14 Apr 2013: St Albans to Leighton Buzzard

In a week that saw a past PM die and we recalled the divisiveness that gripped the nation in the 80’s, rather than rioting, the South Herts CTC took Norman Tebbit’s advice and got on their bikes; in our case to look for a great day out rather than for work.

Queuing for a cuppa

Simon looks for a quick exit?

Our first destination was Pitstone Wharf on the Grand Union Canal and the weather was fine but windy.  Diane made a happy return from last week; Tracey made it out, as did Simon, so all in all we had a good happy crew of 10 people.  

We set off for the Wharf via Hogg End lane, Gaddesden Row, Hudnall, Ringshall and the wonderful Ivinghoe Beacon.  In parts the ride was getting blasted from all sides by the wind, in fact at one point Carol thought that the hand of God was pushing her along.   At coffee break Richard and Steve met us, but we lost a couple of riders as they headed home. 

One of the vintage cars

Fixing a skipping chain

Our next stop was Leighton Buzzard.  The route from Pitstone was fairly straightforward and posed no problems, well apart from Peter’s chain jumping all over the place.  But with the sheer amount of experienced riders a quick fiddle sorted the problem tout suite.  As we headed for lunch we had the great pleasure of passing many of the pre-1st WW vintage cars that were puttering along the road.  Peter commented that he’d love to have one; I don’t think he’s the only one.

From lunch it can seem like a grueling push back to Berkhamsted; even my GPS had had enough at one point, but we all made it to a closed café!  The last stop had shut down.  So we popped into the Wetherspoons and found that their range of afternoon goodies had been pushed up in price, making lunch cheaper than afternoon tea.  Once we were all refreshed we headed back through Hemel, up Bunkers lane and back into St Albans: a great day out in perfect harmony.


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Neil 14/04/2013