24 Sep 2017: Hertford to Hazel End

Today was " The ride of the road closures!"

We had only returned from a three-week trip to France on Friday evening, so admittedly it was with some dismay we realised the need to get over to Hertford for a 9am start on Sunday morning. Anyway we used the car to get there and met up with Jon, Judy, Tracey, Steve H and a rarely seen Alan from Stevenage. We decided to take a fairly direct route to Old Harlow so used the delightfully quiet route via Goose Green to Hoddesdon where we encountered our first unannounced road closure of the day in Lord Street. We managed to squeeze by on the pavement and reached the edge of Harlow via Rye House and Roydon before picking up the almost rural car-free route through the new town to get to the Cross Keys cafe by 10.45am.

Bob joined us at the coffee stop and Tracey went back so there were still seven of us who headed off to Hazel End. We wiggled around the countryside passing Rod Stewart's house in Lower Sheering, where we paused to admire the football pitch, and made good progress in the warm sunshine until we hit our second road closure in Bishops Stortford due to the construction of a new housing estate. We optimistically ignored the signs and ultimately managed to access the road towards Farnham.

New housing development on the edge of Bishops Stortford

The previously unvisited pub at Hazel End served us food quite quickly in the sunshine in their attractive garden.

Three Horseshoes in Hazel End

A decision was made to go back directly to Hertford and the group ended up splitting as Judy didn't know if her recumbent would get over the narrow bridge over the Ford at Standon.  Steve H was still with us finding another road closure at the end of Anchor Lane near Tonwell, which fortunately we could get through, then we naively went up to Chapmore End to use the quiet road into Hertford. It was only when we had climbed the hill that we saw another road-closed sign blocking our access. This time it was water works and there was a large cage across the entire road width surrounding a hole on only one side of the road. This time the intrepid trio had to climb over a ditch and use a field to bypass the obstruction, so it was just as well that Judy had taken a different route. Shortly afterwards we encountered 3 more cages round holes, but all of these blocked only one side of the road, so why hadn't the first one?

Steves carrying bikes at Chapmore End - look closely!

Finally we regrouped in Hertford for a cup of tea or coffee after a fairly short ride of about 49 miles

Carol & Steve