By Paul James
A goodly crowd turned up at Nonsuch Park on a Saturday that was not quite as warm as it looked.
Nigel was not there and Steve W had kindly stepped up to the plate to lead the longer ride, and he had chosen Bocketts Farm as his destination; it is somewhere we have been before, though not for a while and somehow, despite turning up to Beginners on and off for a good few years now, I had never cycled there though I knew where it was.
Originally sixteen of us elected for the longer ride, and after Steve had given his leader's brief on riding with gaps, we decided to split into two groups to make the gap a permanent one. Eight went with Steve and then I hung back to lead the follow-on group.
We went through Nonsuch Park to Ewell, past Epsom Sainsbury's and skirting Epsom centre to the South, made our way to the bottom of Chalk Lane to ascend Woodcote Green Road and Wilmerhatch Lane behind Epsom Hospital to Pleasure Pit Lane.
Thus far we kept together, though my group had grown by three along the way and Steve's shrunk by one. Steve chose to go down Ottways Lane but wanted (partly for Matthew's sake) to avoid the hassle of Linden Pit Path but instead to cross the M25 over the busy roundabout at the Leatherhead By-Pass, and there, at the Grange Road lights, they moved clear of us.
No matter, we knew where we were going so I led down the A3 cycle path and up Young Street, because I had seen the sign to Bockett's Farm at the roundabout on top of the hill. I didn't know there was a sneaky path half way up to save a good bit of the climbing but there was not a murmur of complaint from my group, even when we had to descend the hill to get to the tea room itself and it became obvious that we had gone half a hill too far!
Relative newcomers Justine, Marcia, Pablo and Gary with more familiar faces at Bockett's.
We all had tea together and returned to Nonsuch via Leatherhead and then Ashtead Station car parks and over Epsom Common.
A good afternoon. Thanks to everyone for the company.
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