Wayfarers' Christmas Lunches

I’m sure everyone is looking forward to our Wayfarers’ Christmas Lunches, marking a welcome return to The Angel in Thames Ditton.

However, Covid is still with us, the Omicron variant is doubtless waiting its turn to test us, so to ensure everyone is safe please do not come if you are feeling at all unwell.

Even if you are feeling well and are fully vaccinated you could still be carrying and spreading the Covid virus. So it would make good sense to carry out a lateral flow test on yourself the day before or even on the day. I will be doing the same.

This is also the formal CUK advice, which you can read here.

If you have already paid and have to cancel, we will do our best to get you a refund.

Please come and enjoy yourselves, be aware of other's social distancing preferences and keep us all safe.

 

Author: Dave Vine

Bedfont Church Peacocks

 I expect many of you have cycled pas the church in Bedfont, I have led rides past the church over the years.

I have just come across a poem relating the the oriigin of the Peacocks which some of youi may find interesting.

It's an old poem written many years ago and rather long winded so I won't publish here but will add a link to my Google drive so those interested can read it in full.

 Tony..

Bedfont chuch Peacocks link.

Bedfont church and peacocks

Author: Tony

3 Comments:

Brian Bent 05 December 2021 at 15:38 GMT

No picture ! at the moment---- must put it on my list for a sketch (Church and peacocks) having looked it up .

Tony 05 December 2021 at 19:49 GMT

Image now added.

Ged Lawrenson 07 December 2021 at 16:36 GMT

The A Group ride will be passing the peacocks tomorrow - that's assuming they haven't flown away!

Report for Easy Riders - 1st December

Two flats and a new lunch venue in Kingston

We were pleased to welcome Anne's husband John, and Mags from Kingston cycling group at North Cheam this week, and Liz S kindly led 9 of us to coffee at Cobham. Alas halfway along the lane to Claygate Dawn was visited by the puncture fairy; Frank, John and Mags stayed to help while the rest of us continued to join our leader for the day, Peter T, at the British Legion.

The puncture crew arrived at about 20 past 11, so Peter's planned 11.15 departure was delayed; but we were all on our way together by 11.40 and set off for Kingston via Arbrook and Littleworth Commons.

We were lucky to find Copsem roundabout pretty quiet, so all traversed it safely to enter Arbrook; but the puncture fairy hadn't finished with us, with Madeleine's bike stricken this time. A pretty quick repair, while the rest of us were not impatient to be getting moving; the weather was pleasant, paths pretty dry underfoot and the woods beautiful. Plus there's always some good chat going on...Peter is a hands-on sort of leader; with his help we were all on our way again within 15 minutes. Crossing the green at Claygate we spotted Brian Bent, who joined us for the route to Kingston.

Our lunch destination was just round the corner from the Bradbury Centre. The Spring Grove was new to all of us, including John Bellamy and Cam, who met us there. Ample space to lock up our bikes in their lovely garden behind the pub and they had a table reserved for us all. A welcoming ambience and great service, the staff took our orders very swiftly and the food was also good. We had a most enjoyable lunch in this lovely pub and four of us couldn't bear to leave, we were enjoying the fire and the chat so much, so finally departed about 3.30, an hour after the rest of the group had made for home.

A lovely day out, many thanks Peter for an interesting and beautiful route, Frank for back marking and the puncture repair team. Good to see John B out on his bike again with the new knee.

~ Helen

Author: Tim C

Invitation to the B Group ride to Christmas Lunch - 8th December

Since the day centre at Kingston is no longer accepting us cyclists 😢 it seems logical to start from Squires Garden Centre in Stoke D'Abernon. 😀

The plan is to have three groups. This, in keeping with our Christmas Lunch is going to be a three course ride !

The starter course will be ready for consumption at 10.40am 

The main course will be ready for consumption at   10.50am 

The desert will be served at 11am. This will be served up by Peter T, Consuming 10 miles of Road, as opposed to roughly 15.5 miles.

Please contact me Dave (Fixie) by email, or via private Whatsapp for seating arrangements.

