Sue C, Andy and Guy) left first, with Neil’s group (Clive, Gina, Simon, Jennie, Dave E and Karl) shortly after. The morning went smoothly with occasional pauses for sightseeing atop bridges, including the canal aqueduct over the North Circular.
The Ace Café, which seemingly never changes, welcomed us and served us promptly, and there were even a couple of us who chose to lunch outside in the sun. Before we left I was asked by the manager when we would return, which was nice to hear. We departed on time for the challenging bit of the day.
The route took us up Horsenden Hill and Harrow Hill, climbing the latter via Music Hill or Garlands Lane, depending on whether you preferred steps to speed bumps and pave. Unfortunately en route one of us suffered a broken chain and had to go home by train.
Lord Byron’s viewpoint is now compromised by trees, but some of us did our bit to get full value from the climbing effort, though we failed to spot the gleaming spires of Basingstoke as promised on the viewpoint plaque.
From here it was largely downhill to the Grand Union Canal for 3 miles of towpath to Southall. The towpath is a mixed blessing; it gets you a long way without interruption or traffic, but it does get boring, and occasionally bumpy. Thereafter we took familiar roads back to Richmond Bridge. Neil’s group arrived first, and mine just after 3pm.
Thanks to Neil C for leading his group, Neil W for back marking my group, always visible in his Sou’Wester jersey, and all for your ever-cheerful company.
