Sunday morning dawned with a poor weather forecast and heavy rain at 8.30 on the way to the start. Nonetheless a total of eight brave souls had turned out at St. Albans and by the time we got under way it was dry (and it stayed that way for the rest of the day).
First stop Ivinghoe, so we set off skirting round Hemel Hempstead then on to the steady climb through Nettleden and up to Ashridge and Ivinghoe Common. Then it’s a long swoop down to the village of Ivinghoe itself. Then locate the café, a new one for us called ‘Curiositea’, a community run facility in the old school house, and very nice it was too.
Curiositea in Ivinghoe
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On the road to Wing
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Lunch was to be in Tring, which is very close to where we were. So to keep everyone amused I led them on a large loop going north up to Wing via Mentmore and close to where the infamous ‘Great Train Robbery’ took place many years ago. From Wing we swung around going back south through Wingrave, Long Marston and into Tring for the Robin Hood pub.
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After a very reasonable and typical pub lunch it was away again heading for Bovingdon. The original plan had been to go to the Mediterranean Café near there for tea. But as the name suggests this is more suitable for a balmier climate than England in April and the last time we were there it had outdoors seating only. So instead we went on to an old favourite the Tower Hill Garden Centre and a bit closer to home.
After that it was taking a well-used route back to St Albans starting down Rucklers Lane. By the time we got back the overall distance from the start was about 55 miles that we had accomplished in nice easy stages moving from hostelry to hostelry.
peteR 06/04/2014
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