The path is made of broken glass. Beddington Beginners to Elmers End, 20 July.

A summer of cold and torrential downpours, then crazy overcorrection on the meteorological steering wheel took us into a two-day heatwave; we were fortunate that Saturday was ideal cycling weather, dry and warm enough but refreshing.

Nine of us turned up at Beddington Park; Maggie and I, Ken, Colin, Anna, Roger, Paul and Rufus.

We went for a spin to Elmers End through South Norwood park, where I was at first thrilled that they had made up the muddy path around South Norwood Lakes.  It didn't take long to realise that the broken glass amid the cinder was not the work of some vandal but of the local Authority.  For Goodness' sake, who makes a bicycle path out of pieces of glass?

We all survived without a puncture and had a nice coffee in Branching Out at Elmers End, where Rufus managed to take a selfie of everybody except his grandad!

A pleasant afternoon, without proof that I was ever there.

All Day Ride to Newdigate with a diversion 13th July

 

From Karen

After the utter drenching Paul and I suffered earlier in the week, it was a relief when the weather cleared by the time we had all gathered at Nonsuch for the Newdigate ride.

After some minor re-jigging, all the groups set off on schedule, ours being the last to head up to Epsom Downs.  I implored my group to slow the pace somewhat (?!) and we duly arrived for coffee just as Paul’s group were preparing to depart. Dawn joined our group at Walton on the Hill and, once past Betchworth, we positively sailed towards Newdigate.

                                                                Before they were lost!

Unfortunately, the lunch preorders hadn’t been received but, nonetheless, the staff were as welcoming and efficient as usual and the food was served promptly.

Suitably refreshed, we set off for Dorking, only to be thwarted by a serious traffic incident on Blackbrook Road. Unfortunately I’d missed warning messages from Maggie and Steve!  So there was some scratching of heads and deep and meaningful discussions with little being achieved. Lilian identified a track which might well take us beyond the obstruction. It wasn’t particularly well-defined or signed and, inevitably, we came adrift, two disparate groups seeking out discrete NT car parks!

We found a local navigational aid (aka a dog walker) and followed a route which led us to the NT car park opposite Red Lane - hurrah and huzzah! (I should say Blackbrook Road had reopened by this point!)

                                                              Is this the route?

We communicated our location to the rest of the expedition and, happily, we were all together again for the journey to Leatherhead. Phew!

Everyone’s spirits were still high and we stopped for coffee at Charlie and Gingers none the worse for wear.

Thanks to all my group for your patience and perseverance.

From Paul

Karen and I had got thoroughly soaked doing the recce on Tuesday but for Saturday the BBC promised a dry day.  True to form, then, after the morning ritual of checking the tyres and the outside temperature (mild), it began to rain; a gentle cloud mist at first but turning into something a little more substantial.  To be dressed for rain, or not to be dressed for rain, that is the question.

We got to Nonsuch Park in time to see the first group off and to recruit a couple of sub-leaders for my own Wednesday ride next month.  My group was all present except for Lorraine, whom we left Karen to pick up in the last group, instead taking Tony Hooker, who moved from the first group where Steve had taken on a couple of late comers.

The drizzle had ceased by the time we took off to climb up to Epsom racecourse along the long and gentle route, behind Nescot college and up Longdown and the Old London Road and we had a few bathmophobes in the group so for a quiet life I took us up the newly tarmacked Ashurst road in Tadworth, which is less steep than the backroads.  No sign of Steve's group at the Village Cafe in Walton, but Karen's arrived as we were leaving.  We had Maggie testing her Beeline at the back, electric Ken and electric Anna, Tony and first-timer Rob, who was about to complete his longest ever ride.

Rob found Pebble Hill a bit scary but as I zinged down I remembered the first time Cliff and Maureen had led me out on an All Day ride, and how it felt like a daring adventure and how it seemed, once we crossed the A25 roundabout, that we were a long way from home with all the open countryside of England under our wheels.  After following a picturesque loop in increasingly welcoming weather, lunch at the Surrey Oaks was enjoyable and it was a straight ride home up Red Lane and over the Old Coach Road.

Oh no it was not.  Traffic was already a bit heavier and more unforgiving with the M25 closed at Wisley and the A24 closed for miles due to a diesel spill, and as we turned north up Henfold Lane there was a line of traffic coming the other way and a motorcyclist told us the road was closed because of a serious accident.  We had a little conflab before committing ourselves by descending the hill near Henfold Lakes and decided to trust that they would let cyclists through, but the road really was closed and being good citizens we, along with other cyclists, felt we could not cross police cordons.  The other cyclists opted for the long way round; it was not the thought of returning up the hill that bothered me but that of the much-travelled and a bit tedious route round Broad Lane, and as we held a conference at the western end of Lodge Lane, a helpful resident told us that there was, in fact, an unmarked way through the allegedly no-through road out of which frustrated drivers were returning telling us not to go.  My map showed a bridleway joining Lodge Lane to Red Lane to the North, and I assumed that was what he meant, so we tried it.  I did not at all like the look of Silverwood Lane, which did not even meet Tim C's or Pete's pretty low standards of bike-pushing but the man had said we had to (counter-intuitively) turn right to get through and that is what we did, and lo and behold we found a convoluted but peaceful off-road route of a mile or two through farmyards which, once we had guessed the turns correctly, brought us out on Shellwood Road and Middle Street, a few weeks early for the Annual Picnic.

                                                            Or is it past the dung heap? 💩 

So we got to Luigi's in Leatherhead in good spirit and in time for a leisurely coffee and made our way home in the sunshine.

