07 Jan 2018: Hatfield to Gosmore

Well, it was forecast to be cold, but just above freezing and the riding should be safe with some sun and no ice. There were five of us at the start at Poppins in Hatfield. I was pleased to see that two of our relatively new riders had come along; John who in his spare time is a campanologist (look it up!) and Ronny, who does scientific astronomical research.  What a varied crew we are. Anyway our lunch destination was Gosmore just to the south of Hitchin.

Now this isn’t a long way so I took the ride on meanders down back lanes wherever possible; first to Wheathampstead, then Kimpton and Whitwell. On from here towards Preston there was some ice on the sides of the lanes where the sun hadn’t shone, so we had to be careful. At one point out in quite open country we saw a herd of about 14 deer in a field which ran across the lane in front of us and into another field, so we were able to stop and get a very good view of them.  From Preston we went downhill in a big loop to Charlton, which again was just a bit icy before looping back to Gosmore and ‘The Bird in Hand’ pub for lunch.

Bird in Hand, Gosmore

The pub is under relatively new management and does excellent pub grub at a very reasonable price. Whilst we were eating Adrian and Geoff from N. Herts area arrived and joined us for lunch.
After this we decided to take the easy route back straight down the Codicote road and then via Welwyn and Digswell Hill back to the start in Hatfield. So at the finish we had done about 31 miles, not a lot but enough for a slightly icy winter’s day.

peteR