5 Nov 2017:St Albans to Mangrove Green

Yet another dry and sunny Sunday found eight riders gathering at the start for a trip to Woodside for a coffee stop. It was good to see two brand-new riders and one for a second time. We headed out of St Albans via Hogg End Lane, then on the way past Old Jeromes on the link road to Punchbowl Lane, we came across a flood spanning the full width of the road. We all pedalled through the murky water with only Peter unfortunately having to put a foot down midway after he wobbled. After cutting through the back of Buncefield and Maylands industrial estate we managed to cycle through many quiet lanes near Gaddesden Row and Flamstead before arriving at Jake's cafe only to find it shut on Sundays for the winter. (Why don't businesses update their websites with this type of information? I just looked online and it still says open on Sunday 10 till 2!)

Anyway, plan B came into effect and we went a mile along the road to the lovely Harpers cafe at the farm shop in Pepperstock instead, where we all chose off the reasonably priced menu. Newcomer Tanya had the largest hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows I've ever seen.

Five of us carried on to the lunch stop using a route cutting back towards Harpenden then meandering through the quiet lanes east of Luton airport. The photo below shows how rural it is in Chiltern Green, just a few yards from the runway.

Chiltern Green

Near Breachwood Green I tried to get a photo of the low flying aircraft just above us before they land at Luton airport. Unfortunately the plane went by directly overhead and I missed the shot. You can use your imagination by looking at the two photos below.

At  Mangrove Green we met up with Jon, Judy and Adrian and had good-value food in the nicely refurbished pub. Afterwards Peter, Steve B and I headed back via Harpenden while the others went along Lilley Bottom. We all benefitted from a tail wind for the home leg. We covered just over 40 miles, rather less than Jon and Judy.

Carol