06 Aug 2017: Hatfield to Langley Lower Green

Another almost perfect day for cycling: not too hot, not too sunny, no rain at all and good company, especially as we welcomed new member Jenny from WGC on her first ride with us. The traffic was light and a strong SW wind was a bonus, getting us out to Much Hadham quickly, where we received friendly service at the golf club.  The car park was quite full this time, but most people were out playing golf or putting their dogs through their paces on the obstacle course.

It was a lovely ride with the wind to Lower Langley Green, the only hold-up being a long wait at the lights on the A120 – let’s hope the Little Hadham bypass gets built soon. Around here the vistas start to open up. The vast wheat fields in the middle of the harvest season were a hive of activity, with dust clouds marking the progress of the harvesters.

We arrived at The Bull too early; the chef at this sleepy little pub doesn’t start work before 1 pm, but this was no problem for us as we enjoyed relaxing in the sun for 15 minutes. It was then that Richard, newly returned from cycling in France, commented on how this village reminded him of so many places in the French countryside, which appeared to be deserted, and nothing ever happened.  No sooner had he said that than a police car appeared with blue lights flashing, followed shortly by the whirr of helicopter blades as the air ambulance landed right next to the pub, then an incident response van arrived. People appeared from all over the place to see what was going on – was it a shoot out between rival farmers? No, evidently a 3-week-old baby had been taken ill in the village and we gather that fortunately it wasn’t too serious.

After an hour it was time to go. Adrian had joined us and we retraced most of his route through Barkway and Reed, where the views north towards Cambridge were fantastic. This village was far from being sleepy. A largish crowd was watching the Reed cricket team playing for a place in the Village Cricket final to be held at Lords cricket ground. We learned later that Reed had beaten Aston Rowant by 74 runs.

After tackling a head wind and some more hills we were glad for the afternoon break at Mill End Nursery, were a fine tea was had in the polytunnel. Adrian left us here and we made our leisurely way back to Hatfield. A brief clash of wheels between Jenny and Chris led to some minor excitement, but fortunately there was no need to call the air ambulance.

Soon people were peeling off to WGC or St Albans. We dropped Neil back in Hatfield after a 66.5 mile circuit and it was more like 90 miles for the Barnet contingent.

A good day for my longest ride for over 2 years – no wonder I overslept the next day.

Jon 06/08/2017