25 September 2011

25 Sep 2011: St Albans to Hedgerley

We met at St Albans war memorial on what was a lovely spring like morning.  The leader for today was Carol, stepping in at the last minute to cover for Simon.  However, Simon turned up, his farther is back in good health and so he was able to make the ride.

The five of us headed off to Amersham via Potters Crouch, Bedmond and Abbotts Langley.  When we got to Chenies we took the route through Walk Wood; this is a wonderful route that skirts Little Chalfont and the wood looked in great health.  At various points, we passed the runners who were taking part in the local half-marathon.  All in all it was an extremely pleasant ride to morning break.
After break, we made our way towards lunch: Hedgerley.  This is bit of a treat for me as the destination is in the Taplow area of the world, I used to live there and it always feels like coming home.  

This area is actually quite hilly and we were put to the test as we found a new hill that has been dubbed ‘a bit of a sod’.  The actual name of the hill is Windsor Hill.  I can liken it to the Cronk, but it is twice as long.  It also took Carol by surprise, as she hadn’t had time to look at gradients on the route, so some the ups and downs really were surprises. 

Lunch was at the White Horse, which is a lovely pub quite typical of the area.
After lunch, we headed off to Flaunden and the prospect of cheap Tesco’s cakes. After last week’s rather sumptuous display of cakes, Flaunden really did seem like a letdown.  On reaching said destination a small discussion broke out and we headed off to a nearby garden centre, who’s cakes were also a bit of a letdown.  I reckon we should just hire the Upshire ladies to follow us around on a Sunday and serve us cakes all day.

From Flaunden we took familiar roads back to St Albans, the day’s ride was very pleasant and fortunately didn’t have any of the adverse weather that we have been experiencing.


25/09/2011

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