Email = davey1828@gmail.com    

The full route can be viewed here:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38136930

~ Dave

Author: Tim C

B group ride to Walton-on-the-Hill, December 1st

 B group ride to Walton-on-the-Hill, December 1st

The day began with our chair, Dave Vine, making a speech to express our thanks to the volunteers at the Royal British Legion for making tea and coffee for us on our regular monthly visits to our home base at Cobham.

Dave presented each of them with a gift of chocolates, as has been our custom for many years.  Here are photos of two of the volunteers, David and Noreen.

This was my first ride as the main leader, and I chose a route over the Surrey Hills I know so well. Thanks to Tim C for help with the route planning and for suggesting the Dukes Head for lunch.  I can’t claim to be a RidewithGPS expert yet, but I’m getting there.

Also thanks to my sub-leaders, Sue Foster and John Austin.

The ride began with an easy few miles on the flat to Effingham, before our first climb of the day, a long ascent up Critten Lane to Ranmore Common, through some lovely woodland.  We continued along Ranmore Common before turning down Ranmore Common Road, one of the Hilly Fifty Climbs, which everyone was pleased to be going down rather than up!  After a short stop to admire Westhumble  station and look at Pilgrim Cycles, we crossed London Road and continued to Juniper Hall where we turned right onto Headley Lane to begin the climb up the ‘Little Switzerland’, a delightful landscape.  Sadly we passed Arwyn at this point who had to pull out after failing to fix a puncture.  My group mislaid Fixie at the top, but we managed to regroup at our pub stop.  This required another climb up Hurst Lane to Walton-on-the-Hill, a small and attractive village with no less than seven pubs nearby.  We were made to feel very welcome by the staff of the Dukes Head with a very efficient service from the kitchen.  Tim C particularly enjoyed his steak and ale pie!

After lunch we retraced our route back through Walton to Ebbisham Lane, a welcome descent towards Epsom Downs, but with a terrible surface near the bottom, real mountain bike conditions.  After crossing a gallop we continued to cross the race track and passed the Rubbing House to continue down Chalk Lane, a surprisingly rural area so close to Epsom.  We continued via Epsom Common to The Old Moat for afternoon tea, and it was still light!  Here’s a map of the route.

A few words from  Sue.

Relatively new to the world of sub leading I was pleased to have some old hands in the form of the Tims in my 10:45 group. They were called into action at an early stage  as I inadvertedly  turned into Plough lane on autopilot and had to back track the party onto the prescribed route. A good chance to check whether everyone was awake, including me!

Martin’s super route up onto the North Downs, down to Westhumble and on to lunch at Tadworth by way of Lodgebottom and Hurst Roads provided plenty of climbing to keep us warm and build up an appetite for lunch. We had the company of Ian, a long standing member of the Wayfarers, until Walton on the Hill where he headed for home but promised that he would join us for a full outing soon. 

An excellent lunch fortified us for the rigours of Ebbisham Lane, part of the route that I had catastrophised into something akin to crossing the Andes by bike. But no, Martin was right, just a few potholes, loose gravel and sand which we all successfully navigated without any difficulty. The sun was out when we reached the race course so time for a quick photo before whizzing off to tea at the Old Moat. 

A really enjoyable day out and my thanks to all group members for their good company and patience.

 And  few words from John,

Having said ‘thank you’ to our new RBL hosts who make us so very welcome each month, the early riders set off in bright sunshine at 10.30. We had a very pleasant ride through the Surrey Hills , ascending the North Downs twice and made our way to lunch in Tadworth. 

One rider had a double puncture and had to make his way to a nearby station and the remaining seven split into several smaller groups after lunch to make their own way home. The peloton was down to two riders by the time it reached the north corner of Epsom Downs with no one actually making it to the tea stop.

A splendid day out.

Martin G

A few photos.

Author: Chris & Martin

A Group ride - 8th December 2021.

