Eight of us set off from Hatfield on a familiar route down NCR 12, the general idea being that everyone follows the leader. But on emerging from the cycle track in Welham Green we found we had already lost one. Retracing we could find no sign and a phone call was needed to find that he had made a bid for freedom by turning off the straight route for reasons best known to himself. Reunited, we climbed out of Water End past the Vet College and through Potters Bar for the lovely descent along Coopers Lane Road.
Crews Hill, with its numerous garden centres, wasn’t as busy as I had expected on Mother’s Day and we were soon climbing Whitewebbs Road and along Turkey Street into Freezy Water and Enfield Lock -an area one of us referred to as the grey wastelands of North Enfield.
We joined the River Lea towpath at Rammey Marsh and were soon at The Narrow Boat Café, a new place for us and a bit of a centre for the boat dwelling community, complete with showers and an inside play area for children.
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| The Narrow Boat Cafe |
Our route then took us through the Lea Valley Park, first up the wide track to Fishers Green then across the river to the path that follows the railway as far as Wormley, where a new cyclists’ bridge over the railway was nearing completion. This is being put in to accommodate 4-track working when Crossrail 2 arrives.
Leaving the Lea Valley we tackled the climb out of Wormley West End and up to Brickendon before the long descent into Hertford for an excellent lunch at The Six Templars – the pizzas here were twice the size we had seen at other JDW pubs.
We had been lucky with the weather – just a few short periods of light drizzle – and got home before the heavy rain arrived in the evening.
Jon 11/03/2018
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