29 Dec 2013: St Albans to Rye Park

A very frosty morning with a fair amount of ice meant that Peter modified the route he had carefully planned and had to abandon the country lanes for the early part of the day. Six people turned up at the St Albans start including new rider John, who had ridden up from Well End near Borehamwood prior to the actual ride. We went along Coopers Green Lane, then through Lemsford before heading straight up the old Great North Road all the way to Stevenage and a welcome warm stop at Costello's cafe in the park.

After a break we used the Stevenage cycle paths to Bragbury End, then made a direct route via Datchworth and Bramfield to Hertford.  We rode through the new Balls Park estate then pressed the button for the gates to open to allow us to exit onto the road to Hertford Heath and avoid the busy road up the hill from Hertford.

The gates were not in place on this picture I found  - but you can use your imagination!

Downhill to Hoddesdon then to the Rye House Tavern by the river Lea. The pub was so quiet that at first we thought it was shut, however it wasn't and we all enjoyed good value food served quickly. After lunch we took the usual route back through Broxbourne woods,Welham Green and Colney Heath to get back to St Albans well before dark. The sun shone all day and once we'd warmed up it was a great day ride and the only ice we cam across was at the entrance to the morning cafe.

I managed to use  track logging on my new phone for the last section of the ride so I have loaded a route map and built the first two legs manually. That's why the line colour is different! 

Carol 29/12/2013