Next week's ride is to Eton, and back to Hampton Court. Elevenses at the Pheasantry cafe, Bushy Park,  lunch at the Watermans Arms, Eton Riverside, and tea at 5 At the Bridge, Hampton Court.

It's a flat route, with only one hill (Crimp): 20 miles for an early lunch, 18 miles to tea, getting you home before dusk. The B group will be familiar with the route - it's one I led in April, so if any Bs want a repeat you're more than welcome!

A few (good) gravel sections, and one short riverside path, easily avoidable.

Here's the route:- https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/84395404

Sign-up before the usual 6.00pm deadline on Monday 6th Dec.

gedlawrenson150@gmail.com

Hope you can join me!

Author: Ged Lawrenson

Ride Report A group 1st December

Well everyone seemed to enjoy themselves on the ride, despite the hills. I set off with Ged, Neil W, Patrick, Dave B, Mark and Hans at 10.25 am after the presentation at RBL. I had expected sunshine and later in the ride we were not disappointed. I struggled on the hills, but we still made good time arriving at The Royal Oak in two hours. Frances was already there and so we sat down to some good food and conversation. The second group arrived on time and the pub was busy (probably for the first time all week). We set off at 1.30 and were cold. I was worried we had not seen Brian's third group, but no messages of woe so off we went in to grey gloom.

Mark left us after Box Hill and arriving at The Old Moat garden centre, Hans and Dave B headed home too. So Frances, Ged, Neil W, Patrick and I stayed for tea. After they too had left for home I decided to stick around and Tim arrived with some B riders, which was very welcome company. There was no sign of any others, until Brian arrived with John, which was a relief. Brian 's report is as follows.

 My group, reduced to 5 by the dreaded ping, consisted of Gina, Dave F, Steve W and John B. We made steady progress over to Shere where a tiny pyramid of flint had my name on it and I punctured just before the railway bridge. After that we pushed on to lunch eventually arriving about 1.40. Fortunately service was swift and we were away again before 2.30. The morning climbs had not seemed too onerous at the time but certainly made Box Hill feel steeper than normal. At the viewpoint the setting sun provided magnificant lighting to the scene and soon after we were treated to a full rainbow ( followed by a brief shower).

 Gina and Steve left us after Box Hill to head home via Walton and Dave left us near Ashtead. Just John and I pushed on the the Old Moat arriving just in time to get served and join Steve who was still there together with a large group of Bs.

Thanks for a great ride. Glad it wasn't today. It may be sunny but there is a dusting of snow here and I'm sure the country roads will be icy. 

Finally Dave Ward had this to say.

Dave V, Sue C, Neil C, Richard B and Keith joined me as the 10.30 group.   We set off from Cobham in glorious sunshine which did full justice to Steve's scenic route.  It was interesting to see how the trees had shed almost all their autumn leaves in just the last week or so since the recce ride.   We took the Shere Road climb in our stride, then I led by example through Shere Ford, but no one followed!    It was unusual for an 'A' route to ride up Holmbury Hill by Radnor Road, but the novelty of the occasion was tempered by the steepness of the climb!  Fortunately, having to keep stopping to let umpteen cars pass probably took some of the sting out of the gradient!    After descending we flew along to Ockley with the wind really pushing us along.   By Newdigate the legs were ready for a rest, but it wasn't to be - cruelly, there were still a couple more miles to go, back into the wind again, to lunch, which we reached just before 1.00 pm.   All the group were impressed with the Royal Oak - it was cosy with speedy, efficient and friendly service and reasonable prices.   By 1.00 pm we were ready to leave.   The rather dramatic sky was distinctly threatening on the horizon, and we thought we'd probably done enough hills for one day, so we decided to omit Boxhill.   The group split at Burford Bridge, and again at Leatherhead, and we made our separate ways home.    Thanks to all for your company, and to Dave V for back-marking, and to Steve for a lovely route.

So our first December ride turned out well with only one puncture and everyone safely home. It was good to see twenty riders braved the cold and hopefully had a good ride. My thanks to Dave Ward and Brian for helping with this route and leading their groups.

Author: Steve D