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
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