The route, new even to Tony, remains a trade secret between him and me so that we can incorporate it into a future Wednesday ride.

Thanks to everyone for your trust in a lost leader and for your good humour which turned what could have been a stressful Beginners experience into a jolly pleasant day out.

                                                                      The Adventurers 

                                                                      The Wanderers

Annual picnic NEW DATE 28th August

 

Saturday, July 13, 2024

Annual Picnic - CHANGE OF DATE

Hello members,

We have to advise that the date of our Annual Picnic at Brockham has had to be changed from the 21st August to the NEW DATE of 28th August. It will be at the same venue, Brockham Green Cricket Club Pavilion.

Elevenses for the 21st will remain in Leatherhead as advertised, and Elevenses for the 28th also remains as advertised, at Effingham (The Queen Stage) . Leaders will also remain the same; the A, B and Easy Rider groups leaders have been notified.

It is noted that the Easy Rider group on the 28th are meeting at the Kings Centre in Chessington. Should that remain the same and the Easy Rider group want their bags to be picked up from Elevenses, would the ride leader for that day, the 28th, please contact Jennie Jackson using WhatsApp, and let her know the bags will need collection and transfer to Brockham. Lunch bags will also be transferred from Effingham to Brockham for the A and B groups as usual.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused but it was unavoidable.

Yours

Jennie

All Day ride to Newdigate 13th July

 

From Karen

All Day Ride to Newdigate from Nonsuch Park - Saturday 13 July 

To register interest please email karen.cochrane@live.co.uk by Thursday 11 July in order that groups/departure times can be notified.  No lunch pre-orders necessary but venue has requested anticipated numbers/staggered group arrivals.

First Aid Course

 

First Aid Course

Following on from the success of last year's training, we are organising another First Aid Course, to be held in Wimbledon by the same person as last time, Jen Craven of Wimbledon First Aid Training Ltd. As last year it will be held at 30 Burghley Road, Wimbledon SW19 5HN at 11.00 on Monday 22nd July. You should aim to arrive about 10.30am.

We have applied for for funding for twelve participants, but are awaiting a decision from CTC UK, if we do not receive funding you will have to pay for the course. If we get twelve the cost is £520.00 divided by twelve, £43.33, should we not get twelve the cost is £45.00 per person.

If you wish to go on the course, please contact me by email;  d.jackson49@aol.co.uk, or personally by private What'sApp by 8th July, at the latest. I intend to submit the names of the first twelve that contact me. I shall keep the twelve advised on the CTC UK funding as it progresses.

Jennie Jackson

Hello from your new Chair

 

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Hello from your new Chair

I just want to thank you for electing me as your new Chair and to introduce myself to those of you who don't know me. Succeeding Dave Vine means that I have big shoes to fill and I sincerely hope that I can fulfil your faith in electing me to the post. 

Over the next few months I hope to ride with all of our groups and get to know more of you personally and with the aid of our wonderful committee I will also be getting myself up to speed with the duties of being Chair. 

If you have any questions, issues or ideas, please do not hesitate to speak to me personally or on email if you prefer. 

I am sure, like me you are pleased that some better weather has arrived and that it will continue for an excellent summer of cycling. 

With best wishes

Sue Foster

sue.foster39@gmail.com

A heartening washout; Beddington Beginners 15 June

The unpredictable weather continued on Saturday; sometimes cold, sometimes wet, sometimes both, and the riders who met up at Beddington Pavilion were not all dead keen to go on a long one.  We had a decent gathering, considering the weather; Roger and Anna, Ken and Colin, Paul and Maggie, their grandson Hector (just completed his GCSEs) and Ray, ostensibly making a social visit.  Looking at the threatening skies Colin proposed a short one to meet up with Tony's Nonsuch short riders at Oaks Park. 

There were complaints because, although short, the ride is continually uphill, whichever way you do it, and because Oaks Park Cafe used to prefer dogs as customers to humans, though it has improved hugely since Lockdown.  But nobody suggested any alternatives and at least two riders, having taken the trouble to kit out and turn up, wanted some kind of proper ride, uphill making up for lack of mileage.

By the time we rolled off the wind had whipped up, the sky had turned battleship grey and a helpful man in a parked car told us we were going to get drowned.  Pessimist!  We made nearly eight hundred yards before it began raining pumas and dingoes and we scuttled for shelter in the trees to the south of the park, emerging some time later as the monsoon turned to drizzle and the thunder kicked in.

We debated whether to shorten the ride to Flitton's and decided that we would take a decision at the point where the two routes bifurcated, and onward we pressed.  The wind was cold and the sky still dubious and the overall enthusiasm factor had dwindled but the really good bit was that Ray was coming along, his first ride in the group since his major heart surgery.

As we passed Tom Brake's house it was clear that Ray and back marker Maggie were trailing, and he announced himself incapable of the climb through Oaks Park and unwilling for the one up Buckingham Way, so he and Maggie went the more direct route to Flitton's, thus resolving our dilemma on final destination, for we were delighted to have him back, he was keen on a social coffee and we advertise ourselves as always tailoring our ride for the weakest member; it is the core of what Beginners is supposed to be.

So Flitton's it was and the sun came out as we arrived for tea and cake.  As we left it began raining again.

Hurtling down the hill to complete a very short ride three of us opted to call in on the Wallington music festival, where a sizable crowd had gathered in the Library Gardens and we arrived in time to hear a terrific rendition of Fleetwood Mac's The Chain.  But it was cold standing around in cycling gear and the beer was expensive and the music turned to Taylor Swift covers and the rain started again so even we went home early.  Not much cycling done there, then, but what does that really matter if Ray is getting better?