By Roger Parsley
Anna
and I rode the course a few times in its various iterations and got it down to 50 miles (door to door). We warned the
Landlord of the Crown that we might turn up with a dozen riders the following
Saturday and Maggie put a notice on the blog advertising the ride so we awaited a deluge of requests.
On the day, we arrived early at Nonsuch and were joined by Carl and Alice and Tony. We waited in vain for anyone else to turn up, but we were a group of five who headed off to Walton.
The
cool morning had given way to a steady heat as I warned about the lethal
potholes down the left hand side of Ditton Hill and the sneaky and deeper ones
invisible in the shadows and lurking in the centre of the carriageway. Hitting
any of these at speed would be interesting, potentially expensive and probably
painful.
These
though were but a sample of the renowned Surrey Pothole, so bad in some places
that stretches were a lacework of holes and ridges where you could never relax
your attention or grip.
We made good time and the cakes at the Barn Café in Walton were excellent, so we set off up and over the bridge and followed the north bank of the Thames which in places was a living picture of colour and calm.
Not too many runners on the Thames path and the
deep ruts and holes had dried out as we scrambled through Staines and in good
time made it to the Crown in Egham where we ordered food and relaxed in the rear garden.
We
discovered that Alice had a flat front tyre when we set off after lunch and it
was all hands to try and find the cause. We did in the end but it took us
another twenty minutes to get rid of the sliver of metal that had
penetrated the tread but defied all attempts at removal. Eventually it was
forced out and the tyre pumped, but we were now later than planned so Anna set
the pace and at a steady 13 miles an hour we sped through Surrey.
Tony
left us at Chertsey so the four of us made it through to Shepperton through the
crowds enjoying the river and on to Ferryboat Café arriving in plenty of time
before it closed at 5pm and enjoyed iced coffee and cake!
Then back up Walton Lane and on to Lower Sunbury and ultimately through Hampton and Cobblers Walk and the back entrance to Bushy Park where Alice left us and on to Kingston and back to Worcester Park, saying goodbye to Carl there before we headed home to Sutton. We enjoyed every one of its 51 miles.
Roger
PS. The battery on Anna’s bike showed over 50% capacity left – so in theory we could have set out again….!
